State v. Mink, 101 Ohio St.3d 350 (Ohio 4/14/2004)

• Decision Date: 14 April 2004
• Docket Number: Case No. 2001-1429.
• Citation: 2004 Ohio 1580,101 Ohio St.3d 350
• Parties: State of Ohio, Appellee, v. Mink, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

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101 Ohio St.3d 350

2004 Ohio 1580

State of Ohio, Appellee, v. Mink, Appellant.

Case No. 2001-1429.

In the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted January 13, 2004

Decided April 14, 2004.

APPEAL from the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, No. 2000-CR-2900.

Mathias H. Heck Jr., Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney, Cheryl A. Ross and Johnna M. Shia, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.

Gary W. Crim and Frank A. Malocu, for appellant.

FRANCIS E. SWEENEY, SR., J.

{¶1} In this appeal, defendant-appellant, Scott A. Mink, appeals from his convictions and death sentence for the aggravated murders of his parents, William and Sheila Mink.

{¶2} The evidence at trial revealed that in September 2000, Scott A. Mink, then 36 years old, resided with his parents, 79-year-old William and 72-year-old Sheila Mink, in their second-floor duplex apartment in Union, Ohio. Mink used illegal drugs while living with his parents. As his drug use increased, his parents set curfew limits and restrictions on the use of his truck.

{¶3} In early to mid-September 2000, Mink's parents informed Mink that he would not be allowed to join them in their move to a smaller apartment. On September 18, William G. Mink, Mink's brother, asked Mink about his moving plans, and he replied, "kind of nasty like, * * * don't worry about it, I've got a plan."

{¶4} Around 9:00 p.m. on September 19, 2000, Mink and Bryan Werling were drinking and smoking crack cocaine at Werling's apartment in West Milton. Around 9:30 p.m., Mink's parents called Mink at Werling's apartment and told Mink to return home. Mink then departed and told Werling that "he had to get home or he wasn't going to have a place to stay."

{¶5} At approximately 10:00 p.m., Mink arrived home. After his parents went to bed, Mink looked for his truck keys so that he could leave the apartment and get more drugs. Mink was unable to find the keys, and after realizing that his parents had hidden them, he had a "fit of uncontrollable rage."

{¶6} According to his subsequent confession, Mink went into his parents' bedroom sometime after 11:20 p.m. They were sleeping on adjacent twin beds, and he repeatedly hit them with a ball-peen hammer. The hammer broke while he was striking them. Mink left his parents' bedroom and returned with two kitchen knives and an extension cord. Mink then stabbed each of them several times. One knife broke during the attack, and Mink left the other knife in his mother's chest. Mink also strangled his mother with the extension cord. Finally, Mink repeatedly struck both parents with two cutting boards that he had taken from the kitchen. After one cutting board broke, Mink reassembled it and put it back on the kitchen counter.

{¶7} Following the attack, Mink washed up and put on fresh clothes. Mink then took $7 and a British Petroleum ("BP") credit card from his father's wallet and took his mother's Bank One card. After finding his truck keys, Mink left the apartment, went to a Bank One automatic teller machine ("ATM"), and withdrew $10 from his parents' account. Mink then purchased what he thought was crack for $20. Around 1:30 or 2:30 a.m. on September 20, Mink returned home and discovered that the crack was not real. Mink then took five or six of his mother's tranquilizers and went to sleep.

{¶8} Mink woke up in the late afternoon of September 20. Mink then moved his father's body off his bed and laid him on top of his mother's body, which was lying between the twin beds. He covered the bodies with blankets to keep them out of view. Later that evening, Mink traded his father's Ford Escort to a drug dealer for $50 to $100 worth of rock cocaine.

{¶9} Around 5:00 a.m. on September 21, Mink phoned James Ornduff to ask whether he knew anyone interested in buying a television. Mink said that his "parents [were] out of town and he was trying to get * * * some money up for groceries." Mink then drove to East Dayton, where he exchanged his parents' television for $30 worth of crack. Mink also used his father's BP credit card to purchase cigarettes, beer, and a gallon of milk.

{¶10} Later on the same morning, Mink called Ornduff again and requested his help in selling a recliner, a microwave, a couple of pictures, a clock, and a watch. Mink said that his parents were on vacation and that they wanted him to clean out the garage. Mink loaded the property in his truck and transported it to Ornduff. Mink returned home around noon.

{¶11} Mink's three sisters and his brother lived in the Dayton area and frequently visited and talked with their parents on the phone. The sisters became concerned about their parents after they were unable to contact them on September 20. Around noon on September 21, the sisters drove to their parents' apartment to check on their well-being.

{¶12} When the sisters pulled into the driveway, they saw Mink entering their parents' apartment. The sisters then pounded on the front door and shouted for Mink to come out. When Mink answered the door, he would not let his sisters inside the apartment and said that he did not know the whereabouts of their parents. The sisters left to notify the police. As they arrived at the police department, which was a short distance behind their parents' apartment, the sisters saw Mink walking to his truck. The sisters confronted Mink in the parking lot and asked for the keys to the apartment. One of them asked, "Scott, did you hurt Mom and Dad? And he said no." Mink then gave them the keys and drove away.

{¶13} The sisters entered the front door of the apartment, which opened into their parents' darkened bedroom. They did not recognize that their parents' bodies were under blankets between the beds. However, the sisters knew that something was wrong because their father's glasses and billfold were on the dresser even though the car was gone. The sisters left the apartment and called the police.

{¶14} At 12:41 p.m. on September 21, Officer Darrin Goudy, a Union police officer, was dispatched to the Mink apartment to check on the welfare of the residents. After talking to the three sisters outside, Officer Goudy entered the apartment and found the bodies of William and Sheila lying between the beds. Police secured the crime scene, obtained a search warrant, and began collecting evidence.

{¶15} William's body was found lying on top of Sheila's body, and their clothing and the surrounding floor were covered in blood. A kitchen knife was sticking out of Sheila's chest, and a cord was wrapped around her neck. The head of a broken hammer, a knife blade, and a wooden cutting board were on the floor near the bodies. The hammer handle and the knife handle were under the blankets and sheets on a bed. Blood spatters were found on a roll of carpet padding underneath the bed, suggesting that the victims were also attacked while on the floor.

{¶16} Police found a bloody wood-cutting board on the kitchen counter that had been broken into three pieces and reassembled. An empty microwave stand in the kitchen and an open space near a loose TV cable in the living room suggested that property had been taken from the apartment. The police also found a pair of bloody sneakers and a bloody tee-shirt in Mink's separate bedroom.

{¶17} On September 22, police contacted Ornduff after phone records showed that Mink had talked with him a number of times after the murders. Police then seized the television, recliner, microwave, two pictures, and a wall clock that Mink had transferred to Ornduff. Additionally, police learned that Mink had used or attempted to use his father's BP card seven or eight times after the murders. The police also located and seized William Mink's Ford Escort, which Mink had exchanged for drugs. Subsequent laboratory testing confirmed the presence of blood on the driver's-side seat belt and the driver's-side door.

{¶18} After leaving his sisters at the apartment on September 21, Mink stayed on a farm near Tipp City. Around 8:00 p.m. on September 24, Mink turned himself in at the Tipp City Police Department. Mink stated that he had "done something awful and had woke up in a field somewhere west of Tipp City." Mink was then arrested and taken into police custody.

{¶19} Around 11:00 p.m. on September 24, Detective Rick Bergman and Detective Thomas Peed interviewed Mink about William's and Sheila's murders. Mink was advised of his Miranda rights, which he waived. Mink provided detailed oral and written accounts of the murders that reflect the facts already described. Mink also gave a videotaped interview admitting his guilt.

{¶20} Dr. Kent Harshbarger, Deputy Coroner for Montgomery County, performed autopsies on both victims. William was stabbed 13 times, suffered at least 13 blunt-force impacts to the head, and endured four blunt-force impacts on the rest of his body. Other injuries on William's hand, wrist, and lower leg were defensive injuries and showed that William had been alive and defended against the attacks. William died from "multiple trauma, which consisted of blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds."

{¶21} Sheila suffered nine blunt-force impacts to the head, four stab wounds to her chest and back, and 33 superficial stab wounds. The knife protruding into her chest extended four to four-and-one-half inches into her right lung. Sheila's blunt-force injuries were consistent with blows caused by the cutting board and hammer found at the scene. Sheila also suffered fractured bones in her neck due to strangulation and "was alive when all those injuries were inflicted." Dr. Harshbarger concluded that Sheila died from "multiple traumatic injuries, which include blunt force injuries, stab wounds and strangulation."

{¶22} Mink was subsequently indicted on four counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of his parents. Count 3 charged Mink with the aggravated murder of William with prior calculation and design, and Count 4 charged Mink with the aggravated murder of William during...