State v. Palmer

• Decision Date: 31 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-2301,96-2301
• Citation: 687 N.E.2d 685,80 Ohio St.3d 543
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. PALMER, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 543

80 Ohio St.3d 543

687 N.E.2d 685

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

No. 96-2301.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted Aug. 26, 1997.

Decided Dec. 31, 1997.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

The requirement of a complete, full, and unabridged transcript in capital trials does not mean that the trial record must be perfect for purposes of appellate review.

On May 7, 1989, Edward Hill, appellant Donald L. Palmer, Jr., and appellant's sister, Mildred "Angel" Patterson, drove from Columbus to Belmont County, Ohio, in a brown Dodge Charger owned by Hill. On May 8, appellant and Hill spent much of the day driving around Belmont County and in nearby Yorkville and Tiltonsville, Ohio. On at least two occasions, the men drove past the residence of George Goolie at the intersection of County Road 2 and Glen Robbins Road in Belmont County. Goolie had previously dated Cammy Palmer, who is appellant's ex-wife and Hill's sister. Appellant and Hill were allegedly (according to the state) preparing to either rob Goolie or to burglarize his residence. Goolie's residence had previously been burglarized in February 1989, and Goolie had asked his friend, Charles Sponhaltz, to check on the residence whenever Sponhaltz drove by.

On May 8, at approximately 5:00 p.m., while Hill and appellant were driving on County Road 2 in the vicinity of Goolie's residence, Hill's vehicle apparently struck the rear of a white pickup truck driven by Sponhaltz. There was little or no damage to either vehicle. Following the accident, appellant got out of Hill's vehicle and proceeded to shoot Sponhaltz twice in the head. At some point, Steven Vargo, a passing motorist, stopped at the scene and parked his vehicle behind Hill's Dodge Charger. When Vargo got out of the vehicle, appellant shot him twice in the head. Hill and appellant loaded Sponhaltz's body into the bed of Sponhaltz's pickup truck, abandoned the truck in a field near the scene of the killings, and fled the area in the brown Dodge Charger. Vargo's body and vehicle were left on the roadway at the scene of the murders.

On May 8, at approximately 5:15 p.m., Matthew Rutter was driving on County Road 2 toward Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, when he observed a white pickup truck, followed very closely by a brown Dodge Charger, speeding down the road in the opposite direction. After proceeding further on County Road 2, Rutter discovered Vargo's body lying on the roadway directly across from Vargo's vehicle. Rutter shook Vargo's arm to see if he was alive, but Vargo did not respond. Rutter then left the scene, notified authorities in nearby Mt. Pleasant, and returned to the scene with an emergency squad. James Tanner, an emergency medical technician, checked Vargo's vital signs and determined that he was dead. Tanner then secured the area until police arrived.

Approximately fifty feet from Vargo's body, police found two puddles of blood, a cigarette lighter, and a pack of cigarettes of the type Sponhaltz normally smoked. Police found no wallet, money, or identification papers on Vargo's body. Evidence at trial indicated that Vargo had been carrying approximately $20 on the day of the murders.

Police discovered Sponhaltz's body in the bed of his pickup truck, approximately seven-tenths of a mile from the scene of the murders. Investigators found no wallet, money, or identification papers on Sponhaltz's body. Additionally, the right front pocket of Sponhaltz's jeans had been pulled inside out, indicating that Sponhaltz had been the victim of a robbery.

Dr. Norman Franklin performed the autopsy of the victims. Franklin found that each victim had died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head. Franklin recovered two small-caliber lead projectiles from the head of each victim. There were two entrance wounds on the left side of Sponhaltz's head, and an entrance wound on the left and on the right side of Vargo's head. An area of stippling on Vargo's skin indicated that one of the shots had been fired into Vargo's head from a distance of less than two feet.

Prior to the murders, in the early morning hours of May 8, Sergeant Jon Hawthorne of the Belmont County Sheriff's Department had stopped a brown Dodge Charger in Belmont County and had briefly detained the occupants. At the time of the traffic stop, Hill was driving the vehicle and another man, later identified as appellant, was riding as a passenger. Hawthorne apparently ran a computer check on the license plate number of the vehicle (Ohio license plate No. 546 STC), and had determined that the vehicle was registered to Hill. After checking the identity of the driver, Hawthorne allowed the two men to proceed. Following the murders, Hawthorne made a connection between the vehicle he had stopped in the early morning hours of May 8 and the description of the vehicle Rutter had later observed near the scene of the homicides.

Additionally, on May 8, prior to the murders, two men in a brown Dodge Charger had stopped at Midei Service Center in Tiltonsville, Ohio, at approximately Fred Thompson was the homicide investigator for the Belmont County Sheriff's Department. Based on information supplied by Sergeant Hawthorne and the description of the vehicle Rutter had observed near the scene of the murders, Thompson began to focus his investigation on the brown Dodge Charger, Ohio license plate No. 546 STC, owned by Hill. Additionally, in the course of his investigation, Thompson obtained the license plate number of the vehicle Kolb and Critser had observed at Midei Service Center, i.e., Hill's brown Dodge Charger, Ohio license plate No. 546 STC.

                3:40 p.m., and again at approximately 4:40 p.m.  Employees at Midei thought that the occupants of the vehicle were acting "strange," and at least one employee thought that the men were "casing the place."   At one point, Richard Kolb, the manager at Midei, said to Thomas R. Critser, a coworker, "Let's write this license number down."   Critser responded, "Why? I have already got it."   Following the murders, the license plate number Critser had written on a piece of paper, Ohio license plate No. 546 STC, was turned over to police
                

On Sunday, May 14, appellant called the Belmont County Sheriff's Department and left a message for Thompson. On Monday, May 15, Thompson returned the call and spoke with appellant. During the conversation, appellant asked Thompson whether he (appellant) was a suspect in the homicides. Thompson responded, "I don't know. Are you?" At that point, appellant informed Thompson that appellant and Hill had been in Belmont County on May 7 and 8. Appellant claimed that, on May 8, appellant and Hill had taken Angel Patterson to cash a Social Security disability check and to run errands. Afterwards, appellant and Hill drove around the area in Hill's vehicle. Appellant told Thompson that appellant and Hill had driven past George Goolie's residence. Goolie lived approximately a quarter of a mile from the scene of the murders. Additionally, appellant told Thompson that while appellant and Hill were in Belmont County, a .22 caliber pistol had "turned up missing" from appellant's apartment. Prior to the conversation, Thompson had already suspected that the murder weapon was a small-caliber weapon, possibly a .22 or .25 caliber handgun.

On Tuesday, May 16, Thompson drove to Columbus to locate appellant and Hill for questioning. After attempting to locate Hill, Thompson drove to appellant's apartment complex and saw the two men pulling into the parking lot in Hill's Dodge Charger. Thompson took appellant and Hill to the Columbus police station for questioning. There, appellant voluntarily agreed to speak with police after being advised of his Miranda ¹ rights. During questioning, appellant lied to police and denied any involvement in the murders. However, when the police indicated that they had certain evidence linking appellant and Hill to the scene of On May 8, in the late afternoon, appellant and Hill drove past Goolie's residence at the corner of County Road 2 and Glen Robbins Road. Hill was driving the Dodge Charger, and appellant was a passenger. Hill and appellant had been looking for Goolie most of the day, and had previously driven past Goolie's residence and his place of employment. As Hill drove past Goolie's residence one final time, appellant was holding a .22 caliber pistol he had been firing out the window of Hill's vehicle. After appellant and Hill had passed the residence, a white pickup truck traveling in front of Hill's vehicle either stopped or suddenly slowed down, and Hill's vehicle hit the rear of the truck. Appellant told police that he was "almost positive" the driver of the truck "did it [caused the accident] on purpose." After the accident, Hill and Sponhaltz got out of their vehicles, and appellant exited the passenger's side of Hill's vehicle with the .22 caliber pistol. According to appellant, the driver of the pickup (Sponhaltz) cursed at Hill, and said, "what in the hell are you trying to prove?" Sponhaltz then "grabbed" Hill. At that point, appellant swung at and struck Sponhaltz with the pistol, and discharged the weapon near the left side of Sponhaltz's head. Hill began screaming, and appellant mistakenly thought that he (appellant) had shot Hill. However, after the victim fell to the ground, Hill said, "Kill him. Kill him." Appellant then fired two shots into Sponhaltz's head, knowing that the shots would kill him. Appellant told police that he shot Sponhaltz a total of three times, once when he swung at and struck Sponhaltz with the gun, and twice while Sponhaltz was lying on the ground.

the murders, appellant confessed to the killings. During his confession, appellant provided police with the following detailed account of the homicides.

After shooting Sponhaltz, appellant went back to Hill's vehicle. At that point, Hill asked appellant to help load the victim into the bed of the victim's pickup truck. While appellant and Hill were attempting to load...