State v. Osie

Citation2014 Ohio 2966,16 N.E.3d 588,140 Ohio St.3d 131
Decision Date10 July 2014
Docket NumberNo. 2010–1105.,2010–1105.
Parties The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. OSIE, Appellant.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Ohio

Michael T. Gmoser, Butler County Prosecuting Attorney, Michael A. Oster Jr., Chief, Appellate Division, and Lina N. Alkamhawi, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, Pamela Prude–Smithers, Chief Counsel, Death Penalty Division, and Andrew King, Kelle Hinderer, and Robert K. Lowe, Assistant Public Defenders, for appellant.

KENNEDY, J.

{¶ 1} On February 14, 2009, appellant, Gregory C. Osie, stabbed David Williams to death in Williams's house in Liberty Township, Butler County. Osie was tried by a three-judge panel, which found him guilty of aggravated murder with three death specifications and sentenced him to death.

{¶ 2} David Williams was a partner in a business venture called United Contractors Unlimited ("UCU"), which began in August 2008. Williams had provided $10,000 in seed money to get the business started and also served as a business mentor, providing his partners with advice on running a business. The other partners performed various jobs in the business.

{¶ 3} Williams's partners in UCU included Robin Patterson and Nicholas Wiskur. Patterson was the office manager. Gregory Osie was Patterson's boyfriend. Osie was not a partner in UCU but had been employed on one occasion to do a job for UCU. He was also hired occasionally to do "odds and ends type jobs" for David Williams.

{¶ 4} By February 2009, according to Nicholas Wiskur, UCU had nearly reached "the point of being defunct." Wiskur testified that the partners held a financial meeting approximately every four weeks to go over profit-and-loss statements. At these meetings, the partners would "go over checks"; therefore, Wiskur knew that questions had been raised about certain checks.

{¶ 5} Wiskur decided to investigate one specific check: a check for $375, made out to and endorsed by Greg Osie, ostensibly signed by Robin Patterson, and dated December 26, 2008. This check had been cashed at a Marathon gas station. Because the account on which it was drawn had been closed, the check bounced. Based on his familiarity with Patterson's signature, Wiskur concluded that the check was "obviously forged." He called the Marathon station and discussed the matter with the owner. Wiskur subsequently discussed the matter with Williams.

The Events of February 13–14, 2009

{¶ 6} On February 13, 2009, between approximately 8:30 and 9:00 a.m., Wiskur went to Williams's house. Williams was not home, so Wiskur phoned him, then decided to await Williams's return.

{¶ 7} Before Williams arrived, Osie phoned Wiskur. Osie claimed that he didn't know anything about the forged check. Wiskur informed Osie that the owner of the gas station had "unequivocally" identified Osie as the person who had cashed the check and that Osie's act had been captured on videotape. Osie continued to deny that he had cashed the check. Wiskur told him: "It's all going to come out, * * * if you did it or not. I guess * * * we'll find out, and at that time, we'll do the necessary actions * * *."

{¶ 8} Eventually, Williams came home, and he and Wiskur discussed other matters. However, before Wiskur left, Osie phoned Williams. Wiskur was able to hear and recognize Osie's voice on the other end of the line.

{¶ 9} Wiskur testified that the conversation was "[a]gitated and aggressive," with "some name calling on both sides" and references to the theft of money and property. During this conversation, according to Wiskur, Williams said to Osie: "Well, you know, I just want to make this right. Robin won't return any of my phone calls. * * * Well, I'm going to go to the police. I'm going to file charges.

This needs to be taken care of." At the end of the conversation, according to Wiskur, Williams "slam[med] the phone" down and said, "F you."

{¶ 10} On the night of February 13–14, Tim Purvis, an acquaintance of Osie and Robin Patterson, was performing with a band at a local bar. Around 1:00 a.m., February 14, Purvis saw Patterson at the bar. Purvis finished playing at 2:00 a.m.; half an hour later, he left with Patterson. They reached Purvis's apartment around 2:45 a.m. Patterson stayed until 9:00 a.m. She and Purvis sat and talked and had "a couple of beers."

{¶ 11} While Patterson was at Purvis's apartment, her phone rang between 10 and 15 times, beginning sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. Around 5:00 a.m., Purvis got a phone call from Osie, who wanted to talk to Patterson. Purvis handed Patterson his phone and went to the bathroom. He was able to hear most of the conversation, however. He described it as "a lot of arguing back and forth."

{¶ 12} Around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m., Patterson received a text message that upset her. Purvis described her reaction: "She was very upset, pacing back and forth, crying. Just really distraught." Purvis asked why she was upset, and she said: "Greg killed Dave."

{¶ 13} Records of the Cincinnati Bell Telephone Company introduced at trial show that on February 14, 2009, between 3:07 a.m. and 8:45 a.m., 15 text messages were sent from phone number 513–746–1393 to phone number 513–746–8127. Cincinnati Bell records listed Osie as both subscriber and registered user for phone number 513–746–1393. Osie was also the subscriber for phone number 513–746–8127; the registered user of that phone was listed as "Robin."

{¶ 14} At 3:07 a.m., a text from Osie's phone to Robin's stated: "Baby doll your dirt is ready to be over." At 4:24 a.m., there was another text that said simply: "Job finished." Other texts sent from Osie's phone to Robin's that morning included "Need help" at 4:35 a.m., "Baby talk 2 me" at 5:09 a.m., "Help please" at 5:25 a.m., "I need you i am afraid" at 7:30 a.m., and "Baby im worried please call" at 8:29 a.m.

{¶ 15} Business records of PNC Bank and United Dairy Farmers ("UDF") show that on February 14, 2009, at 4:28 a.m., someone used David Williams's Visa debit card to buy $27.01 worth of gasoline at the UDF in West Chester. Business records of PNC Bank and Meijer show that on February 14, 2009, at 6:24 a.m., someone tried to use the same card to make a transaction in the amount of $547.66 at the Meijer store in West Chester, but the transaction was declined for insufficient funds.

{¶ 16} At approximately 9:00 or 9:15 a.m., February 14, Donald E. Heis Sr., a mechanic at an auto body shop in West Chester, spotted a cell phone lying in pieces in the driveway of the shop as he was driving out on a wrecker call. About 15 minutes later, on his way back, Heis stopped and picked up the phone. Heis reattached the loose pieces of the phone and found that it worked. By examining the phone's recent-call log, he obtained the phone number of Williams's daughter, Heather Williams, and called that number to see whether she knew who owned the phone. Heis explained where he had found the phone and how he had obtained Heather's number. Heather said, "Oh, it's my dad's [phone]." Heis told her that she could come by the body shop and pick it up.

{¶ 17} Heather then called two of her father's friends and asked them to let him know where his phone was. She sent one of them to Williams's house. There he found Williams's body. Police were summoned, and the crime scene was processed.

The Crime Scene

{¶ 18} Williams was found lying on the living-room floor, bruised and blood-soaked. The body lay near a coffee table, where police found a wallet lying open, with business cards and various papers scattered around it. On a table by a recliner was a spillproof cup containing whiskey and a drinking straw.1 Williams's television was missing from the entertainment center in the living room.

{¶ 19} In the kitchen, police found a set of knives in a wooden block on the counter. One knife from the set appeared to be missing, but was found in a kitchen drawer.

{¶ 20} Williams's bedroom contained a safe, which sat atop a dresser. The safe was open, and papers and other items lay scattered on the floor in front of the dresser.

The Autopsy

{¶ 21} Dr. James Swinehart, a forensic pathologist employed by Butler County, performed an autopsy on Williams's body on February 14. Dr. Swinehart noted that Williams had suffered "five distinct stab wounds

clustered basically around the left nipple area." Several of these wounds had perforated Williams's left lung, collapsing it. Dr. Swinehart measured 700 cc of blood in the left chest cavity. Williams had also sustained five stab wounds to the abdomen, one of which damaged his liver and gall bladder.

{¶ 22} Finally, Williams's throat had been slashed. Dr. Swinehart identified "two large incised wounds

of the anterior neck." The more serious of these wounds

was 5 and 3/4 inches long; it penetrated Williams's larynx with a "through and through" wound and exposed his windpipe.

{¶ 23} Dr. Swinehart concluded that Williams bled to death. Based on the temperature of Williams's body at 8:00 p.m., February 14, Dr. Swinehart was able to estimate that Williams had died in the early morning of February 14, sometime between midnight and 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. Given the large amount of sudden blood loss, Dr. Swinehart opined that Williams would have died within 15 minutes.

{¶ 24} Finally, Dr. Swinehart had a comprehensive toxicology screen

performed, which revealed that Williams had a postmortem blood-alcohol level of .160 percent.2

Osie's Arrest and Interrogation

{¶ 25} Investigators from the Butler County Sheriff's Office determined that Osie was a suspect. Four detectives went to his address in West Chester to talk to him. They knocked on the door of his apartment, but no one answered. As the detectives were leaving the apartment complex, they noticed a red truck in the parking lot with its headlights on. Osie drove a red truck. The truck "peeled out" in reverse. The detectives pursued the truck in their vehicles and were able to block its departure. When the driver of the red truck identified...

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