State v. Scarton

• Decision Date: 14 May 2020
• Docket Number: No. 108474,108474
• Citation: State v. Scarton, 2020 Ohio 2952, No. 108474 (Ohio App. May 14, 2020)
• Parties: STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. APRIL SCARTON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

2020 Ohio 2952

STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. APRIL SCARTON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 108474

COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

May 14, 2020

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED

Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas

Case No. CR-18-633062-A

Appearances:

Michael C. O'Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Kristin M. Karkutt and Carson Strang, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.

Joseph V. Pagano, for appellant.

EILEEN A. GALLAGHER, J.:

{¶ 1}Defendant-appellantApril Scarton appeals her conviction for murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02(A) and guilty findings of murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02(B), felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1) and felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(2) following a jury trial.She argues that her conviction and guilty findings are not supported by sufficient evidence and are against the manifest weight of the evidence.She further argues that her conviction should be overturned because she was denied effective assistance of counsel, that the trial court improperly denied her request for a jury instruction on her accident defense and that the trial court abused its discretion in excluding "relevant evidence."For the reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court's decision.

Procedural History and Factual Background

{¶ 2} On October 4, 2018, a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury indicted Scarton on four counts: one count of murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02(A)(Count 1), one count of murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02(B)(Count 2), one count of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1)(Count 3) and one count of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(2)(Count 4).The charges arose out of September 24, 2018 incident in which Scarton drove her vehicle onto the front lawn of the residence of Melissa Lang and her fiancé, Eric Clary, striking Lang, running her over and killing her.The incident followed an altercation involving Lang, Clary, Scarton, Scarton's husband, Anthony Scarton("Anthony") and Anthony's friend, Richard Evcic.Scarton pled not guilty to the charges, and, in March 2019, the case proceeded to a jury trial.

{¶ 3} Eighteen witnesses testified on behalf of the state, including Clary, N.C. (the 12-year-old daughter of Lang and Clary), four other eyewitnesses, several police officers and detectives, a paramedic who treated Lang at the scene, twoforensic scientists who analyzed evidence from the scene, the doctor who performed Lang's autopsy, a physician assistant who treated Scarton following the incident and a corrections officer.Scarton and Evcic testified in Scarton's defense.A summary of the relevant evidence presented at trial follows.

{¶ 4} On the evening of Friday, September 21, 2018, Lang and Clary were hanging out with Anthony at their home on 13721 Astor Avenue in Cleveland.Clary had grown up with Anthony and had known him for approximately 20 years.The three of them were drinking, talking and smoking "wet," i.e., smoking cigarettes laced with PCP.Clary testified that he and Lang had used PCP "maybe once a month."According to Clary, Evcic, a friend of Anthony's, also "popped in and out" that evening.

{¶ 5} Clary testified that he next saw Anthony the following night at the home of a friend, Josh.Anthony had his dog with him.The three men and Lang were sitting out back, drinking, cooking out and "BS-ing."During the course of the evening, the dog started "biting on" Clary's leg, and Clary "kicked [the dog] off" him.Clary's actions angered Anthony.Clary testified that Anthony was "pretty much trying to get [Clary] to fight [Anthony]" the rest of the evening because Clary kicked his dog.

{¶ 6} Clary testified that for the next two days, Anthony sent Clary numerous text messages, "rapping * * * and like trying to rhyme and saying meet me here and hopefully your kids see me whoop on you and this and that and the other."Clary stated that he ignored "most of it" and "did not respond to any of it."

{¶ 7} Clary stated that during this time, Lang was on the phone repeatedly with Scarton and/or Anthony arguing over something and, at one point, had left the house to go meet one of them to fight.Clary stated that he did not know what they were arguing about and that he told Lang to "leave it alone, leave it alone, leave it alone" but that "[s]was doing what she was doing."

{¶ 8} On Monday, September 24, 2018, at approximately 5:40 p.m., Scarton drove herself, Anthony and Evcic to Clary and Lang's house.Scarton was driving a rental car, a maroon Kia Forte, because her car had been damaged in an accident a few days earlier.The house was located at the "dead end" of the street.Scarton stopped the vehicle in the street in front of the house, facing east, away from the dead end, toward West 130th Street.

{¶ 9} Clary testified that he was laying on the couch with his 18-month-old son when he heard a "pounding across the whole front of my house, my front door, my windows."Clary stated that he got up and saw Anthony pounding on the front door, Evcic standing in front of his front bay window and Scarton pacing in the driveway.According to Clary, the pounding continued and someone was screaming, "Motherf******* come outside."Clary testified that he exited the house from the side door with a small baseball bat, "yelling and telling them to leave."He walked towards the car in which they had arrived, which was stopped in the street in front of his house.Clary stated that they did not comply with his demands to leave and, instead, yelled back.Clary testified that he felt threatened and believed that Anthony wanted to fight him because he was still angry that Clary had kicked hisdog.Clary stated that, at one point during the altercation, he heard Anthony say, "I'm going to get the strap" or "I'm going to get the gat," which he understood to mean that "he has a pistol somewhere," but Clary never saw a gun.

{¶ 10} Clary testified that Lang came outside "a minute after I did."Lang went over to the side of the car where Scarton was and began arguing with her.Lang grabbed Scarton's hair and the two women began throwing punches at each other and pulling each other's hair.

{¶ 11} Clary stated that, at this point, he was standing at the rear of the vehicle.He testified that he said, "I'm going to count to three, and if you guys don't leave, I'm breaking every window out of this car."He began counting and then broke the vehicle's taillights.Scarton got back into the driver's seat and began hitting the gas while the vehicle was still in park — "high idle three or four times" — and Evcic and Anthony got back into the vehicle.

{¶ 12} Clary testified that Lang was standing in the street near the driver-side of the vehicle, screaming "leave b* * * *, leave, leave, leave."Lang began "running for safety" towards the house as the vehicle began moving.Clary testified that instead of going straight to leave, Scarton turned the vehicle right and drove into his front yard towards the house.He testified that "[w]hen the vehicle first went towards the house, it was halfway — the right wheel was halfway in the grass, left wheel was halfway in the very front edge of the driveway [a]nd the steering was turned all the way to the right, so it just made a complete circle right in the front yard."Clary stated that "[w]ithin seconds," the front right fender of the car hit Langon the head, and she rolled under the front wheel.Clary testified that the vehicle rolled over Lang's neck, torso and stomach, then "took off down the street,""full throttle,""doing 40, 50 mile[s] per hour."Clary stated that he"broke out" the passenger-side rear window with the baseball bat as the vehicle was leaving the grass.

{¶ 13} Clary testified that he yelled for someone to call an ambulance and that his daughter, N.C., handed him a blanket, which he placed over Lang.According to Clary, after "about four minutes," when he did not hear any sirens, he threw the bat in the bushes because he"didn't want the bat to be found" and then ran to the next street to tell Josh what had happened and to ask him to call for help.When he arrived back home, EMS was placing Lang into the ambulance.

{¶ 14} N.C. testified to a similar version of events.She testified that she was sitting in the living room watching television with her parents and her brother when Scarton, Anthony (whom she knew as "Tone") and another male she did not know came over.She stated that Anthony and the other man began banging on the windows and doors of the house, saying, "Open up."N.C. stated that Lang opened the front door and went outside and that Clary also went out into the front yard with a baseball bat.N.C. stated that the adults were "fighting" and "arguing" for approximately ten minutes but that she could not hear what they were saying.At one point, N.C. heard Anthony say, "Get the strap," but she did not understand what that meant.N.C.'s father told her to call police, and N.C. called 911.

{¶ 15} N.C. testified that she was looking out the door when she saw her mother walk over to Scarton's car, which was in the street.N.C. stated that, as her mother approached, the car began "moving a little bit."N.C. stated that she went back inside the house because the dog was trying to get outside and her brother had started crying.N.C. testified that her attention was turned back to what was happening outside because "the car kept making the motor sounds."N.C. stated that she went back outside and was standing in the driveway when she saw the car go into the yard twice.The first time the car turned into the yard, it spun in a circle.The second time the car turned into the yard, it went a "different direction," such that N.C. thought "it was going to run into the house."The car turned toward and ran over her mother, who had been standing in the middle of the front yard.N.C. testified that Scarton was...