State v. Thomas
| Decision Date | 17 May 2019 |
| Docket Number | Court of Appeals No. L-17-1266 |
| Citation | 2019 Ohio 1916 |
| Parties | State of Ohio Appellee v. Deonte Lamour Thomas Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
DECISION AND JUDGMENT
Julia R. Bates, Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, and Evy M. Jarrett, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Lawrence A. Gold, for appellant.
{¶ 1} Appellant, Deonte Lamour Thomas, appeals the September 28, 2017 judgment of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, which, following a jury finding him guilty of aggravated burglary, felonious assault, kidnapping, and rape, sentenced him to a total prison term of 16 years, with 8 years mandatory, and classified him as a Tier III sex offender. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
{¶ 2} On March 25, 2017, police responded to a 911 call at a residence in East Woodside Terrace in Toledo, Ohio. The victim, R.I., told police that Thomas had kicked in her door sometime after 1:00 a.m., assaulted her repeatedly before both fell asleep in her bed, and upon waking around 6:00 a.m., forced her to have sex before agreeing to leave. Police took R.I.'s statement and investigated the scene, and advised R.I. she had within 24 hours of the incident to submit to an examination for purposes of collecting evidence of a sexual assault. The next day, R.I. went to the hospital and a SANE nurse collected evidence of the assault, noting injuries consistent with R.I.'s account of the incident. With the help of family and friends, R.I found places to stay with her children until police could take Thomas into custody.
{¶ 3} On April 20, 2017, Thomas was arraigned on a four-count indictment, charging aggravated burglary in violation of R.C. 2911.11(A)(1) and (B), a felony of the first degree, felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1) and (D), a felony of the second degree, kidnapping in violation of R.C. 2905.01(A)(3) and (C), a felony of the first degree, and rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2) and (B), a felony of the first degree. Thomas entered a not guilty plea, and after discovery, the parties filed various motions and briefs, arguing the admissibility of evidence. Additionally, the state filed a notice of intent to introduce 404(B) evidence.
{¶ 4} On August 31, 2017, the trial court addressed the various evidentiary issues at hearing. Of importance in this appeal, the parties disputed whether the trial court should permit evidence of Thomas's prior conduct, pursuant to Evid.R. 404(B) and R.C. 2945.59. The trial court deemed evidence of property damage unrelated to the incident inadmissible, but evidence of physical violence by Thomas against R.I., occurring prior to the date of the incident, was admissible as relevant to the issues of force and consent, as it pertained to the offense of rape.
{¶ 5} On September 5, 2017, jury trial commenced, with Thomas's counsel filing a motion in limine to exclude R.I.'s statements to the SANE nurse as hearsay the morning of trial. The trial court took the motion under advisement, and ultimately permitted the testimony.
{¶ 6} In addition to testimony by the SANE nurse, investigators, and R.I.'s family and friends, R.I. herself testified about her relationship with Thomas and about the incident of March 25, 2017. R.I. and Thomas met in the workplace. According to R.I., she and Thomas had an on-again, off-again relationship, but from March 2015 until December 2016, the pair lived together at R.I.'s home with her three children. R.I. described violent episodes during the relationship, including incidents in which Thomas burned her hand, struck her in the cheek with the butt of a pistol, and backhanded her andblackened her eye.1 R.I. also indicated Thomas tried to strangle her on several occasions. Any resistance she exhibited resulted in a prolonged attack.
{¶ 7} Despite the abuse, R.I. said she loved Thomas, and after each incident, Thomas promised to change. R.I. knew that Thomas also maintained an intimate relationship with another woman, Kayla Smith, and was not happy about the infidelities. R.I. even threatened to make a video of Thomas and Smith having sex "go viral." By December 2016, the living arrangement was no longer working, and Thomas moved out. R.I. and Thomas continued to work together.
{¶ 8} Thomas and R.I. also continued an intimate relationship after he moved out, with R.I. indicating the two had engaged in consensual sex as recent as March 21, 2017. R.I. testified that the two spent their lunch break that day at her home. On the evening of March 24, 2017, however, R.I. told Thomas she was going to a cookout and bonfire at a friend's house so that she could avoid seeing him. In fact, R.I. was hosting the cookout and bonfire for friends and family at her home, and R.I. posted video of her bonfire to Snapchat. Thomas saw the video, and made numerous attempts to contact R.I. through calls and text messages that went unanswered.2
{¶ 9} The party at R.I.'s house ended after midnight, and R.I. and her brother sat by the fire, waiting for it to die out, until around 1:00 a.m. R.I.'s brother stayed the night, sleeping in her living room along with two of her children, while R.I.'s oldest child had a friend over in the other bedroom for a sleepover. The kitchen and dining room separated R.I.'s bedroom from the rest of the home, and R.I.'s bedroom was accessible from the back door without crossing through the living room. Before retiring for the night, R.I. secured the doors and windows to the home, checking the locks.
{¶ 10} Shortly after R.I. went to bed, she heard a loud car engine outside the home, loud bangs on the door, and then Thomas appeared in her bedroom. R.I. testified that Thomas was angry, and asked her about a car in the driveway. R.I. told Thomas the car belonged to her brother, who was sleeping in the living room. Thomas took R.I.'s phone and scrolled through her text messages, and after noting texts between R.I. and a male friend, Jessie Garcia, Thomas became upset. When R.I. started crying, Thomas told her to stay quiet or he would kill her.
{¶ 11} Thomas used R.I.'s phone to call Garcia via her Facebook Messenger account, to show Garcia that R.I. was with him.3 As Garcia watched, Thomas held R.I. by the throat, and tried to force her to kiss him. When R.I. refused to kiss him, Thomas hung up, and choked R.I. until she lost consciousness. When R.I. revived, Thomas placed a second video call to Garcia, and once more tried to make R.I. kiss him. WhenR.I. refused, he hung up and choked her unconscious once more. When R.I. revived a second time, Thomas straddled R.I. on her bed and pushed his thumb against her eye, threatening to make her "look like Fetty Wap," referencing a rap musician who is missing an eye. Thomas then removed R.I.'s clothes.
{¶ 12} Thomas dragged R.I. by her hair into the bathroom, connected to her bedroom. With R.I. naked on the bathroom floor, Thomas soaked a hand towel in the sink, got on top of her, and covered her face with the wet towel, shoving it into her mouth as she gasped for breath. This continued until R.I. started choking, and Thomas released R.I. so she could use the toilet to throw up. R.I. vomited blood, and Thomas apologized and left the bathroom. After R.I. finished vomiting and emerged from the bathroom, she attempted to go to the kitchen. Thomas back-handed her in the mouth, splitting her lip and knocking her to the floor. R.I. next remembered being back on the bed, and Thomas asked if they could "make love." R.I. told him no, and they both fell asleep.
{¶ 13} Thomas and R.I. awoke around 6:00 a.m. Thomas again asked R.I. if they could "make love." After initially refusing, R.I. believed that sex with Thomas was the only way to make the ordeal end. Also, R.I. was still naked, and Thomas was already in position when he asked, so R.I. testified that she "let it happen." Afterwards, Thomas tried to convince R.I. to let him spend the day with her, as he had called off from work. Instead, R.I. convinced Thomas he had to leave, and agreed to drive him to the hospital to get a doctor's excuse for work. As they left the home, R.I. noted the damage to her door frame, as well as the footprint on the door.
{¶ 14} As R.I. drove, Thomas noted the scratches on her neck and apologized to her, saying it would never happen again and that he wanted to move back home. R.I. ended up dropping Thomas at a nearby McDonald's at his request, and told him he was forgiven and could move back home in order to get him to leave her car. Once R.I. returned home, she exchanged texts with Thomas, asking him about her phone charger, and Thomas texted R.I. about repairing the damage to her door. R.I. then attempted to rest, but was in too much pain to sleep. Around noon, R.I. called her mother, who came over and urged R.I. to call police.
{¶ 15} The state's witnesses and exhibits corroborated R.I.'s account of events.
{¶ 16} At the close of the state's case, Thomas moved for dismissal pursuant to Crim.R. 29. The trial court denied the motion, and Thomas presented his case.
{¶ 17} Thomas called his friend, Alex Zilba, as a witness, who stated he drove Thomas to R.I.'s home the night of the incident and acknowledged his car engine is loud, with no muffler. Zilba testified that he spent the night at R.I.'s house, sleeping on the living room floor, and heard and saw nothing related to any of the charged offenses.
{¶ 18} R.I.'s brother also testified, indicating he heard nothing that night, and slept through until morning, leaving shortly after he awoke. He also indicated, however, that he noted no damage to the door when he entered R.I.'s home, after the bonfire.
{¶ 19} Additionally, Kayla Smith testified, but had no first-hand knowledge of events in R.I.'s home, with her testimony demonstrating she and R.I. were rivals for Thomas's affections.
{¶ 20} Thomas testified on his own behalf. He acknowledged taking R.I.'s...
To continue reading
Request your trial