State v. Luff

• Decision Date: 23 April 1993
• Docket Number: No. L-91-226,L-91-226
• Citation: 85 Ohio App.3d 785,621 N.E.2d 493
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. LUFF et al., Appellants. *
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

Page 785

85 Ohio App.3d 785

621 N.E.2d 493

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. LUFF et al., Appellants. ^*

No. L-91-226.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Sixth District, Lucas County.

Decided April 23, 1993.

Steven LaTourette, Lake County Pros. Atty., and Geoffrey Weaver, Asst. Pros. Atty., for appellee.

J. Ross Haffey, Cleveland, for appellants.

MELVIN L. RESNICK, Judge.

This matter is before the court on appeal from the Lucas County Common Pleas Court wherein appellant, Ronald Boyd Luff, was convicted on five counts of aggravated murder with specifications and four counts of kidnapping. The facts giving rise to this appeal are as follows.

At the age of eight, Ronald Boyd Luff was baptized into the Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints ("RLDS"), a form of Mormonism centered in Independence, Missouri. Growing up in Missouri, Luff remained a loyal and active member of the RLDS. As a young man he became disenchanted with the church because of certain doctrinal changes that were taking place, and he began to search for a more fundamentalist approach to the RLDS faith. In 1987, Luff heard about a self-proclaimed RLDS prophet named Jeffrey Don Lundgren. Lundgren worked as a tour guide at the only RLDS temple in existence located in Kirtland, Ohio. Established in the 1830s by Mormon church founder, Joseph Smith, the Kirtland Temple was historically and religiously important to RLDS members. Luff had heard from another RLDS member that Lundgren was a very inspiring man and that a visit to the temple would be a "blessed experience." Having reached a point in his religious life where he was "looking for answers," Luff decided to visit the Kirtland Temple. Luff was hoping that while in Kirtland he would receive guidance from God on what to do with the rest of his life.

In Kirtland, Luff spoke with Lundgren for several hours. Lundgren explained that God wanted a perfect society established in Kirtland, Ohio, in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Luff was impressed with Lundgren's overall knowledge of church history and his scriptural understanding. Luff was also impressed with the small group of followers Lundgren had acquired and their strong commitment to their religious beliefs. Approximately two weeks after he first met with Lundgren, Luff, his wife and two children moved to Kirtland.

In January 1988, the RLDS asked Lundgren to leave the church and his volunteer position as a temple tour guide due to ethical and moral problems RLDS officials had with him, his financial dealings and his teachings. The Lundgren family was also forced to leave their temple-owned housing. They eventually moved to a rented 15.7-acre farm.

Approximately twenty people, including Luff, formed a separate religious cult around Lundgren and his teachings. Most of Lundgren's followers maintained outside employment but turned a substantial portion of their income over to Lundgren, who was not employed. Lundgren effectively isolated his followers by monopolizing their free time with religion classes and work projects on the farm. He discouraged all forms of independent thinking among his followers. He frequently criticized them for being "wrong" and threatened them with death if they failed to follow his rules. Lundgren's followers were made to feel responsible for many global problems, such as famine in Ethiopia or the 1988 drought in the United States. Lundgren's followers eventually became so psychologically and socially dependent on him that they were afraid to express any doubts they had about his teachings.

In many of the classes Lundgren conducted, he discussed a "takeover" of the Kirtland Temple. Lundgren devised a plan whereby he and his followers would storm the temple at night and take it over from the RLDS church. The RLDS church, located across the street from the temple, would be blown up and several church officials would be executed. On the morning after the takeover, Lundgren told his followers, Christ would appear in the temple. Lundgren's followers prepared for weeks in anticipation of the takeover. They collected medical supplies, weapons, ammunition and military clothing. A week before the designated date of the takeover, Lundgren canceled the plan, blaming his followers for their collective state of sin which prevented them from being within the presence of God.

In early 1989, Lundgren began telling his followers that the end of time was approaching and it was time for them to travel into the wilderness to see God. Before God would appear, however, five followers would have to be sacrificed or killed. The sacrifices, according to Lundgren, would allow his remaining followers to see God. Lundgren decided the five sacrificial followers would be Dennis Avery, his wife Cheryl Avery, their three daughters Trina, fifteen years old, Rebecca, thirteen years old, and Karen, seven years old.

Pursuant to Lundgren's instructions, Luff and some of the other followers dug a pit inside the barn. On the evening of April 17, 1989, the Avery family was called to the farm. The Averys, unaware of their fate, believed the time had come to go into the wilderness and that they would be accompanying the rest of the group. Dinner was served at the farm house. After dinner, Lundgren instructed Luff to bring the Averys out to the barn one at a time in the order of oldest to youngest. Luff approached Dennis Avery in the farm house and told him he was needed in the barn. Once Dennis Avery walked through the barn, Luff attempted to knock him unconscious with a stun gun. The other followers present in the barn used duct tape to bind Dennis Avery's feet, hands, and mouth. He was then placed in the pit and shot twice by Lundgren. Luff searched Dennis Avery's pockets, to no avail, for the key to the motel room the family had been staying in. Lundgren then instructed Luff to "bring in the next one." Luff went back to the farm house and told Cheryl Avery that her husband needed her in the barn. As Cheryl Avery entered the barn she too had her feet, hands and mouth duct-taped. She was placed in the pit and shot twice by Lundgren. The three children were separately lured to the barn, duct-taped, shot to death by Lundgren and laid in the pit. Those present in the barn filled in the pit and then joined the other followers for a class back at the farm house. The topic of the class that evening was the death of the Averys. The next day, Lundgren and his followers packed their belongings, left Kirtland and traveled to the wilderness of West Virginia. The group remained there until September 1989 when they moved to Missouri. In Missouri, the group split up as Lundgren's followers began to doubt his teachings.

On December 31, 1989, Lundgren follower, Keith Johnson, went to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Kansas City, Missouri and reported that the bodies of the five Avery family members could be found buried in a barn in Kirtland, Ohio. Luff turned himself into authorities on January 4, 1990.

I

On August 24, 1990, Luff was indicted by the Lake County Grand Jury on five counts of aggravated murder, each with two death penalty specifications, five counts of kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery. On August 31, 1990 Luff entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to all of the charges. On October 11, 1990, Luff motioned for a change of venue. After a nine-day hearing, the motion was granted and venue was transferred to the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas. On January 7, 1991, a jury found him guilty on five counts of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications and four counts of kidnapping. He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison. Luff now appeals setting forth the following assignments of error:

"Assignment of Error No. I

"The trial court erred in its instructions to the jury on the insanity defense of the appellant.

"Assignment of Error No. II

"The trial court erred when it failed to dismiss the second indictment against appellant, in that it violated appellant's statutory and constitutional rights to a speedy trial.

"Assignment of Error No. III

"The trial court erred to the prejudice of the appellant when it failed to permit appellant to introduce certain expert testimony in violation of appellant's constitutional rights to compulsory process and due process of law.

"Assignment of Error No. IV

"The trial court erred to the prejudice of appellant by failing to charge the jury that fear for the life of another person or fear of great bodily harm to another person, such as a family member, may constitute duress.

"Assignment of Error No. V

"The trial court erred to the prejudice of appellant by convicting and sentencing appellant on allied offenses of similar import, in violation of appellant's right to be free from double jeopardy as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 10 of the Ohio Constitution.

"Assignment of Error No. VI

"The trial court erred to the prejudice of appellant by charging the jury on aiding and abetting in violation of appellant's right to due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and appellant's right to indictment by a grand jury as guaranteed by Article I, Section 10 of the Ohio Constitution."

In Luff's first assignment of error, he contends that the court erred in its instructions to the jury on the issue of insanity. The court instructed the jury, over Luff's objection, as follows:

"The plea of not guilty by reason of insanity raises the issue of insanity of the Defendant at the time of the commission of the act.

"To establish the defense of insanity, the accused must prove--must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that at the time of the offenses, he did not know, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, the wrongfulness of his acts.

"In other words, the Defendant must prove by a preponderance of...