State v. Anaya

947 N.E.2d 212, 191 Ohio App. 3d 602
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 10, 2010
DocketNo. L-10-1046
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 947 N.E.2d 212 (State v. Anaya) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Anaya, 947 N.E.2d 212, 191 Ohio App. 3d 602 (Ohio Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Handwork, Judge.

{¶ 1} This is the second time that this cause has been before the court on appeal from a judgment of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas. See State v. Anaya, 6th Dist. No. L-06-1375, 2008-Ohio-1853, 2008 WL 1758882 (“Anaya I ”). In that appeal, we affirmed appellant’s conviction for murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02. Id. at ¶ 31. Subsequently, appellant filed a motion to “Correct Status of Void Sentencing Entry” in the trial court pursuant to State v. Baker, 119 Ohio St.3d 197, 2008-Ohio-3330, 893 N.E.2d 163, and Crim.R. 32(C). On February 5, 2010, the trial court entered a nunc pro tunc judgment entry that complied with Baker and Crim.R. 32(C). Anaya appeals that judgment and sets forth the following assignments of error:

{¶ 2} “I. Mr. Anaya was denied his right under the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution to Effective Assistance of Counsel, in that Counsel failed to adequately present to the jury the case for voluntary manslaughter.
{¶ 3} “II. Mr. Anaya was denied his right under the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution to Effective Assistance of Counsel, in that Counsel faded to find an independent forensic psychiatric expert to determine Danny’s competency or sanity at the time of the offense.
{¶ 4} “HI. Mr. Anaya was denied his right under the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution to Effective Assistance of Counsel, in that Counsel refused to enter a written plea by reason of insanity, as demanded by Mr. Anaya.
{¶ 5} “TV. Mr. Anaya was denied his right under the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution to Effective Assistance of Counsel, in that Counsel failed to handle the self defense in a reasonable manner, failed to properly investigate the DNA evidence, failed to request [Crim. R.] 16(B)(1)(g) discovery, and allowed a misleading instruction to the jury as to the voluntary manslaughter.
{¶ 6} “V. The trial court erred in its jury instruction as to voluntary manslaughter, by implying that the conviction must be for murder if the mens rea was purposeful and that the inferior degree murder offense of voluntary manslaughter applied only if the mens rea was knowingly and not purposeful.
[607]*607{¶ 7} “VI. Mr. Anaya was denied his right under the Ohio Constitution and United States Constitution to counsel of choice, in that the Trial Court allowed the State of Ohio to unlawfully and without due process freeze the assets of Mr. Anaya, such that he could not retain counsel of his choice.”

{¶ 8} The following facts, as set forth in Anaya I and agreed to by appellant, are pertinent to our disposition of appellant’s assignments of error. We have also included additional pertinent facts as set forth in the record of this case.

{¶ 9} Appellant and his wife, Rhonda, were married for 19 years and had four children; however, only three of those children were residing with their parents at the time of the murder. Rhonda filed a complaint for divorce in July 2005. After she filed for divorce, Rhonda started sleeping on the family-room sofa. Appellant’s three children, a 15-year-old girl, a 16-year-old girl, and a 14-year-old boy, each had an upstairs bedroom of his or her own. Those three children, who were in the family home when their mother was killed, testified at appellant’s trial.

{¶ 10} The younger daughter related that on October 24, 2005, a Monday, she attended school, came home afterwards, and took a nap in her bedroom until 10:00 p.m. Upon awaking from her nap, the girl made herself a sandwich, ate it in her upstairs bedroom, and went to sleep around 11:00 p.m. Around 3:00 a.m. on October 25, 2005, the sounds of scratching and the front door’s opening and closing woke her. Then she heard a muffled scream from downstairs. She got out of bed and went down to the family room, where the lights were on. There she saw Rhonda slouched half on and half off the couch; appellant was standing over her. The 15-year-old asked appellant, who she saw had blood “spattered” on his face, what was going on, and he told her that Rhonda had had a nightmare and had punched him. As appellant was telling her that nothing was wrong and to go back upstairs to bed, this daughter saw him put a knife in the back waistband of his jeans. She also saw that appellant had a pair of rubber gloves in the back pocket of his jeans and had work gloves on his hands.

{¶ 11} The girl also heard Rhonda asking appellant what he was doing and why he was wearing gloves. She recognized the long, wooden-handled knife from the kitchen, saying, “It almost looked like a machete * * * we always used it to cut watermelon.” The girl returned to her bedroom and tried to call police but could not get a signal on her cell phone. She then heard Rhonda screaming, went to the stairway landing, leaned over, looked into the kitchen, and saw appellant stab Rhonda with the same knife three times. She also saw Rhonda with her hands up, trying to fend off the attack. The 15-year-old then ran back into her bedroom and was able to call 9-1-1 from her cell phone. A tape of the 9-1-1 call was submitted as evidence and played to the jury.

[608]*608{¶ 12} Appellant’s older daughter came home from school that day, ate a pizza with Rhonda, and went to her room between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. She did not go to sleep and went downstairs to the kitchen around 2:25 a.m. for a drink. She saw Rhonda sleeping on the family-room couch and did not turn on any lights. The girl went back to her room, went to sleep, and according to her bedroom clock, woke up to the sound of screaming at 3:06 a.m. The older daughter heard appellant say, “Get back to bed” and thought he must be speaking to her brother, who, she assumed, was making the noise. Then she heard both Rhonda and appellant fighting, heard more screaming, and heard her younger sister go halfway down the stairs, scream, and run back into her bedroom.

{¶ 13} Soon thereafter, the noises stopped. The older girl then heard her brother ask appellant whether everything was all right and appellant telling the boy to go back to bed. She got dressed and went to her younger sister’s room. The younger girl quickly told her older sister what she had seen and returned to speaking to the 9-1-1 dispatcher.

{¶ 14} At trial, appellant’s son testified that when he went to his upstairs bedroom around 11:00 p.m., his mother was in the family room, and appellant was in his upstairs bedroom. The son later awoke to sounds of scratching and “people running around.” Thinking it was the family dog, he stayed in bed. A few minutes later, he heard screaming, so he went downstairs. The boy stopped on the stairway landing as appellant was exiting the kitchen. He asked appellant what happened, and appellant told him to go back to bed. The son went back to his bedroom, but thinking that something was wrong, he went to his younger sister’s bedroom. There, his younger sister told him that she saw appellant stabbing Rhonda and that she had called the police. The older sister was already in the room with his younger sister. At about the same time, the boy heard knocking on the front door. It was the police, who had just arrived in response to the 9-1-1 call.

{¶ 15} Sylvania Police Officers Crowell and Haase, the initial responders, testified to the condition of the scene as they found it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
947 N.E.2d 212, 191 Ohio App. 3d 602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-anaya-ohioctapp-2010.