State v. Kirkland

• Citation: 160 Ohio St.3d 389,157 N.E.3d 716,2020 Ohio 4079
• Decision Date: 18 August 2020
• Docket Number: No. 2018-1265,2018-1265
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. KIRKLAND, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

160 Ohio St.3d 389

157 N.E.3d 716

2020 Ohio 4079

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee,

v.KIRKLAND, Appellant.

No. 2018-1265

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted March 10, 2020

Decided August 18, 2020.

Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, Ronald W. Springman, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, and Adam Tieger, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Timothy J. McKenna and Roger W. Kirk, Cincinnati, for appellant.

French, J. {¶ 1} Between 2006 and 2009, appellant, Anthony Kirkland, murdered two teenaged girls, Casonya C. and Esme K., and two adult women, Mary Jo Newton and Kimya Rolison. Kirkland pleaded guilty to the murders of Newton and Rolison and was sentenced to 70 years to life in prison. A jury found Kirkland guilty of the aggravated murders of Casonya and Esme, and he was sentenced to death for each aggravated murder.

{¶ 2} This court initially affirmed Kirkland's convictions and sentence. State v. Kirkland , 140 Ohio St.3d 73, 2014-Ohio-1966, 15 N.E.3d 818 (" Kirkland I "). However, upon Kirkland's subsequent motion for relief, we vacated the death sentences and remanded this case to the trial court for resentencing, in accordance with R.C. 2929.06(B), on the aggravated-murder convictions. 145 Ohio St.3d 1455, 2016-Ohio-2807, 49 N.E.3d 318 (" Kirkland II "). On remand, the jury recommended a death sentence for each murder and the trial court again sentenced Kirkland to death for the aggravated murders of Casonya and Esme.

{¶ 3} This is an appeal of right from those two death sentences. Kirkland presents 11 propositions of law. For the reasons we explain below, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

I. FACTS

A. The Murders

1. Casonya C.

{¶ 4} Fourteen-year-old Casonya C. lived in Cincinnati with her grandmother, Patricia C. On May 3, 2006, around 11:00 p.m., Patricia learned that Casonya had left the house. The next day, Casonya was absent from school, and Patricia learned that Casonya's mother had not seen her.

Patricia called the police and reported Casonya missing.

{¶ 5} On May 9, 2006, city workers called police after finding a body underneath a pile of old tires in a secluded area near the end of a dead-end road. The body was heavily charred and decomposed. Some teeth had been recently knocked out.

{¶ 6} Just past the end of the road, police found a charred area where it appeared that the body had been burned before being moved and covered with tires. Nearby they found a piece of timber that was charred at one end; it had apparently been used to stir the fire. The victim was later identified as Casonya C.

2. Mary Jo Newton

{¶ 7} On June 15, 2006, smoldering human remains were found near the end of a dead-end street, about half a mile from where Casonya's body had been found. An autopsy indicated that the victim was already dead when the body was set on fire. The victim was identified as Mary Jo Newton.

{¶ 8} Cincinnati homicide detective Keith Witherell interviewed Kirkland in March 2007 in connection with the homicides of Newton and Casonya. Kirkland admitted having had sex with Newton, but denied ever harming her. When he was shown a photograph of Casonya, he said he did not recognize her. Having no evidence to link Kirkland with these murders, police did not then arrest or charge him.

3. Kimya Rolison

{¶ 9} On June 13, 2008, the scattered bones of a third victim were found in a wooded area at the dead end of Pulte Street in Cincinnati. No specific cause of death could be determined. However, there was a cut on one of the cervical (neck) vertebrae that the coroner's office determined had been caused by a sharp instrument, such as a knife, being applied with significant force. The bones had been burned. In 2009, the remains were identified as those of Kimya Rolison, who had been missing since October 2006.

4. Esme K.

{¶ 10} On the afternoon of March 7, 2009, 13-year-old Esme K. went jogging around a reservoir near her home. She was wearing a purple wristwatch and carrying her iPod.

{¶ 11} Later that day, Esme's mother called 9-1-1 to report that Esme was missing. Responding to the call, police searched an abandoned house and a wooded area near the reservoir. Two officers spotted Kirkland sitting under a tree. They saw knives protruding from his pocket, so they disarmed and searched him. In his pockets they found a purple watch and an iPod with Esme's name on it. Esme's mother identified these items as Esme's.

{¶ 12} Kirkland initially gave a false name and claimed he had found the watch and iPod. After police efforts to confirm his identity failed, Kirkland gave his real name. As the search for Esme continued, police took Kirkland to the police station.

{¶ 13} Searchers found Esme's body in the woods. Her body was nude except for socks and shoes and was seated, with her back up against a fallen tree branch, legs apart. Her genitals, inner thighs, and left hand had been severely burned.

{¶ 14} An autopsy indicated that Esme had been killed by ligature strangulation. The large number of petechiae

(ruptured blood vessels ) on her face was consistent with a long struggle, possibly eight to ten minutes. Hemorrhaging underneath her scalp showed that she had been struck on the back of the head.

{¶ 15} There was also evidence of premortem trauma to Esme's vagina and anus, possibly caused by an attempt to penetrate those areas with a penis or foreign object. DNA consistent with Esme's was found on Kirkland's hands, penis, and underwear.

B. Kirkland's Interrogation

{¶ 16} Detective Witherell interviewed Kirkland on March 8, 2009. During this interview, Kirkland told multiple inconsistent stories.

{¶ 17} At first, he claimed to have no idea his arrest was related to the missing girl. Kirkland said that while walking in the woods around the reservoir on the morning of March 7, he found a purple watch and a "pink radio" (Esme's iPod), which he pocketed. He repeatedly denied having seen anyone jogging near the reservoir, pretended he did not even know the missing girl's race, and expressed surprise when he was told that the watch and "radio" belonged to the missing girl.

{¶ 18} After further questioning, Kirkland admitted that he had met Esme at the reservoir. He claimed that he and Esme collided, causing him to drop his beer and lose his temper. He admitted that he had punched and kicked Esme, but claimed he had left her alive.

{¶ 19} After detectives told Kirkland that Esme's body had been found, he changed his story again, claiming to have no memory of what had happened. He then admitted that he had chased Esme into the woods. But he continued to claim that he had left her alive.

{¶ 20} Then Kirkland changed his story again, claiming he had left Esme alive with an acquaintance he knew only as Pedro. Finally, Kirkland admitted that he had known that Esme was dead and that he had gone back to the reservoir to move her body. He said, "She died because of my hatred." Still, he denied having killed her.

{¶ 21} About two hours later, Detective Bill Hilbert questioned Kirkland about Newton and Casonya C. Kirkland confessed to Newton's murder. According to Kirkland, on the day of the murder, he picked Newton up in the College Hill area. They drove around to various places, ending up in the Eden Park area, where they had an argument.

{¶ 22} According to Kirkland, during the argument, Newton struck him, and he then choked her to death. He drove to Avondale, dumped her body at the end of a dead-end street, and set her body on fire, using gasoline as an accelerant. According to Kirkland, he burned the body because "fire purifies" and burning the body was "a proper burial."

{¶ 23} Kirkland also confessed to murdering Casonya. He told Detective Hilbert that he first saw Casonya around 1:00 a.m. on a bridge near Walnut Hills High School. According to Kirkland, Casonya started a conversation with him and he paid her $20 to continue talking to him. But they had an argument, and Casonya threw the money back at him. Angry, Kirkland grabbed Casonya, and she kneed him. He then choked her to death. He carried her body to a wooded area and burned it, using lighter fluid as an accelerant. He then carried her body down a hill and covered it with tires.

{¶ 24} Kirkland then gave another account of Esme's murder. He said that he collided with Esme; she was apologetic, but he became enraged and chased her into the woods. When she tripped over a small fence, he caught her and choked her.

{¶ 25} At first, Kirkland denied having raped Esme. But he eventually told Hilbert, "[She] said that she would do whatever I wanted, just don't hurt her." He had sex with her but was unable to penetrate her completely, so he made her masturbate him. Esme said she would not tell anyone, but Kirkland did not believe her, so he choked her to death. (In a later interview, Kirkland explained that he had strangled her with a rag after failing to kill her with his bare hands.)

{¶ 26} Kirkland propped Esme's body up against a fallen tree branch and, using her clothes as an accelerant, partially burned her body. After staying with the body for a while, he went to find lighter fluid "to perform the [burning] ritual." He eventually returned to the woods but did not go back to the body; instead, he fell asleep under a tree, and that is where the police found him.

{¶ 27} In a third interview, detectives asked Kirkland about an unidentified burned body found in the Pulte Street area. At first, Kirkland claimed he had killed only three victims, but he finally admitted to having killed "one more."

{¶ 28} According to Kirkland, he knew the Pulte Street victim as Kim. She was working as a prostitute when he met her in December 2006. He picked her up in his van and paid her for sex. As they drove along, they began to argue; Kirkland pulled the van over and stabbed her in the throat with her own knife. He laid her body out on a bed of wood, sprayed it with lighter fluid, burned it, and covered it. Some of the information Kirkland provided during his confession enabled police to...