State v. Teresa R. Thomas
| Decision Date | 26 July 1995 |
| Docket Number | 94CA1608,95-LW-0364 |
| Parties | State of Ohio, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Teresa R. Thomas, Defendant-Appellant Case |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals (Ohio) |
Carol A. Wright, Turner & Wright, Columbus Ohio, Jay Wamsley and J Michael Westfall, Office of the Athens County Public Defender, Athens, Ohio, for Appellant.
William Biddlestone, Athens County Prosecutor, Athens, Ohio, for Appellee.
DECISION
This is an appeal of a judgment by the Athens County Court of Common Pleas finding Teresa R. Thomas guilty of murder with a firearm specification, in violation of R.C. 2903.02(A) and 2941.141. Appellant, Teresa R. Thomas, assigns three errors for our review:
In March of 1991, appellant, Teresa R. Thomas, began a romantic relationship with Jerry Flowers. By January of 1993, appellant and Mr. Flowers were dating steadily, and in July of 1993, the couple was living together in their own trailer home. The relationship between appellant and Mr. Flowers ended on September 15, 1993, when appellant fatally shot Mr. Flowers after he returned home early from work. Subsequently, the Athens County grand jury returned an indictment against Teresa Thomas charging her with aggravated murder with a firearm specification in violation of R.C 2903.01(A) and 2941.141. Appellant plead not guilty and the cause was tried to a jury.
After the state presented its case, appellant filed a motion for acquittal pursuant to Crim.R. 29. The trial court granted a partial acquittal, finding that the state had failed to introduce evidence of prior calculation and design, thereby amending the indictment to charge appellant with murder with a gun specification, in violation of R.C. 2903.02(A) and 2941.141.
At trial, appellant claimed that the shooting was legally excusable because she suffered from battered woman syndrome. A considerable portion of the trial was devoted to establishing appellant as a battered woman and to developing the events leading up to Mr. Flowers' death. The following pertinent evidence was introduced.
Appellant testified that Mr. Flowers beat and verbally abused her. A physician who examined appellant shortly after the shooting testified that the appellant had five bruises on her body, and a copy of the physician's medical report was entered into evidence. On the other hand, one of the corrections officers who processed appellant after the shooting stated that she did not see any bruises on appellant. Also, a former girlfriend of Mr. Flowers testified that he was not abusive to her during the term of their relationship.
In addition to her claim of regular physical and verbal abuse, appellant testified to several specific instances of violence she alleges were perpetrated by Mr. Flowers. In March of 1993, appellant discovered Mr. Flowers smoking marijuana. Upset, appellant attempted to leave the scene. However, Mr. Flowers pushed her into a wall, injuring her shoulder and did not permit appellant to leave, forcing her into his car instead. Mr. Flowers refused to allow appellant to seek medical attention for this injury; however, she did so upon reaching work the next day.
Appellant also testified that Mr. Flowers punched her in the stomach, rupturing an ovary. Appellant testified that after this incident, she received medical treatment and hid from Mr. Flowers at a relative's home until Mr. Flowers found and threatened her, forcing her to return to the trailer home.
Appellant's testimony also asserted that Mr. Flowers' violence toward her was aggravated by marijuana and steroid use. Mr. Flowers' use of marijuana, prednisone (a steroid available only by prescription) and other prescription drugs were corroborated by several witnesses at trial. Appellant stated Mr. Flowers's drug use caused him to hallucinate, seeing a crow and snakes as well as hearing voices; to become abnormally forgetful; and to insist that she awaken in the middle of the night to prepare food for him. According to appellant, Mr. Flowers would often discard the food or feed it to one of the couple's dogs. Appellant also testified that Mr. Flowers would also awaken her by violently grabbing her neck and covering her mouth. Appellant never reported this strange behavior to the authorities or even to her mother who visited with appellant regularly. No other witnesses testified to this type of abnormal behavior on the part of Mr. Flowers.
Appellant also testified that Mr. Flowers became increasingly violent during sexual intercourse with her, and that when she would not consent to sexual intercourse, he would rape her. According to appellant, this sexual violence culminated in Mr. Flowers forcibly sodomizing appellant on September 14, 1993. However, appellant never reported that she was physically abused, raped or sodomized to the authorities. No corroboration of appellant's claim that she had been forcibly sodomized by Mr. Flowers on September 14, was presented at trial. Although a physician examined appellant shortly after the shooting, appellant would not permit an examination for the alleged forcible sodomy. In addition, a former lover of Mr. Flowers testified that he was not violent during sexual intercourse with her.
According to appellant, on the morning of September 15, 1993, Mr. Flowers dumped flour, cider and sugar in the trailer's kitchen and threatened to kill appellant if she did not have the mess cleaned up when he returned from work. Appellant testified that Mr. Flowers then hit her and left the trailer home. Other witnesses corroborated that there was spilled flour, cider and sugar in the trailer.
There was also testimony by the prosecution that a woman who looked similar to Teresa visited Mr. Flowers at his place of employment during the morning of September 15, 1993, and that Mr. Flowers stated that he should go home soon or else he would be "in trouble." However, according to appellant, while Mr. Flowers was at work, appellant visited with her mother, gave her mother a sweeper to clean her mother's home, and purchased some cigarettes. Appellant claimed that she then tried to rest, but could not because she was deeply disturbed by Mr. Flowers' having forcibly sodomized her on the previous day.
Appellant testified that she next set about cleaning the trailer and then decided to break for a meal in the trailer's kitchen at about 1:00 p.m. While she was eating her meal, appellant saw Mr. Flowers, who had returned early from work, parking his car near the trailer. According to appellant, Mr. Flowers then approached the trailer, sneaking quietly across the yard. Appellant claimed that she feared for her life because Mr. Flowers had already threatened to kill her on prior occasions, Mr. Flowers did not normally arrive home so early and Mr. Flowers attempted to approach the trailer in a very quiet manner.
When Mr. Flowers entered the trailer, appellant testified that he was yelling her name in an angry fashion, and that he walked through the trailer searching for appellant, eventually finding her in the kitchen. Appellant testified that she then attempted to flee outside through the trailer's bathroom window. Finding the window too small, appellant testified that she ran to the bedroom and secured Mr. Flowers' loaded Ruger .22 caliber magnum handgun from a holster to defend herself from what she believed was an impending attack by Mr. Flowers. Notably, however, testimony by another witness, appellant's mother, indicated that appellant had a handgun in her purse in the kitchen earlier that day.
Appellant testified that after obtaining the handgun, she returned to the kitchen. Appellant claims she told Mr. Flowers not to approach her or she would shoot him, and that when he continued approaching her and threatened that she "was dead," appellant fired a warning shot. According to appellant, Mr. Flowers paid no heed to the warning and continued to approach and threaten appellant, at which point appellant testified she fired another warning shot into the trailer's floor.
Subsequently, appellant shot Mr. Flowers four times. Appellant claimed that Mr. Flowers was first hit twice in his right arm, at which point Mr. Flowers slumped to the floor. Appellant claims that she tried to help him up and that Mr. Flowers then rose to a hunched, half-standing position facing appellant, and resumed threatening her, stating "you're dead," but that Mr. Flowers did not move toward her. Appellant claims that she then shot Mr. Flowers two times in the back. Appellant then fled the trailer. Although the wounds did not immediately...
To continue reading
Request your trial