State v. LaRosa
| Decision Date | 21 January 2020 |
| Docket Number | CASE NO. 2018-T-0097 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JACOB R. LaROSA, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Criminal Appeal from the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas.
Judgment: Affirmed.
Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County Prosecutor; Christopher Becker and Ashleigh Musick, Assistant Prosecutors, Administration Building, Fourth Floor, 160 High Street, N.W., Warren, OH 44481-1092 (For Plaintiff-Appellee).
Lynn Maro, Maro & Schoenike, Co., 7081 West Boulevard, Suite 4, Youngstown, OH 44512 (For Defendant-Appellant).
{¶1} Appellant, Jacob R. LaRosa ("LaRosa"), appeals a judgment in the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, General Division, sentencing him to a prison term of life without parole, to be served consecutively with three other prison terms. We affirm the trial court's judgment.
{¶2} The following facts and procedure are supported by the record in this matter:
{¶3} On the morning of March 31, 2015, 15-year-old LaRosa was released from the Juvenile Justice Center ("JJC") after serving time in detention for a probation violation. According to his own account, he met with friends and began drinking excessively. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., LaRosa entered the house of the victim, 94-year-old Marie Belcastro, at 509 Cherry Street in Niles, Ohio. Mrs. Belcastro's house was directly across from LaRosa's house and was separated by an alleyway. LaRosa was later identified by video surveillance, which was provided by a neighbor, walking from the direction of the victim's house with a bottle of alcohol and proceeding down the alleyway around the time of the alleged crimes. The neighbor who provided video surveillance to investigators also found an empty whiskey bottle in his yard that he believed was removed from Mrs. Belcastro's home.
{¶4} Thereafter, LaRosa arrived home in a nearly incoherent state with blood on his shirt, shoes, and glasses. He made claims to multiple family members that he was attacked by other juveniles who forced him to consume alcohol and other substances at gunpoint. LaRosa's mother called for help. Niles Police Officer Mobley and EMT personnel arrived at the residence to attend to LaRosa's injuries resulting from the alleged assault.
{¶5} As LaRosa was being loaded into the ambulance, Officer Mobley was alerted to a commotion at 509 Cherry Street, adjacent to LaRosa's home. One of Mrs. Belcastro's daughters waved down the paramedics at the LaRosa residence in a panic after discovering that the Belcastro residence had been broken into through the side door. Inside the home, a blood trail was found throughout the house from the living room through the hallway. A large secretary desk was also toppled over and blocking the frontdoor from the inside. Mrs. Belcastro's deceased body was discovered by Officer Mobley and her daughter on the floor in the first bedroom of her home, naked from the waist down and twisted awkwardly into a fetal position. She was severely beaten, and her undergarments were found in the living room. Outside the house, police discovered liquor bottles, including one liquor bottle that had blood on it.
{¶6} LaRosa was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where his blood alcohol level was determined to be nearly three times the legal limit for an adult. He had no discernable injuries to explain the blood on his body. Blood was also found by the attending nurse on LaRosa's underwear and his penis. LaRosa's underwear was seized by investigators. LaRosa was interviewed by a detective. His statements were erratic and, at times, incoherent due to his intoxication. LaRosa was not read his Miranda rights prior to this interview.
{¶7} LaRosa was charged in a complaint of delinquency on April 9, 2015, with four counts alleging crimes involving LaRosa breaking into the home of Mrs. Belcastro, beating her to death, and attempting to rape her. The case was filed in the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, as Case No. 2015-JD-177.
{¶8} On the same day the complaint of delinquency was filed, the state of Ohio filed a motion to transfer the case from the juvenile division to the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas General Division, seeking to charge LaRosa as an adult. Thereafter, he waived a probable cause hearing, and the matter was set for an amenability hearing to determine whether LaRosa, who was 15 years old at the time of the alleged crimes,should be transferred to the general division and tried as an adult. The amenability hearing was conducted over the course of four days, beginning on November 16, 2015.
{¶9} At the hearing, the juvenile division heard testimony from, inter alia, the coroner that conducted the autopsy of Mrs. Belcastro, various doctors who had evaluated LaRosa and his medical history, detectives and law enforcement officers who investigated the homicide of Mrs. Belcastro, juveniles who had interactions with LaRosa at JJC before and after the homicide, and members of LaRosa's family.
{¶10} LaRosa's psychological and behavioral history were presented in great detail at the amenability hearing. Three experts presented testimony and reports on his history of treatment, which had been mostly unsuccessful. LaRosa had been in treatment—either out-patient or within a structured facility—starting at approximately 8 years of age. He had been prescribed various medications for issues such as bipolar disorder, ADHD, defiance disorders, and mood disorders.
{¶11} After closing arguments, the juvenile division issued an order granting the state's motion to transfer the case to the general division for criminal prosecution as an adult. In the order, the court individually addressed each of the statutory factors—R.C. 2152.12(D) in favor of transfer, and R.C. 2152.12(E) weighing against transfer—before concluding as follows:
Based on the totality of the facts, relevant testimony, evidence, and after due consideration to both sets of factors contained in ORC Section 2152 and given [sic] appropriate weight to all evidence presented and appropriate, as well as serious concerns for the safety of the community given the history of fear his family lived under which extended to the neighbors and community and the brutality and violence of the alleged offense, THE COURT FINDS that the factors for transfer greatly outweigh the factors against transfer. There are reasonable grounds to believe that the Juvenile is not amenable to care or rehabilitation in a facility designed for the care[,] supervision,and rehabilitation of delinquent children, and that the safety of the community requires that Jacob LaRosa be subject to adult sanctions.
{¶12} Following the transfer, LaRosa was indicted by the Trumbull County Grand Jury on December 16, 2015, and charged with four counts: Aggravated Murder (F1) in violation of R.C. 2903.01(B); Aggravated Burglary (F1) in violation of R.C. 2911.11(A)(1) and/or (2); Aggravated Robbery (F1) in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1) and/or (3); and Attempted Rape (F2) in violation R.C. 2923.02(A)&(E)(1) and 2907.02(A)(2)&(B).
{¶13} On December 14, 2016, LaRosa filed a motion for determination of competency to stand trial, which was voluntarily withdrawn on August 4, 2017. On June 23, 2017, LaRosa filed a motion for a bifurcated trial, which was denied on July 31, 2017, and again before trial on February 12, 2018. Neither of these issues are subject to the present appeal.
{¶14} On March 8, 2017, LaRosa filed a motion to suppress various evidence obtained during the investigation of the homicide. The evidence sought to be suppressed that is at issue in the present appeal is as follows:
The motion also sought to suppress statements obtained from LaRosa, as well as the fruits of any unlawful arrest, search, seizure, and interrogation.
{¶15} A hearing on the motion to suppress was held on December 28, 2017, and on February 1, 2018, the trial court issued its judgment with findings of fact andconclusions of law overruling the motion. The court found that there was no expectation of privacy in LaRosa's hospital room or in the items removed from LaRosa by hospital staff after he voluntarily presented there purporting to be the victim of an assault. Further, the court found that the warrant authorizing a "hand swab" of LaRosa was sufficient in its description to authorize fingernail scrapings, because
{¶16} Further, the trial court denied suppression of the statements made by LaRosa in the hospital room because he was not subject to custodial interrogation and, therefore, did not need to be advised of his Miranda rights. The court held that any "volunteered unforeseeable incriminating statement unforeseen to police" made by LaRosa to police and hospital staff alike was not subject to suppression.
{¶17} Voir dire commenced for trial in the matter on February 12, 2018. After one day of voir dire, LaRosa entered a no contest plea to all charges on February 13, 2018. The trial court advised LaRosa of the potential penalties for each charge, including the Tier III sex offender registration requirement, and found him guilty of all charges. LaRosa was also referred by the court to the Adult Supervision Department for a presentence evaluation, and the court set the matter for a mitigation hearing on April 5and April 6, 2018.
{¶18} At the mitigation hearing, many of the same witnesses called in the juvenile amenability proceeding testified: the coroner for Trumbull County, doctors familiar with both LaRosa and...
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