State v. Jose Trinidad Loza, 93-LW-1810
| Decision Date | 19 April 1993 |
| Docket Number | CA91-11-198,93-LW-1810 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee v. JOSE TRINIDAD LOZA, Defendant-Appellant CASE |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
John F Holcomb, Butler County Prosecuting Attorney, Daniel G. Eichel and Noah E. Powers II, 216 Society Bank Bldg., Hamilton, Ohio 45012, for plaintiff-appellee.
James Kura, Ohio Public Defender, Joann Bour-Stokes and Joseph E Wilhelm, Ohio Public Defender Commission, 8 E. Long Street 11th Fl., Columbus, Ohio 43266, for defendant-appellant.
On the afternoon of January 16, 1991, Gary Hoertt, the owner of a motorcycle dealership located on Commerce Drive in Warren County, observed an individual later identified as defendant-appellant, Jose Trinidad Loza, loading trash into Hoertt's dumpster from a white Mazda pick-up truck with California license plates. Hoertt walked out to protest the use of his dumpster, but appellant drove off before Hoertt could reach him. Because he had experienced similar problems with the public's unauthorized use of his dumpster Hoertt customarily looked through the discarded items, hoping to find some identification so he could call the individual and convey his displeasure. Hoertt found an unmailed letter signed by Jose Loza with a return address in neighboring Butler County. Hoertt scanned the letter and read a passage in which the author explained that he was involved in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles and came to Ohio to avoid the police.
Upon discovering the letter's contents and, after being informed that an employee saw appellant and a female companion near the Greyhound bus station located some two hundred to three hundred feet down Commerce Drive, Hoertt called the Warren County Sheriff's Department and reported his findings. A dispatcher told him it would be twenty minutes before a deputy could respond, whereupon Hoertt called a personal acquaintance from Butler County, Middletown Police Detective Roger Knable. Knable informed Warren County officials that he was investigating the call, requested immediate assistance from Warren County, and responded to the scene.
Knable and Hoertt went to the dumpster where they found a knife; an empty box for a .25 caliber Raven automatic handgun; a receipt signed by one Judy Smith indicating that the handgun had been purchased at a Middletown department store the previous day; a woman's purse; a blank check on the account of one Georgia L. Davis; a general money order made payable to Jose Loza; clothing, books, and ether personal items. Knable and Hoertt removed the items from the dumpster and took them back to Hoertt's office.
As Knable and Hoertt were examining the items, Hoertt saw appellant walk up to the dumpster and pointed him out to Knable. Appellant quickly looked into the dumpster and began to walk away. Knable entered his vehicle and caught up with appellant in the parking lot outside the bus station. Knable exited his vehicle, identified himself as a police officer, and asked appellant his name. Appellant identified himself as Jose Rodriguez. Knable told appellant he was interested in the letter found in the dumpster. Appellant responded "yes," whereupon Knable indicated that, due to the letter's contents, he intended to hold appellant until Warren County law enforcement officials arrived. Knable handcuffed appellant and placed him in the back seat of his vehicle where appellant remained until Warren County deputies arrived approximately dive to seven minutes later. Knable also asked about appellant's female companion. Appellant identified his companion as his wife, Cynthia Rodriguez, and stated that the two were planning to take a bus to California.
Knable entered the bus station where he found appellant's companion, a sixteen-year-old pregnant girl who said her name was Dorothy Jackson and that she was appellant's girlfriend, not his wife. When Warren County officials arrived at the scene and were unable to ascertain if Jackson had her parent's permission to leave Ohio with appellant, they arrested Jackson for being an unruly minor and arrested appellant for contributing to the unruliness of a minor. A deputy sheriff transported appellant to the Warren County Jail while another deputy drove Jackson to the Warren County Juvenile Detention Center.
At the juvenile center, deputies spoke with Jackson to determine how to locate and contact her parents. At that point, Jackson broke down and revealed that appellant told her he had shot Jackson's family at their Middletown residence. This information was relayed to Middletown police who, after obtaining a search warrant, went to 1408 Fairmount Avenue. There, they discovered four shooting victims: Jackson's mother, Georgia Davis; Jackson's brother, Gary Mullins; and her two older sisters, Cheryl Senteno and Jerri Jackson. Each victim had been shot once in the head at close range. Gary Mullins died instantly from his wound. Georgia Davis and Cheryl Senteno suffered slow deaths from their wounds, dying hours after they were shot. Jerri Jackson, a pregnant teen, was the only victim found alive. Although doctors later succeeded in delivering her baby, Jerri Jackson died from her head wound on January 31, 1991. Officers also found that the telephone line to the house had been disconnected.
Two Middletown police officers went to the Warren County Jail where, at 12:30 a.m. on January 17, 1991, they advised appellant of his Miranda rights. After appellant waived his rights, he confessed to shooting Dorothy Jackson's family during a subsequent interrogation videotaped by police. Appellant also signed a search consent form and police discovered a Raven .25 caliber handgun and ammunition in a U-Haul box seized at the bus station. A white Mazda pickup truck bearing California license plates and belonging to Gary Mullins was found abandoned approximately one-quarter of a mile from the bus station.
Appellant was subsequently indicted in Butler County on four counts of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01(A). Each count included three death penalty specifications charging appellant with committing the murders to escape or avoid detection, apprehension, trial, or punishment for child stealing and contributing to the delinquency or unruliness of a minor (R.C. 2929.04[A][3]); committing the murders as part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of two or more persons (R.C. 2929.04[A][5]); and committing the murders as the principal offender while committing aggravated robbery (R.C. 2929.04[A][7]). Each count also contained a firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.141. Appellant pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and proceeded to trial before a three judge panel. During cross-examination of the state's final witness, the defense moved for a mistrial on the basis that the state failed to disclose certain exculpatory evidence during discovery. Over the state's objection, the court granted a mistrial without prejudice. The trial court denied appellant's subsequent motion to bar his retrial on double jeopardy grounds.
After the court denied appellant's pretrial motion to suppress "all statements and evidence seized in this matter," a trial by jury commenced on October 22, 1991. Evidence indicated that appellant and Jackson met in the Los Angeles area and that appellant accompanied Jackson when she and her family moved to Ohio. At the time of the murders, appellant was living with Jackson and her family at the Fairmount Avenue residence. The evidence also revealed an extremely dysfunctional relationship between the members of the Davis household. Although Georgia Davis looked favorably on Jerri Jackson's pregnancy, she took a negative view of her youngest daughter's pregnancy, a fact that Dorothy Jackson resented. Davis was upset because appellant impregnated Dorothy Jackson, and Davis repeatedly threatened to "beat" the baby out of Jackson. The family encouraged Jackson to end her pregnancy and there were occasions when Davis, Mullins, and Senteno physically abused Jackson in the hope of inducing a premature termination of the pregnancy. Although Jackson cared for appellant, her family disapproved of appellant and openly treated him with scorn and contempt.
Jackson had expressed a desire to return to California to avoid the abuse by her family and to be reunited with her father. However, Georgia Davis would not consent to Jackson's leaving, allegedly because she would lose the social security benefits she was receiving on behalf of Jackson. On several occasions, appellant, piqued by Davis' treatment of himself and Jackson, told Jackson he felt like "killing her entire family." On the day before the murders, Jackson 'persuaded her neighbor, Judy Smith, to accompany her to a local department store to purchase a handgun. Jackson told Smith that she and appellant had decided to return to California and that appellant claimed he needed the weapon for protection in Los Angeles. Smith and Jackson later went to another store where Smith purchased ammunition for the handgun. Smith gave both the handgun and ammunition to Jackson who, in turn, gave them to appellant. Later that evening, Jackson saw appellant handling the weapon in his room, at which time he again stated that he felt like killing Jackson's family.
Jackson testified that at approximately 8:30 a.m. on January 16, her mother and appellant returned to the Fairmount Avenue residence from their jobs with a local company. Georgia Davis retired to her room and appellant told Jackson to go to a friend's house so he could sleep on the living room couch. When Jackson left, her mother, brother and sisters were all asleep in their respective rooms.
Jackson went around the corner...
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