State v. Turner

• Decision Date: 11 May 2005
• Docket Number: No. 2003-0346.,2003-0346.
• Citation: 826 N.E.2d 266,105 Ohio St.3d 331,2005 Ohio 1938
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. TURNER, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 266

826 N.E.2d 266

105 Ohio St.3d 331

2005 Ohio 1938

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. TURNER, Appellant.

No. 2003-0346.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted January 18, 2005.

Decided May 11, 2005.

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Ron O'Brien, Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney, and Steven L. Taylor and Heather R. Saling, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.

W. Joseph Edwards and Todd W. Barstow, Columbus, for appellant.

O'DONNELL, J.

{¶ 1} On June 12, 2001, appellant, Michael R. Turner, murdered his estranged wife, Jennifer Lyles Turner, and Ronald Seggerman in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Turner later pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder with death-penalty specifications, and the court sentenced him to death. He appeals from his convictions and sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm.

{¶ 2} Turner's criminal history dates from 1980; while a felony suspect being transported by a deputy sheriff for a polygraph in Virginia, Turner attempted to kill the deputy sheriff with a letter opener. During the struggle, Turner jabbed at the deputy and also tried to grab the deputy's pistol. Turner pleaded guilty to attempted murder and received a 15-year prison term but served only five years before being paroled.

{¶ 3} Upon his release from prison, he managed to earn a living, but he violated parole and became incarcerated. After a second release from prison, he divorced his first wife, Paula, and married Jennifer Lyles in January 2000 in Bassett, Virginia. Within months of their marriage, Turner began abusing his wife to the point that she fled to the homes of friends and neighbors. In September 2000, Jennifer left Virginia and moved to the Columbus area at her mother's insistence to escape Turner's abuse. In December, she moved to her own apartment in Reynoldsburg. Later that month, Turner asked Jennifer for "another chance," and she allowed him to move in with her.

{¶ 4} On March 14, 2001, however, she filed a domestic-violence complaint against Turner after he hit her in the head during an argument. On April 5, 2001, she filed another complaint after he choked her to near unconsciousness. The next day, the court granted a temporary protection order ("TPO"), compelling Turner to move out of his wife's apartment.

{¶ 5} On May 5, 2001, police arrested Turner for violating the TPO. Angry with Jennifer because she had called police, Turner told the arresting officers that "the war is on." On May 18, 2001, Turner pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence, and the court placed him on probation.

{¶ 6} After the imposition of his probationary term, Turner began stalking Jennifer. She filed a complaint against Turner for telephone harassment on May 25, 2001 — charges that were still pending on the day of the murders. The next day, Turner told a co-worker at a Tim Hortons Restaurant that Jennifer had angered him by having him arrested and by filing the telephone-harassment complaint against him. Turner announced that he was going to "suit up and kill the bitch." Boasting that he was a "cop killer" by reenacting the 1980 attempted murder of the deputy in Virginia, he showed his co-worker a list of items that he called "No Prisoners," which included duct tape, a knife, rope, fuel, and matches, all necessary for his plan to, in Turner's words, "off the bitch."

{¶ 7} Two days before the murder, Turner told a bartender: "I'm going to kill my wife. She took me to court for harassment. I'm going to off her. You watch me."

{¶ 8} On the day of the murders, Turner gathered the necessary items for his plan, He bought two knives, and two hours later, he bought two gallons of gasoline.

{¶ 9} On June 12, shortly after 10:00 p.m., Turner located Jennifer and her friend, Ronald Seggerman, at her apartment. Jennifer stayed inside while Seggerman grilled food outside. John Myers, Jennifer's neighbor, had been in his front yard and saw Seggerman pointing toward a parking lot located about 100 yards north of the apartment. Seggerman shouted, "[T]here he is," and went inside.

{¶ 10} Seggerman came back outside armed with nunchakus and walked toward the parking lot, where Myers lost sight of him.

{¶ 11} Myers then observed Turner forcing Seggerman to back up toward Jennifer's apartment. When they got to Myers's front yard, Myers saw Turner make several downward thrusts with a knife. At 10:28 p.m., Myers called 911, stating, "[T]he guy is being stabbed to death. I saw the knife and I saw him going down. Get a cop here."

{¶ 12} At 10:32 p.m., Jennifer Turner also made a 911 call. The recording of this call reveals Jennifer's screams for help begging Turner to stop and Seggerman's plea with Turner, "Mike, you gotta stop."

{¶ 13} Reynoldsburg police arrived at 10:34 p.m. The first officer on the scene found Jennifer bleeding profusely from the neck with Seggerman lying next to her, face down in a pool of blood. Medics were unable to find Seggerman's pulse rate or respiration. Jennifer had "shallow respiration and a weak pulse." Both underwent emergency surgery.

{¶ 14} Jennifer Turner and Ronald Seggerman both died later that night of multiple stab wounds. Autopsies showed that Jennifer had sustained 11 stab wounds and Seggerman at least four, including one that punctured his lung.

{¶ 15} Meanwhile, following the ambulance transport, police located Turner hiding in some trees near the parking lot at Jennifer's apartment. He had blood on his face, arms, shirt, and shoes. Near Turner's hiding place, police found a hunting knife, rope, chains, two locks, a hammer, and two one-gallon plastic jugs containing gasoline. On June 13, police returned and found bloodstained gloves, a bloodstained fillet knife, and a sheath for a knife.

{¶ 16} Also on June 13, detectives searched Michael Turner's apartment. There they found a copy of Jennifer's May 5 complaint against Turner and a handwritten list in Turner's writing that included "knives, rope, gloves, gas, lock and hammer."

{¶ 17} Detectives interrogated Turner on the morning of June 13. Turner told them that he had been "standing there in the parking lot" when Seggerman "came across there with [he doesn't] know if it was a baseball bat or what it was." According to Turner, a jug of gasoline happened to be "sitting there," so he "ran towards [Seggerman] and threw it in his face." Turner then began to beat Seggerman, who dropped his "stick" in the parking lot. Turner admitted that he "probably" had a knife. He stated that Jennifer came outside and "jumped in the middle trying to break [them] up." Turner said, "I'm trying to push her away and she was... and I went, oh, fuck what did I do?" (Ellipsis sic.) He stated, "[I]t happened so quick I really had no control over it."

{¶ 18} While in custody in the Franklin County Jail, Turner told a fellow inmate that "he murdered his wife and her boyfriend; that he went over to talk to his wife and never expected her boyfriend to be there." He also told his cellmate that he had planned to kill Jennifer and commit suicide, but Seggerman "got in the way." Turner claimed that "he didn't mean to kill [Seggerman]" but admitted that "he did mean to kill Jennifer."

{¶ 19} A grand jury indicted Turner for the aggravated murders of Jennifer Turner and Ronald Seggerman with prior calculation and design. R.C. 2903.01(A). Count 1, charging Jennifer's murder, contained three death-penalty specifications: R.C. 2929.04(A)(5) (prior conviction), R.C. 2929.04(A)(5) (course of conduct), and R.C.2929.04(A)(8) (witness murder). Count 2, charging Seggerman's murder, contained two death-penalty specifications: prior conviction and course of conduct.

{¶ 20} On October 25, 2002, Turner filed a written waiver of his right to a jury trial. On December 16, 2002, Turner entered a plea of guilty to both counts and all specifications of the indictment. The three-judge panel conducted a hearing at which the state introduced exhibits and read a statement of supporting facts. With a few exceptions not relevant here, the defense stipulated to the facts contained in the statement.

{¶ 21} The three-judge panel then accepted Turner's plea, found him guilty on all counts and all specifications, and, after a mitigation hearing, sentenced Turner to death.

I. Validity of Jury Waiver and Guilty Plea

{¶ 22} In his first proposition of law, Turner contends that both his jury waiver and his guilty plea were invalid.

{¶ 23} At a hearing on October 24, 2002, Turner submitted to the court a written, signed jury waiver. The waiver stated: "I fully understand that under the laws of this State, I have a constitutional right to a trial by jury." The trial court asked Turner, "And you understand * * * you're waiving your right to have a jury of 12 persons hear and decide the case * * * and render a unanimous verdict * * *?" Turner replied, "Yes, sir." Turner then affirmed that, after consulting counsel, he wanted a three-judge panel to hear his case. Turner filed the waiver on October 25.

{¶ 24} Turner claims that his jury waiver was invalid because the trial court did not inform him that a single juror could block imposition of a death sentence. We rejected such a claim in State v. Bays (1999), 87 Ohio St.3d 15, 20, 716 N.E.2d 1126, as did the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Sowell v. Bradshaw (C.A.6, 2004), 372 F.3d 821, 834.

{¶ 25} A defendant "need not have a complete or technical understanding of the jury trial right in order to knowingly and intelligently waive it." Bays, 87 Ohio St.3d at 20, 716 N.E.2d 1126, citing United States v. Martin (C.A.6, 1983), 704 F.2d 267, 273. Nor is a trial court required "to interrogate a defendant in order to determine whether he or she is fully apprised of the right to a jury trial." State v. Jells (1990), 53 Ohio St.3d 22, 559 N.E.2d 464, paragraph one of the syllabus. Accord Spytma v. Howes (C.A.6, 2002), 313 F.3d 363, 370. Instead, "a written waiver, signed by the defendant, filed with the...