State v. Jones

• Decision Date: 18 April 2001
• Docket Number: No. 98-1483.,98-1483.
• Citation: 744 NE 2d 1163,2001 Ohio 57
• Parties: THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. JONES, APPELLANT.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

744 NE 2d 1163

2001 Ohio 57

THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. JONES, APPELLANT.

No. 98-1483.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted October 10, 2000.

Decided April 18, 2001.

Thomas L. Sartini, Ashtabula County Prosecuting Attorney, and Ariana E. Tarighati, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

David H. Bodiker, State Public Defender, and Stephen A. Ferrell, Assistant Public Defender; and Robert A. Dixon, for appellant.

FRANCIS E. SWEENEY, SR., J.

On November 17, 1997, a dispatcher for the Ashtabula City Police Department advised officers that appellant Odraye G. Jones, an individual with outstanding felony warrants, had been spotted in the 900 block of West 43rd Street in Ashtabula. A week earlier, appellant had told his cousin, Jimmie Lee Ruth, that he "was facing a lot of time for robbing Isaac Coleman" and that he "was going to shoot at the police if they ever tried to arrest him."

Officer William D. Glover, Jr., responded to the dispatcher's call. Officer Glover found appellant with a friend, Anthony Gene Barksdale, and Jimmie Lee Ruth walking together on West 43rd Street. Officer Glover followed the three men to the home of one of their friends, Flo Chapman. Barksdale knocked on the door of the Chapman home while Ruth and appellant stood behind him on the porch. Officer Glover approached the Chapman home, got out of his car, and beckoned to appellant. Ruth testified that Officer Glover told appellant, "Come on, you know why I'm here. I don't want no problem. I'm just doing my job." Appellant jumped off the side of the porch and began running down the side of the Chapman home. Officer Glover pursued him. Not long after the pursuit commenced, appellant turned around, pulled a .38 caliber revolver from his pocket, and began firing shots at Officer Glover.

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After firing the first shot, appellant began to approach Officer Glover, firing several more shots. Officer Glover fell to the ground. Appellant turned and fled. He ran to a nearby fence and began to climb through a hole in it. Appellant then stopped, turned around, and ran back to where Officer Glover lay. Appellant kicked Officer Glover in the chest. The kick was done with such force that it left a large bruise on Officer Glover's chest that was visible to the paramedics who later treated Officer Glover at the scene. After kicking Officer Glover, appellant fled the scene.

As Officer Glover was pursuing appellant, another Ashtabula City Police Officer, Robert Stell, was en route in his patrol car. Officer Stell located appellant several blocks away from the scene of the shooting, still running. Officer Stell got out of his car and ordered appellant to stop. Appellant ignored the command and continued running. Officer Stell pursued appellant on foot. Appellant led Officer Stell into a nearby apartment complex. He stopped at the door of an apartment and began attempting to force his way inside. While appellant managed to squeeze part of his body through the door, the occupant of the apartment prevented appellant from fully entering. As appellant was struggling to enter the apartment, Officer Stell began to approach appellant. Officer Stell drew his weapon and ordered appellant to the ground. Appellant did not immediately respond. Appellant threw his revolver behind him. The gun landed in some nearby shrubbery. Officer Stell again ordered appellant to the ground and, this time, appellant complied. Officer Stell held appellant at gunpoint until assistance arrived. Officers recovered the weapon and appellant was placed under arrest. This gun was later matched to fired cartridge casings recovered at the scene of the shooting, live cartridges found on appellant at the time of his arrest, and bullets taken from Officer Glover's body. All of the ammunition was hollow point. This type of ammunition is designed to open up on impact, causing larger wounds.

Officer Glover had sustained gunshot wounds to the top of his head and to the area just below his right eye. He also sustained a bullet wound to his right shoulder. The gunshot wound to the top of Officer Glover's head and the wound to his face were both fired from a distance of less than one foot. The suddenness of appellant's attack had apparently caught Officer Glover by surprise. Officer Glover's duty weapon was found in Officer Glover's holster. The holster's strap was snapped securely shut.

Paramedics transported Officer Glover to Ashtabula County Medical Center for emergency treatment. After Officer Glover's condition had been stabilized, he was life-flighted to Cleveland's Metro-Health Hospital. X-rays and CT scans revealed substantial damage to Officer Glover's brain. Officer Glover had severe cerebral swelling and profuse bleeding from his nose and mouth. Neurological

[2001 Ohio 337]

assessments revealed minimal brain stem function. Officer Glover died from his gunshot wounds the following morning, November 18, 1997.

The state charged appellant with the aggravated murder of Officer Glover with prior calculation and design. This charge carried with it four specifications. Under the first specification, appellant was charged with killing Officer Glover for the purpose of escaping apprehension for his earlier aggravated robbery offense (R.C. 2929.04A3). The second and third specifications charged appellant with knowingly and purposefully causing the death of a law enforcement officer (R.C. 2929.04A6). The fourth specification charged appellant with using a firearm in the killing of Officer Glover (R.C. 2941.145).

Appellant was found guilty as charged in a jury trial, and the case proceeded to the penalty phase. The trial court merged the second and third death penalty specifications and instructed the jury to consider only the first and second.¹ Following a hearing, the jury recommended that appellant be sentenced to death. The trial court concurred. In addition to imposing the sentence of death, the trial court sentenced the defendant to a three-year mandatory term of imprisonment on the firearm specification.

The cause is now before this court upon an appeal as of right.

Appellant has raised fifteen propositions of law (see Appendix), which we have considered fully. We have considered the death penalty for appropriateness and proportionality, and we have independently weighed the aggravating circumstances against the evidence presented in mitigation. For the reasons that follow, we affirm appellant's convictions and the sentence imposed.

PRETRIAL ISSUES

Restrictions on Voir Dire

In his first proposition of law, appellant argues that he should have been permitted to ask prospective jurors about their views on specific mitigating factors. Appellant suggests that the trial court's refusal to permit this line of questioning left several jurors confused as to the meaning of mitigation. Appellant believes that his inability to ask about specific mitigating factors, coupled with juror confusion about the meaning of mitigation, limited his ability to uncover potential biases in prospective jurors and may have resulted in the empanelling of jurors who were unwilling to consider mitigating factors.

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During voir dire, a trial court is under no obligation to discuss, or to permit the attorneys to discuss, specific mitigating factors. See State v. Wilson (1996), 74 Ohio St.3d 381, 385-386, 659 N.E.2d 292, 300-301; State v. Lundgren (1995), 73 Ohio St.3d 474, 481, 653 N.E.2d 304, 315. Realistically, jurors cannot be asked to weigh specific factors until they have heard all the evidence and been fully instructed on the applicable law. Id. We reject appellant's first proposition of law.

Juror Bias

In his third proposition of law, appellant contends that several errors committed during voir dire require us to order a retrial. First, appellant argues that the prosecutors' use of peremptory challenges to exclude those jurors who expressed reservations about the death penalty denied him his right to a fair and impartial jury. This argument lacks merit. It is well established that "death-qualifying a jury `does not deny a capital defendant a trial by an impartial jury.'" State v. Dunlap (1995), 73 Ohio St.3d 308, 315, 652 N.E.2d 988, 995, quoting State v. Jenkins (1984), 15 Ohio St.3d 164, 15 OBR 311, 473 N.E.2d 264, paragraph two of the syllabus. Indeed, prosecutors may even exclude a juror for cause when the juror's views on capital punishment "would prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror in accordance with his instructions and his oath." Wainwright v. Witt (1985), 469 U.S. 412, 433, 105 S.Ct. 844, 857, 83 L.Ed.2d 841, 857, followed in Dunlap at 315, 652 N.E.2d at 995.

Second, appellant argues that the trial court erred in failing to excuse two jurors for cause. The first juror is Juror Lance McCollum, who appellant suggests should have been dismissed sua sponte. Juror McCollum testified during voir dire that he had discussed the case with his ex-father-in-law, the former chief of police of Ashtabula. McCollum stated that he was, to some degree, biased against the defense. However, McCollum also stated that he would try to disregard the conversation with his ex-father-in-law, would decide the case only on the evidence, and would accord the accused the usual presumption of innocence.

We find no error in the trial court's decision not to excuse Juror McCollum. The conversation between McCollum and his ex-father-in-law did not, by itself, require McCollum's exclusion. While fairness requires that jurors be impartial, jurors need not be totally ignorant of the facts and issues involved. State v. Sheppard (1998), 84 Ohio St.3d 230, 235, 703 N.E.2d 286, 292. The trial court was entitled to accept McCollum's assurances that he would be fair and impartial and would decide the case on the basis of the evidence. "Deference must be paid to the trial judge who sees and hears the juror." Wainwright, 469 U.S. at 426, 105 S.Ct. at 853, 83 L.Ed.2d...