State v. Smith, 90-1433

CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Ohio
Citation61 Ohio St.3d 284,574 N.E.2d 510
Docket NumberNo. 90-1433,90-1433
PartiesThe STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. SMITH, Appellant.
Decision Date31 July 1991

On Saturday afternoon, September 26, 1987, Mary Virginia Bradford, age forty-seven, visited the Race Inn, a neighborhood bar in Cincinnati, Ohio. While at the Race Inn, she had several beers and met, talked, and danced with William H. Smith, appellant, a regular bar patron. She left the Race Inn around 11:45 p.m.

Around 4:00 p.m., on September 27, Marvin Rhodes, Bradford's boyfriend, stopped by her apartment because he had not seen her since Friday, September 25. No one answered the doorbell, but Rhodes found the door unlocked and went in. Rhodes saw blood near the front door and found Bradford in the bedroom. Feeling her face, he found no life in her body and called the police.

Responding police officers found Bradford lying stabbed to death on her bed, nude from the waist down. On the floor, near her bed, police found a woman's pants and panties, bloodstained and turned inside out, and, on the bed, an oxygen machine used by asthmatics. Forensic examination disclosed a .13 percent blood-alcohol level and revealed sperm in her vagina and on her abdomen.

Near the front door of the apartment, police found a chair, with a pool of blood in it, and, on the floor, blood smears including a bare bloody footprint leading to the bedroom. The apartment was otherwise exceptionally neat and clean, with no signs of disorder, disarray, or a struggle, and police found no murder weapon in the apartment. One color television, one black and white television, and a stack stereo with two speakers were missing from Bradford's apartment.

Dr. Harry J. Bonnell, Chief Deputy Coroner, testified that Bradford died as a result of ten stab wounds to her upper body and consequent loss of blood. She was five feet, three inches tall, weighed one hundred sixteen pounds, and a portion of her lungs was missing, which explained her asthmatic condition. Bonnell numbered the wounds one to ten for descriptive purposes (but not indicative of the order in which inflicted). The most lethal wounds, causing incapacitation within five minutes, were wound eight, a four-inch wound into Bradford's right lung and heart, and wound nine, a four-inch wound into the sternum and the heart's right ventricle. Wound seven, a five-inch puncture into the rib and liver, and wounds eight and nine all fractured bony structures. Wound two, four inches in depth, crossed her neck from left to right. Wound ten punctured the liver and was no more than four inches in depth. Two wounds, one and five, showed no signs of hemorrhage and thus were inflicted after death or when the heart was not pumping sufficient blood. Wounds one, three, four, and six were superficial. Bradford's body exhibited no other evidence of injury or trauma such as bruises or defense wounds, and Bonnell observed no twisting motion in the stab wounds that would indicate a violent struggle. All the wounds could have been inflicted by the same, single edged knife.

On September 28, 1987 homicide detectives went to where Smith lived, the home of Bertha Reid, Smith's mother, which was about four blocks from Bradford's house. When police arrived, Smith was not at home, and Reid let the officers in. While at Reid's home, police noticed a television set matching the description of one of the two sets missing from Bradford's home. Thereafter, police secured a warrant, found the missing two televisions in Reid's home, and seized them.

Reid testified that when her son came home around 2:00 a.m. on September 27, he did not act unusual, nor did he appear to be drunk, high, or upset. However, Smith did carry into Reid's home the two televisions in question along with a large stereo system and two speakers. Reid asked where he got the televisions and stereo, and Smith replied that his girlfriend Carolyn gave them to him. Reid did not accept her son's explanation, telling him he would "have to explain to me a little more about what's going on." Later that morning, Smith and his cousin, Greg, took the stereo and two speakers away but left the televisions.

Reid also showed police clothing that her son had worn on September 26 and 27, which police seized. Subsequent forensic analysis revealed that Smith's shirt and shoes bore traces of human blood.

On September 28, 1987, police apprehended and took Smith to police headquarters for questioning. After being advised of his rights, Smith agreed to talk to police. Smith initially asserted that he had driven Bradford home that night but had just dropped her off. He later admitted that he had been in her apartment but had left when her boyfriend arrived.

Smith told police that he met Bradford at the Race Inn, later drove her and her girlfriend to another bar, and then drove Bradford home. While at her house, Smith claimed that someone he thought to be Bradford's boyfriend arrived, and Smith decided to leave quickly. After Smith left, he realized that he had left a packet of cocaine, worth $2,500, at Bradford's house. After he returned, Bradford's boyfriend and the cocaine were both gone. Smith then talked with Bradford.

" * * * [W]e talked about restitution, you know. She said she'd give me some of that body. I said okay, it's good enough for me, you know, but then after I got that [had sex with her] it wasn't good enough, you know, so I asked her like you got any money and stuff, you know. She said she ain't have no money. So we start arguing and stuff and next thing you know she slid over to the kitchen and got [a] little blade--[small carving knife]."

According to Smith, Bradford was stabbed in the stomach during the ensuing struggle and fell onto a chair. He removed the knife from her stomach, and she dragged or walked by herself to the bedroom. He recalled stabbing her in the neck in the bedroom after she called him a motherfucker, but he did not admit inflicting the other stab wounds. When she was lying on the bed, he took her clothes off and got back on top of her and had sex again. Police asked:

"Q. * * * [A]fter you had sex with her the second time, after she was stabbed, then what'd you do?

"A. I gathered up my things together and started taking her stuff downstairs.

"Q. What'd you take out of there?

"A. Her two TVs and her stereo."

Smith said he made four trips carrying her things down to his car and that he took her things in order to sell them. Although Smith initially claimed that he did not know whether Bradford had stopped breathing, he later admitted he decided to have sex with her again because "she was still breathing then." He said that he pulled his penis out as he started to climax and finished ejaculating on her stomach. He did this because he was thinking about getting out of the apartment. Smith claimed he threw the knife into the Ohio River and sold Bradford's stereo in Dayton. However, police recovered her stereo in Cincinnati. When police interviewed Smith, they also seized a pair of undershorts from him stained with blood of the same type as Bradford's.

Smith was indicted on two counts of felony-murder, count I alleging murder during rape, and count II alleging murder in the course of aggravated robbery. Each count contained two death penalty specifications, one alleging aggravated murder during rape and the other alleging murder during aggravated robbery. Count III alleged rape and count IV alleged aggravated robbery. Smith pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, but he later withdrew the insanity plea. A panel of three judges convicted Smith as charged. After a hearing, the panel sentenced Smith to the death penalty on each murder count. The court of appeals affirmed the convictions and death penalties.

The cause is now before this court upon an appeal as of right.

Arthur M. Ney, Jr., Pros. Atty., and Christian J. Schaefer, Cincinnati, for appellee.

Elizabeth E. Agar, Cincinnati, for appellant.

ALICE ROBIE RESNICK, Justice.

We have reviewed appellant's sixteen propositions of law, independently assessed the evidence relating to the death sentences, balanced the aggravating circumstances against the mitigating factors, and reviewed the proportionality of the sentences to those imposed in similar cases. As a result, we affirm the convictions and sentences of death.

I Admission of Accused's Statement

In his initial proposition, Smith contends that his confession resulted from fear for his physical safety and occurred while he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. At the suppression hearing contradictory testimony was presented as to the facts surrounding this confession.

The following evidence was presented. On September 28, 1987, an officer looking for Smith observed him driving a car, then followed and arrested him in a parking lot around 3:30 p.m. Smith did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol while driving or when he was arrested; and police found no drugs or alcohol in the car except for a single beer can. Police started interviewing Smith at 4:13 p.m. by advising him of his rights, and Smith executed a signed waiver of rights. Police finished just after 6:00 p.m. and taped the last twenty minutes of the interview. Police affirmed they never threatened, struck, choked, or otherwise touched Smith during the interview, nor did they promise him leniency. Police testified that at the interview, Smith "had no odor of alcohol about him and his eyes were not dilated. He didn't talk slurred. He didn't appear to be under the influence of anything."

In contrast, Smith testified that he drank twenty-four beers that day and also smoked cocaine and marijuana. Smith further claimed that during the interview a policeman smacked him in the face a few times, snatched him by the collar, and pushed him against a wall and threatened to blow his head off. Smith asserted he would not have made a statement except for the...

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