State v. Prim, 74530.
| Decision Date | 07 September 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 74530.,74530. |
| Citation | 730 NE 2d 455,134 Ohio App.3d 142 |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. PRIM, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
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William D. Mason, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Rebecca Maleckar, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Darrell D. Tyburski, for appellant.
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Jesse Prim, appellant, appeals from the judgment of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, Criminal Division, case No. CR-357925, in which appellant was convicted by a jury of aggravated murder, attempted murder, unlawful possession of dangerous ordinance, and having a weapon while under disability. In addition, appellant was convicted of attendant firearm specifications on the first three offenses. Appellant assigns six errors for this court's review.
Appellant's appeal is not well taken.
This case arises out of the murder of Terri Smith, a twenty-six-year-old woman, by appellant on December 5, 1997. On December 16, 1997, appellant was indicted by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury in a four-count indictment on the following charges: aggravated murder, in violation of R.C. 2903.01, with a firearm specification; attempted aggravated murder, in violation of R.C. 2923.02 and R.C. 2903.01, with a firearm specification; possession of dangerous ordinance, in violation of R.C. 2923.17, with two firearm specifications; and having a weapon while under disability, in violation of R.C. 2923.13. Appellant was arraigned on December 22, 1997, whereupon he entered a plea of not guilty to all counts contained within the indictment.
The trial court conducted a pretrial hearing on February 3, 1998. At the hearing, defense counsel informed the trial court that, due to the serious nature of the charged offenses and the fact that discovery had not yet been completed, the earliest possible date that defense counsel could be prepared for trial was April 14, 1998. This presented a problem in light of the fact that, pursuant to R.C. 2945.71, appellant had to be brought to trial by March 4, 1998. The appellant refused to execute a waiver of speedy trial. The trial court then engaged appellant in a colloquy to determine if appellant understood the nature of the offenses that he was charged with and whether appellant understood the effect of refusing to waive speedy trial on defense counsel's ability to adequately represent appellant at trial on the underlying charges. At the conclusion of the pretrial hearing, appellant maintained that he would not sign a waiver of his right to a speedy trial. Immediately thereafter, lead defense counsel was permitted to withdraw from the case.
On February 9, 1998, the trial court conducted a second pretrial hearing on this matter. Upon the state's motion, the trial court ordered that appellant be referred to the court psychiatric clinic pursuant to R.C. 2945.37 in order to determine whether appellant was competent to stand trial on the indicted offenses. Defense counsel objected to the trial court's order on the basis that appellant had given no indication that he was, in any way, incompetent. Trial was then scheduled for April 14, 1998. On February 11, 1998, appellant filed a motion to suppress statements.
On April 7, 1998, the trial court conducted a hearing on the competency report that had been completed by the psychiatric clinic on March 26, 1998. The psychiatric report concluded, in pertinent part, that appellant should undergo a period of observation and diagnostic evaluation as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital in order to determine if appellant's religious beliefs were sincere or the product of mental illness. The trial court, after reading the pertinent parts of the psychiatric report into the record, questioned appellant as to whether he was working with his attorneys and understood his legal status. Appellant responded in the affirmative to both inquiries. Defense counsel concurred in appellant's assertions. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court determined that appellant was not in need of further psychiatric evaluation and was therefore competent to stand trial. The trial date was rescheduled for April 20, 1998.
On April 20, 1998, prior to commencement of trial, the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing on appellant's motion to suppress. During the hearing, the state presented the testimony of three police officers, Lem Griffin, Eddy Rimer, and Michael O'Malley. Each of these officers maintained that all of the statements made by appellant were either voluntarily provided or were made after appellant was given the Miranda warnings on three separate occasions by different police officers. Accordingly, the trial court denied appellant's motion to suppress.
A jury trial commenced immediately thereafter. The victim, Terri Smith, a twenty-six-year-old woman, lived on East 100 Street in Cleveland, Ohio, near the Buckeye Road area with her mother, daughter, and sister. Appellant lived in the same neighborhood. Appellant and Ms. Smith had been involved in an on-again, off-again relationship since 1996. During the relationship, appellant had apparently engaged in a number of harassing incidents involving Ms. Smith and her family including telephone harassment, repeatedly driving by Ms. Smith's residence, and following Ms. Smith into a laundromat on Buckeye Road. Due to appellant's actions, the Cleveland Police had to be called.
On December 5, 1997, Eloise Smith, the victim's mother, left the house at approximately 8:30 a.m. to go to work as an insurance salesperson. Upon arriving at work, Mrs. Smith realized that she had left her computer at home. Mrs. Smith paged Terri Smith, hoping that she would be able to bring the computer to her office. Terri informed her mother that she could bring the computer. Mrs. Smith never received her computer that day.
Sometime after 9:00 a.m. that same day, Rashida Chambliss and Robin Hickman, two residents of East 99 Street, which runs between Elwell Avenue and Buckeye Road, heard gunshots followed by a woman screaming. Both women looked out the windows of their homes and observed Terri Smith running down the middle of the street toward Buckeye Road. Ms. Smith appeared hysterical and was screaming for help. Appellant was following behind Ms. Smith carrying a sawed-off shotgun at his side. It was later determined that Terri Smith had been shot in the right arm by appellant at the corner of East 99 Street and Elwell Avenue. A shotgun shell casing was eventually discovered at the scene of the shooting.
Ms. Smith proceeded to enter a laundromat located at the corner of Buckeye Road and East 100 Street screaming, "He shot me, he shot me." Ms. Smith then moved to the back wall of the laundromat near a folding table. At this point, witnesses observed appellant enter the laundromat still carrying the sawed-off shotgun in his right arm. Appellant walked directly up to Ms. Smith, who was hysterically pleading for her life, braced himself and fired the shotgun, striking Terri Smith in the head. Appellant then walked out of the laundromat in a casual manner, still carrying the sawed-off shotgun. Appellant proceeded down Elwell Avenue, where witnesses observed him pick up the victim's purse, place it in his automobile and walk away from the scene.
At approximately 9:56 a.m., Cleveland Police Officer Lem Griffin and his partner, in response to a radio broadcast detailing the shooting, were patrolling the area of East 99 Street and Elwell Avenue when appellant stepped out into the street and flagged down the patrol car. At this point appellant stated, "I'm the one you're looking for." The officers asked appellant a number of questions to determine his identity and then asked appellant where the weapon was located. Appellant responded that he had hidden the weapon on Elwell Avenue. Appellant was patted down, taken into custody and placed in the back of the patrol car. During the search, the police discovered one live 16-gauge shotgun shell in appellant's possession. An additional search of the area near the laundromat uncovered empty 16-gauge shotgun shells near the corner of East 99 Street and Elwell Avenue.
After placing appellant in custody, the police officers drove to the area where appellant had stated that the gun was located. A brief search of the area failed to produce the subject weapon. At this point, Officer Eddy Rimer arrived on the scene to assist in the search. Officer Rimer entered the vehicle where appellant was located and, after reading appellant his Miranda warnings, asked appellant for the exact location of the weapon. Appellant indicated that he understood his rights due to prior involvement in the criminal justice system and then directed Officer Rimer to look under the front porch of the house next door to the house where the other police officers had been searching. Appellant allegedly stated further that he had shot Terri Smith because "he got tired of her fucking him over and taking his money." The shotgun was discovered soon thereafter. Subsequent tests on the weapon demonstrated that it was operational, and blood on the gun itself was found to be consistent with that of the victim, Terri Smith.
Appellant was then transported by police cruiser to St. Luke's Hospital for treatment on his right wrist, which he maintained he had injured while shooting Terri Smith. At the hospital, appellant reiterated that he had shot Terri Smith because he was tired of seeing her with other men and due to the on-again, off-again nature of their relationship. Appellant stated further that he had been to church a number of weeks prior to the shooting and related a biblical passage regarding a season or a time for everything. Appellant maintained that he realized it was time...
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