State v. Phillips

• Decision Date: 22 November 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-2208,94-2208
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. PHILLIPS, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 72

74 Ohio St.3d 72

656 N.E.2d 643

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

No. 94-2208.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted July 12, 1995.

Decided Nov. 22, 1995.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

Arraignment of an accused via closed-circuit television is constitutionally adequate when the procedure is functionally equivalent to live, in-person arraignment.

On January 18, 1993, Sheila Marie Evans, age three, died as a result of cardiovascular collapse due to, inter alia, severe, blunt force trauma to her abdomen. At the time, Sheila's mother, Fae Evans, was dating and occasionally cohabiting with appellant, Ronald Ray Phillips. In addition to Sheila, Evans had two other children, Sara, twenty-nine months old, and Ronald, Jr., appellant's infant son.

Shortly after 10:00 a.m. on the morning of January 18, 1993, Fae Evans took Ronald, Jr. to see the family physician for a routine physical examination. Appellant remained at Evans's apartment to care for Sheila and Sara. Evans returned to the apartment at approximately 11:25 a.m. and found appellant sitting in the kitchen. Soon thereafter, Evans called out to her daughters, but they failed either to respond or to appear. Appellant walked into the girls' bedroom and found Sheila lying on her bed motionless, pale and cold. He then lifted Sheila and carried her downstairs to his grandmother's apartment. Hazel Phillips, appellant's grandmother, telephoned the 911 emergency operator, reported that Sheila was not breathing, and relayed instructions on performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation to appellant. Appellant in turn attempted to revive Sheila until medical assistance arrived.

Paramedics from the city of Akron responded to the 911 call within four minutes of being dispatched and immediately transported Sheila to Children's Hospital in Akron. Upon her arrival at the emergency room, Sheila was not breathing and had no pulse. The first physician to examine Sheila, Dr. Eugene Izsak, noted that she had multiple bruises on her torso, a distended stomach, apparent internal abdominal injuries, and a stretched anus with some acute, recent changes. Dr. Izsak's medical team continued cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was eventually able to obtain a pulse. Sheila was transported to the operating room after spending approximately one hour in the emergency room. Dr. Robert Klein performed emergency abdominal surgery, which revealed that Sheila's abdominal cavity was filled with a significant amount of free air and blood, and that a portion of her intestine, the duodenum, was perforated and gangrenous. Dr. Klein removed the dead portion of the intestine, and attempted to control the internal bleeding. Based upon his observations, Dr. Klein determined that the injury to the duodenum had been inflicted at least two days prior to Sheila's admission into the hospital. Despite the significant medical efforts performed at Children's Hospital, Sheila died later that day.

On January 19, 1993, Dr. William Cox, the Summit County Coroner, conducted an autopsy on Sheila. During his external examination of Sheila, Dr. Cox documented more than one hundred twenty-five bruises, many of which he identified as acute injuries that had been inflicted within a few hours of death. The bruising indicated that Sheila had been severely beaten about her head, face, upper and lower torso, arms, legs, and genitalia. He also detailed that the blows to Sheila's abdomen had resulted in severe internal trauma, including hemorrhaging in her stomach, intestine and other internal organs. Dr. Cox examined the section of Sheila's bowel that had been surgically removed, and determined that the injury to the duodenum had occurred approximately forty-eight hours prior to her death. During that forty-eight-hour period, Dr. Cox opined, Sheila would have suffered from intense abdominal pain, an inability to eat, vomiting, a high temperature, and listlessness. The beating Sheila suffered on the morning of January 18, 1993 caused the already necrotic and gangrenous duodenum to rupture. Dr. Cox concluded that Sheila died as a result of cardiovascular collapse stemming from the severe, blunt force trauma to her abdomen, and the numerous related complications.

Dr. Cox also discovered during the autopsy evidence of acute anal penetration. Based upon the presence of contusions and lacerations, Dr. Cox determined that Sheila had sustained repetitive anal penetrations over a period of time, and that the most recent anal trauma had occurred sometime during the morning of January 18, 1993. Given the absence of abrasions within the rectum, Dr. Cox further concluded that Sheila had been anally penetrated by a penis rather than by a finger or some other foreign object.

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on the day Sheila died, Detective Jan Falcone, an officer with the Juvenile Bureau of the Akron Police Department, interviewed appellant at the police station. Although appellant was not placed under arrest, Falcone read appellant his Miranda rights, which he waived. During the interview, appellant admitted that on Friday, January 15, 1993, or Saturday, January 16, 1993, he had spanked Sheila three times with an open hand. After the spanking, appellant noticed bruises on the girl's bottom, which surprised him. He said, "I really didn't think I spanked her that hard but I told Fae I would not do it any more." Appellant indicated that Sheila had not felt well during the weekend, and that she had vomited several times.

Appellant also told Falcone that Sheila had been injured on several previous occasions. He recalled one incident in which Sheila fell on a railroad spike which penetrated either her vagina or anus. On another occasion, appellant claimed that Sheila hurt her "vagina and stomach area" when she jumped from a dresser to a bed and struck the corner of the bed. Sheila bruised her eye and cut her lip when she fell down a flight of stairs. Appellant denied having ever touched Sheila or Sara in their "private areas."

At some point during the interview, appellant was informed that Sheila had died. Falcone then asked appellant again what had happened to Sheila. Appellant responded that the night before Sheila's death, he had observed Evans in the girls' bedroom standing over Sheila with both fists clenched after hearing Sheila scream, "Don't beat me." The interview ceased after that exchange, and appellant left the police station. In total, the interview lasted approximately seven hours, during which time appellant was provided with food, beverages, and several breaks.

On Wednesday, January 19, 1993, appellant telephoned the Akron police station in order to speak with the detectives who were investigating Sheila's death. Detective Ronald Perella, a detective assigned to the case, was attending Sheila's autopsy at the time appellant's call was received and thus was unable to immediately speak with appellant. The next morning, Perella and his supervisor, Sergeant Dye, drove to South Alternative School, where appellant was enrolled as a student. The officers met with appellant and asked him to return to the police department for further questioning. Appellant complied, was driven to the Juvenile Bureau of the police department, and taken to an interviewing room. Perella read appellant his Miranda rights, which he again waived, and asked appellant to share whatever additional information he wished to convey. Appellant then repeated the same information he had given to Detective Falcone on the previous day. The detectives questioned appellant as to why he had telephoned them if he simply wanted to reiterate his earlier statement. They also informed appellant that the coroner had performed an autopsy on Sheila, and therefore knew everything that had happened to her.

At that point, appellant asked Sergeant Dye to leave the room so that he could speak with Detective Perella alone. Dye agreed. Once they were alone, appellant told Perella, "I don't want to go to jail, I don't want to get pumped in the butt." Perella responded that "not everybody who gets arrested goes to jail, that there could be counseling but without knowing what [appellant] wanted to talk about, that [Perella] couldn't promise him anything except to tell the prosecutor and the judge that he cooperated." Appellant then confessed that on the morning of January 18, 1993, he "lost it" and repeatedly hit Sheila. Appellant explained that he had called Sheila three times for breakfast and she had failed to respond. As a result, appellant went to the girls' bedroom, pulled the covers off Sheila, and began hitting her, throwing her against the walls, and dragging her by her hair. During the beating, appellant noticed that Sheila was not wearing underwear, which caused him to become sexually aroused. After beating Sheila appellant stated he put Vaseline on her anus and inserted his fingers. While appellant admitted that he thought about anally penetrating the three-year-old girl with his penis on that morning, he denied doing so. Appellant did confess to anally penetrating Sheila with his penis on two prior occasions, but claimed that Evans had paid him to perform those acts. Toward the end of the approximately three-hour interview, appellant prepared a handwritten statement detailing the events to which he had verbally confessed. Shortly after he completed the written statement, appellant was arrested.

On February 1, 1993, the Summit County Grand Jury returned an indictment against appellant for one count of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01(B) with a death specification pursuant to R.C. 2929.04(A)(7), one count of felonious sexual penetration pursuant to R.C. 2907.12(A)(1)(b), three counts of rape pursuant to R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), one count of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1), and one count of endangering children pursuant to R.C. 2919.22(B) with a physical harm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.143(A). ¹ Appellant entered a...