State v. Sowell
| Decision Date | 08 December 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 2011–1921.,2011–1921. |
| Citation | 2016 Ohio 8025,71 N.E.3d 1034,148 Ohio St.3d 554 |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio, Appellee v. SOWELL, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Timothy J. McGinty, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Christopher D. Schroeder and T. Allan Regas, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.
Gamso, Helmick & Hoolahan and Jeffrey M. Gamso ; and Robert L. Tobin, Cuyahoga County Public Defender, and Erika Cunliffe, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Freda J. Levenson, urging reversal for amicus curiae, American Civil Liberties Union.
{¶ 1} Anthony Sowell appeals from the judgment of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in connection with 11 capital convictions and sentences of death arising out of the serial killing of 11 women in Cleveland, Ohio. Sometime before October 28, 2009, Sowell kidnapped and murdered these 11 women and buried or concealed them at his home located at 12205 Imperial Avenue on the east side of Cleveland. Members of the Cleveland Police Department investigating a rape complaint against Sowell discovered the bodies of Diane Turner and Telacia Fortson in Sowell's house. Police later found the bodies of eight more women and the skull of another woman in or around the home, and they obtained additional evidence demonstrating that Sowell had attempted to kill three other women.
{¶ 2} A grand jury returned an 85–count indictment against Sowell, and following trial in common pleas court, a jury convicted him of 11 counts of aggravated murder, each containing death-penalty specifications, and recommended death sentences for each of the 11 aggravated murders. The trial court accepted those recommendations and sentenced Sowell to 11 death sentences on those counts.
{¶ 3} After review, we affirm Sowell's convictions and death sentences.
{¶ 4} On October 28, 2009, a member of the Cleveland Police Department, investigating a rape complaint filed by Latundra Billups, obtained warrants to arrest Sowell and to search his home at 12205 Imperial Avenue in Cleveland. When officers executed the search warrant the next evening, Sowell was not at home. In a room on the third floor of the house, however, police found two decomposed female corpses lying on the floor, which DNA analysis later confirmed were the bodies of Diane Turner and Telacia Fortson.
{¶ 5} Police obtained another warrant the next day and resumed searching Sowell's house, this time accompanied by personnel from the county coroner's office and a cadaver dog. They located a body beneath the basement staircase covered by a large mound of dirt and two more on the third floor, one inside a black plastic bag and one in a crawlspace concealed beneath more dirt. DNA analysis identified the body in the basement as Janice Webb, the body in the bag as Nancy Cobbs, and the body in the crawlspace as Tishana Culver.
{¶ 6} In the backyard, the cadaver dog alerted to a spot near the back porch, where police located another body buried in a shallow grave that DNA analysis identified as Tonia Carmichael.
{¶ 7} The next day, on October 31, Sowell was seen on Mount Auburn Avenue by a member of the public who had recognized him from news broadcasts. Police were alerted and Sowell was arrested.
{¶ 8} On November 3, police obtained another search warrant for Sowell's residence and this time arranged for a backhoe to be brought to the property. They uncovered four more corpses and from DNA analysis eventually identified them as the bodies of Michelle Mason, Kim Smith, Amelda Hunter, and Crystal Dozier. In addition, a human skull, which DNA analysis eventually identified as belonging to Leshanda Long, was found in a black plastic bag inside a red bucket in the basement. No other parts of her body were located.
{¶ 9} Autopsy results showed that Culver had suffered a fractured hyoid bone in her neck, suggesting manual strangulation. Seven bodies—Carmichael, Cobbs, Dozier, Fortson, Hunter, Mason, and Webb—had ligatures around their necks, and the coroners concluded that their deaths had been caused by ligature strangulation. The coroners further concluded that Long, Smith, and Turner were killed by "homicidal violence" of "undetermined" type. Other evidence showed that six bodies—Carmichael, Cobbs, Culver, Dozier, Smith, and Webb—had bindings, or the remains of bindings, around their wrists and/or ankles.
{¶ 10} Following the investigation, a grand jury returned an 85–count indictment against Sowell. Counts 1 through 66 dealt with the 11 murder victims. Regarding each victim, the grand jury indicted Sowell on two counts of aggravated murder: one for prior calculation and design, R.C. 2903.01(A), and one for felony murder, R.C. 2903.01(B), predicated on kidnapping.
{¶ 11} Each aggravated-murder count had 15 death-penalty specifications. Two felony-murder specifications pursuant to R.C. 2929.04(A)(7) were attached to each count—the first was predicated on kidnapping to terrorize or inflict serious physical harm on the victim and the second was predicated on kidnapping to engage in sexual activity with the victim against the victim's will.
{¶ 12} In addition, each aggravated-murder count had 13 course-of-conduct specifications pursuant to R.C. 2929.04(A)(5), alleging that the murder was part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill two or more victims. Each course-of-conduct specification cited one of the other murders or attempted murders in this case as part of the course of conduct engaged in by Sowell.
{¶ 13} Each aggravated-murder count and most of the noncapital counts also included a sexual-motivation specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.147, a sexually violent predator specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.148, a repeat-violent-offender specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.149, and a prior-conviction specification reflecting a prior conviction of attempted rape.
{¶ 14} With respect to each murder victim, the indictment charged two counts of kidnapping: one under R.C. 2905.01(A)(3) () and another under R.C. 2905.01(A)(4) (). Finally, the indictment charged one count of abuse of a corpse and one count of tampering with evidence with respect to each aggravated murder victim.
{¶ 15} Counts 67 to 85 charged Sowell with crimes against Latundra Billups, Shawn Morris, and Gladys Wade, each of whom survived their encounters with Sowell. As to these victims, whom the state identified as Jane Does in the original indictment, Sowell was charged with two counts of kidnapping, pursuant to R.C. 2905.01(A)(3) and (A)(4), and one count of attempted murder, pursuant to R.C. 2923.02 and 2903.02(A). Sowell was also charged with two counts of rape committed against both Billups and Morris and one count of attempted rape committed against Wade. Additionally, he was charged with two counts of felonious assault pertaining to Billups and one count each with regard to Morris and Wade. Finally, he was indicted for one count of the aggravated robbery of Wade.
{¶ 16} After the state's presentation of evidence during the guilt phase of the trial, the defense moved for acquittal. The trial court granted the motion as to Counts 38, 39, and 40 (felony-murder and kidnapping of Long) and Specifications 1, 2, and 16 (felony murder and sexual-motivation specifications) to Count 37 (aggravated murder of Long with prior calculation and design).
{¶ 17} The defense did not call any witnesses in its case-in-chief, but it submitted a number of exhibits into evidence before it rested. The jury returned verdicts finding Sowell not guilty of Count 85 (aggravated robbery of Wade) but guilty of all other counts and specifications.
{¶ 18} Prior to the penalty phase of trial, the trial court merged the aggravated-murder counts for sentencing purposes. The state elected to proceed under R.C. 2903.01(A), and thus, the jury considered 11 counts of aggravated murder. Pursuant to the state's election, the counts based on R.C. 2903.01(B) were not submitted to the jury during the penalty phase of the trial.
{¶ 19} At the conclusion of its penalty-phase deliberations, the jury recommended death sentences for each of the 11 aggravated murders. The trial court accepted the recommendations and sentenced Sowell to death on each of the 11 counts.
{¶ 20} Sowell appealed as of right to this court pursuant to Article IV, Section 2(B)(2)(c) of the Ohio Constitution.
{¶ 21} The trial court conducted an in camera session on July 21, 2010, involving a hearing on Sowell's motion to suppress statements he made to police, and conducted subsequent in camera sessions from June 6 through 21, 2011, relating to the individual voir dire of prospective jurors on attitudes toward the death penalty, pretrial publicity, and requests to be excused for hardship reasons.
{¶ 22} Although Sowell did not present a proposition of law challenging the courtroom closures and thus failed to preserve the issue for appeal, see generally State v. Quarterman, 140 Ohio St.3d 464, 2014-Ohio-4034, 19 N.E.3d 900, on September 3, 2014, we ordered additional briefing on whether these closures denied Sowell his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. 140 Ohio St.3d 1411, 2014-Ohio-3785, 15 N.E.3d 881.
{¶ 23} Sowell moved to suppress statements made during a series of police interrogations on the basis that he had not been properly advised of his Miranda rights and that he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive them because he suffered from a psychotic disorder or severe mental illness.
{¶ 24} The trial court determined that due to the sensitive nature of the evidence regarding Sowell's mental health issues and the potential prejudice to the jury pool, it would conduct the suppression hearing in camera. Defense counsel objected for the record.
{¶ 25} At the hearing, ...
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