State v. Carder

210 N.E.2d 714, 3 Ohio App. 2d 381, 32 Ohio Op. 2d 524, 1965 Ohio App. LEXIS 558
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 27, 1965
Docket382
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 210 N.E.2d 714 (State v. Carder) 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. Carder, 210 N.E.2d 714, 3 Ohio App. 2d 381, 32 Ohio Op. 2d 524, 1965 Ohio App. LEXIS 558 (Ohio Ct. App. 1965).

Opinions

*382 McLaughlin, J.

The defendant, a minor, a high school junior, aged 16-% years, was convicted by a jury on two counts of first degree murder. Mercy was recommended. He was sentenced accordingly.

He makes the following assignments of error:

1. The court erred in admitting evidence of statements purportedly made by the defendant after his arrest and before defendant was taken before the judge of the Juvenile Court.
2. The court erred in admitting into evidence the state’s exhibit 36, consisting of the defendant’s fingerprints and picture and appearing on a “criminal card,” although the defendant was a juvenile.
3. The court erred in admitting into evidence numerous pictures of the decedent’s body, which, cumulated, tended to incite prejudice and. inflame the minds of the jury.
4. The court erred in admitting into evidence statements purportedly made by the defendant, which statements were not voluntarily made, and the admissions of such statements were in violation of defendant’s right under the “due process clause” of the Constitution of Ohio and the Constitution of the United •States.
5. The court erred in permitting the prosecuting attorney on voir dire examination of the jurors to inquire whether or hot the jurors would take into consideration the defendant’s age.
6. The court erred in its charge to the jury by giving incorrect instructions as to the test to be applied in considering the voluntariness of defendant’s alleged confessions.
7. The court erred in admitting into evidence exhibits which were taken by unlawful search and seizure in violation of defendant’s rights under the Constitution of Ohio and the Constitution of the United States.
8. The court erred in its charge to the jury by charging on the subject of “robbery” when there was no evidence in the record that a robbery had been committed or attempted.
9. The court erred in its charge to the jury by instructing the jury that the death of the decedent could have taken place oh or after April 6,1964, and before June Í0,1964.
10. Other errors manifest on the record. .

. .The deceased woman, Vanetta Brucker, operated a small *383 grocery, confectionery, and dance hall jnst outside the city limits of Lancaster.

At about 11:00 o’clock on the evening of April 6, 1964, one Dick Mattox reported to the city police that he had just come, from the Brucker store and that Vanetta Brucker had been killed. The county sheriff’s office, the prosecutor, the coroner,, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation at London were promptly notified.

The body was found in a large pool of blood on the dance hall floor. She was dressed in a blouse and slacks. An ice pick was transfixed in the neck, from the right protruding out of the left side. Its handle broken in two pieces was on the floor nearby. There was a meat cleaver lying on the right shoulder with its-broken handle nearby. A butcher knife was under the body.

Dick Mattox, who made the initial report to the police, told the police of a telephone conversation with the deceased about 10:00 o ’clock and that she had asked him to wait because someone was at her door in a white hat. The defendant was known to wear a white helmet while riding his motorcycle. He was also known to “hang around” the Brucker store often since it was near his high school. He thus became a prime suspect. Two deputies went to defendant’s home and talked to him in the presence of his father. He told them he had worked that evening at the Tiki Bowling Lanes and came home about 11:00 p. m. The deputies left only to return shortly.

On their second visit they picked up a white helmet which they had noticed on a chair. They took it with them when they left, after assuring defendant that it would be returned.

The deputies returned a third time, and this time they asked to see his clothes and his motorcycle. The defendant showed them to the deputies. His father was there. The defendant was then taken to the sheriff’s office. His father followed in his own car.

At the county jail his father was advised that they would hold defendant until morning, at which time the prosecutor would question him. He was placed in a cell away from other prisoners.

Early on the morning of April 7th, the father was permitted to visit the defendant in his cell and to give him a pre *384 scribed insulin shot since he was diabetic. His employer, Richard Bird, proprietor of the bowling lanes where the defendant worked during evening hours, also visited him early that morning. Defendant gave Bird certain information which resulted in the finding of his bloody clothes in a garbage can back of the city hospital.

The defendant’s brief recites events that followed:

“* * * In the morning, defendant’s father had contacted an attorney, one, James Lantz, * * #. Mr. Lantz arrived about 8:30 and talked to the defendant briefly. * # * Mr. Lantz had represented Mrs. Brucker. * * * He could not represent the defendant. He did tell defendant’s father that he would contact another attorney. * * *
“The defendant was taken into the back room of the sheriff’s office at about 9:00 o’clock on the morning of April 7th, where he was interrogated # * #. Shortly after the interrogation started, defendant’s attorney, Mr. Jackson arrived. This fact was made known to the sheriff’s office, but neither the attorney, nor defendant’s parents, who were present, were permitted in the room until after the interrogation was completed sometime after 12:00 o’clock noon. * * # The statements made by the defendant during the interrogation were not reduced to writing and were not signed by the defendant. The only record made consisted of notes made by one of the police officers. During the period of interrogation, defendant made at least two alleged confessions.
“The defendant was held in the county jail until April 11, 1964, at which time he was taken before the juvenile judge for the first time. * * *”

During trial, in the absence of the jury, before any testimony was offered, the trial court heard a defense motion to suppress the alleged confession as well as certain evidence (the white helmet, his bloody clothes, and the motorcycle) obtained as the result of alleged unlawful searches and seizures.

After a lengthy hearing, the trial court overruled the motion. to suppress, and found as follows:

“2. The confession or statement was made voluntarily, by the defendant after he had talked to his father, his employer, a lawyer sent to the jail by his father, and a juvenile officer from the Juvenile Court. His physicial and mental facilities were *385 not impaired because of the use of drugs or because of his diabetic conditions.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 N.E.2d 714, 3 Ohio App. 2d 381, 32 Ohio Op. 2d 524, 1965 Ohio App. LEXIS 558, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-carder-ohioctapp-1965.