State v. Lundgren

• Decision Date: 30 August 1995
• Docket Number: No. 93-2179,93-2179
• Citation: 653 N.E.2d 304,73 Ohio St.3d 474
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. LUNDGREN, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 474

73 Ohio St.3d 474

653 N.E.2d 304

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. LUNDGREN, Appellant.

No. 93-2179.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted March 7, 1995.

Decided Aug. 30, 1995.

In August 1990, a Lake County jury found cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren guilty of the kidnapping and murder of five of his followers, all members of the Avery family. The following summarizes the facts most relevant on appeal.

Lundgren's Background

Lundgren was born in Missouri and raised in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ("RLDS"). While attending college, Lundgren met and married his wife, Alice. Unsuccessful in school, Lundgren joined the Navy and served in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. After his honorable discharge in 1974, he unsuccessfully held a series of hospital maintenance and other jobs in Missouri.

Lundgren's religious beliefs form the foundation of this case. Although the RLDS, headquartered in Independence, Missouri, differs from the Utah-based Mormon Church, both religions trace their origins to the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., who published the Book of Mormon in 1830. During the 1830s, Smith moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and built the Kirtland Temple, now managed by the RLDS.

In summer 1984, Lundgren and his family moved from Missouri to Kirtland so that Lundgren could serve as senior temple guide, a job that had no pay but did include family lodging. Lundgren initially attracted favorable attention in his Sunday school classes and as a guide. William Russell, a religion professor at an RLDS college, testified that Lundgren knew scripture exceptionally well, especially the Book of Mormon, and followed the chiastic method of scripture interpretation, which involves searching text for recurring patterns. However, Lundgren did not understand the Bible's historical context and tended to concentrate on this esoteric method. Lundgren generally fit within the traditions of the RLDS faith in that he described visions, direct spiritual experiences, and God speaking directly to prophets.

Over the next three years, Lundgren served as a temple guide and taught classes on the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Despite the church's direction to turn over all money received from temple visitors to the church, Lundgren solicited and kept contributions received from visitors. Temple contributions dropped dramatically, and the temple bookstore also suffered fund shortages. The church eventually removed Lundgren as a religion teacher and, in October 1987, fired him as a temple guide and evicted him from his quarters next to the temple.

The Cult

From 1985 on, Lundgren attracted a substantial following in his classes because of his knowledge of religious texts. Eventually, Kevin Currie and Sharon Bluntschly moved in with the Lundgrens, as did Richard Brand, Daniel Kraft, and Gregory Winship. Debbie Olivarez joined the group in April 1988. Those living with the Lundgrens called him "Dad" and contributed their paychecks and other money for common group expenses. Two couples, Ron and Susan Luff and Dennis and Tonya Patrick, also contributed money, but did not live with the Lundgrens. In the spring of 1987, the Avery family moved from Missouri to follow Lundgren's teachings. The Avery family included Dennis, age 49; Cheryl, age 46; and their daughters, Trina, age 15; Rebecca, age 13; and Karen, age 7.

After Lundgren's eviction, he and his family and followers moved to a rented farmhouse. There, Lundgren continued his classes, stressing the importance of the Kirtland Temple. According to Lundgren, his followers had to recapture the temple, an earthquake would elevate it, and Christ would return and establish Zion. Lundgren also spoke of his conversations with God and his visions. He discussed the Book of Revelations and the Book of Mormon, and referred to "pruning the vineyard" and the need to kill ten followers before Zion could be created. Eventually, the men in the group undertook paramilitary training to prepare for a temple assault. Lundgren picked May 3, 1988 (his birthday) as the day to recapture the temple, but later decided it was not yet time. The Averys, on the fringe of the group, were invited to only a few of Lundgren's prayer meetings.

By October 1988, the RLDS church had excommunicated Lundgren. In early 1989, Lundgren was stressing the need for his followers to go on a wilderness trip before Zion would be possible. By that time, both Kevin Currie and another follower, Shar Olson, had left the group, but Kathryn and Larry Keith Johnson had joined.

The Murders

In April 1989, at Lundgren's direction, the group began preparing for the wilderness trip. Those who worked left their jobs and some bought provisions. Lundgren encouraged all of the followers to use up any of their available credit cards. All of the group members, including the Averys, gathered their worldly possessions. Around April 12, two or three of the followers secretly began digging a six-by-seven-foot pit in the dirt floor of Lundgren's barn. Lundgren told Cheryl Avery to write and tell her family that they were going to Wyoming. Then, Lundgren invited the Averys to dinner.

On April 17, 1989, Dennis, Cheryl and their three daughters ate dinner at Lundgren's farmhouse. After dinner, Lundgren went out to the barn with his son, Damon, and four followers, Brand, Kraft, Winship, and Ron Luff. The Averys stayed in the house with the women and children. At Lundgren's direction, Luff individually led each Avery family member out to the barn, where each was bound and gagged by the men. After the men placed each Avery family member into the pit, Lundgren shot each person two or three times with a .45 caliber semiautomatic weapon. The men then filled the pit with dirt and stones. Afterwards, Lundgren and the others went back to the farmhouse and held a prayer meeting.

The Months Prior to Lundgren's Arrest

The next day, April 18, police officers and FBI agents visited the Lundgren farm to investigate reports about the planned temple assault. Everyone interviewed said that they were at the farm voluntarily and denied knowing anything about plans to assault the temple. The FBI left without arresting anyone, and the group drove away on their wilderness trip.

Lundgren selected mountain campsites near Davis, West Virginia, and the group lived in tents there through October 1989. Some of the followers took jobs, and the men continued their military exercises. While in West Virginia, Lundgren chose Tonya Patrick as his second wife. That arrangement did not work out, so Lundgren then picked Kathryn Johnson as his second wife. That choice upset Larry Johnson, Kathryn's husband, and contributed to group dissension. By October 1989, Lundgren, his family, and about ten of his followers moved to Missouri. However, more dissension occurred and, by the end of December 1989, Larry Johnson had contacted federal law enforcement authorities about the murders.

On January 3, 1990, Kirtland police began digging out the pit in the barn and found Dennis Avery's body. Police uncovered the other Avery family members' bodies the next day. Lundgren had shot Dennis twice in the back and Cheryl three times in the torso. He shot Trina once in the head and twice in the body, Rebecca in the back and thigh, and Karen in the head and chest. The coroner found silver duct tape wrapped around the victims' heads, hands, and feet. The origin of two damaged bullets found at the scene was unknown. Police discovered that a .45 caliber semiautomatic weapon, belonging to Lundgren, had fired all of the other bullets they recovered. Lundgren bought the weapon in 1987 and sold it in West Virginia in October 1989. On January 7, 1990, federal authorities arrested Lundgren in California.

Lundgren's Conviction and Sentence

During his opening statement, Lundgren conceded that he had shot the Avery family. At the close of the trial, the jury found Lundgren guilty of five counts of aggravated murder with each count containing two death penalty specifications. One of the specifications alleged multiple murders and the other alleged a felony-murder kidnapping specification. The jury additionally convicted Lundgren as charged with five kidnapping offenses.

After further deliberation, the jury recommended the death penalty for each aggravated murder count. The trial court sentenced Lundgren to death on each aggravated murder count and to consecutive terms of imprisonment for each kidnapping offense. The court of appeals affirmed the convictions and the sentences.

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

Charles E. Coulson, Lake County Pros. Atty. and Ariana E. Tarighati, Asst. Pros. Atty., for appellee.

David H. Bodiker, Ohio Public Defender, Joann M. Jolstad and Jane P. Perry, Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.

COOK, Justice.

Lundgren has presented this court with thirty-two propositions of law concerning both the guilt and sentencing phases of his trial (see Appendix). For the following reasons, we affirm the appeals court's judgment and uphold Lundgren's death sentences.

I The Guilt Phase

With his first proposition of law, Lundgren argues that massive pretrial publicity in Lake County necessitated a change of venue. In May 1990, Lundgren moved to change venue, later filed addendums, and then renewed the motion at the conclusion of voir dire. The trial court rejected any venue change.

Admittedly, the January 1990 recovery of five bodies from the Kirtland barn resulted in massive, inflammatory, statewide publicity. According to The Plain Dealer, the Lake County Prosecutor publicly asserted that the members of the Lundgren group were the "most inhuman people this county has ever seen, and they are going to die in the electric chair." According to the second addendum, from January through August 9, 1990, the Lake County News Herald printed a total of two hundred twenty-seven Lundgren-related items, including sixty-one front page articles. The Plain Dealer,...