State v. Finley, C-061052 (9-26-2008)

2008 Ohio 4904
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 26, 2008
DocketNo. C-061052.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2008 Ohio 4904 (State v. Finley, C-061052 (9-26-2008)) 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. Finley, C-061052 (9-26-2008), 2008 Ohio 4904 (Ohio Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION. *Page 2
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant Charles Finley appeals from his convictions, following a jury trial, for the murder and felonious assault of one-year-old Christopher Beck, Jr., the son of Finley's girlfriend, Diane Tucker. On the morning of September 21, 2005, Christopher played with Tucker's mother, Sherri Lester. Tucker then placed Christopher in Finley's care. And less than three hours later, Christopher showed signs of having been beaten and had sustained a fatal blow to his head.

{¶ 2} Finley was indicted for aggravated murder with a death-penalty specification, murder under R.C. 2903.02(B), and felonious assault under R.C. 2903.11(A)(1). The jury acquitted Finley of aggravated murder, but convicted him of murder and felonious assault. The trial court imposed a mandatory prison term of 15 years to life for the murder conviction and ordered that the term be served consecutively to an 8-year prison term for the felonious-assault conviction.

{¶ 3} Raising ten assignments of error, Finley now argues that (1) the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of involuntary manslaughter, (2) the trial court erred in failing to exclude testimony of the state's forensic dentist, (3) the trial court erred in imposing multiple sentences, (4) Finley was denied the effective assistance of counsel and was harmed by prosecutorial misconduct, (5) the trial court abused its discretion in regulating the trial and in the admission of evidence, and (6) Finley's convictions were contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence and were based upon insufficient evidence. We find none of the assignments to involve reversible error and thus affirm the trial court's judgment. *Page 3

The Murder of Christopher Beck, Jr.
{¶ 4} Christopher was the son of Diane Tucker and Christopher Beck, Sr. Beck and Tucker attended Withrow High School together. Tucker was 18 and Beck was 17 when Christopher was born. Tucker and Beck ended their relationship after Christopher had been born, but both families remained involved in raising Christopher.

{¶ 5} In January 2005, Tucker, then 20 years old, had begun attending classes at the University of Cincinnati. She and Christopher lived with her mother, Sherri Lester, in an apartment in the Kennedy Heights neighborhood of Cincinnati. While Tucker attended classes and worked at Proctor Gamble's Winton Hills facility, Beck's grandfather would watch Christopher in the morning and Lester would care for Christopher in the afternoon and in the evening.

{¶ 6} Tucker then met Finley and began a relationship. Lester found letters Finley had sent to Tucker written while he was incarcerated in the Queensgate Correctional Facility. Lester disapproved of the relationship. In the summer of 2005, Finley was released from jail and began to see Tucker and Christopher. Lester noticed that Finley had begun to exert control over her daughter. Finley began driving Tucker's car, chauffeuring her to school and to work. He checked Tucker's cell phone, monitoring who she was talking to. Finley would not allow Tucker to see her friends without his permission. He was particularly jealous of Tucker's ongoing relationship with Beck's family.

{¶ 7} Over time, Lester became more concerned about Tucker's relationship with Finley. She offered to quit her job to remain home to care for Christopher. Tucker refused the offer. *Page 4

{¶ 8} On September 20, 2005, Lester learned that, instead of using the Beck family, Tucker had permitted Finley to care for Christopher. Lester told her daughter that if she left Christopher in Finley's care again, she would contact 241-KIDS, Hamilton County's hotline to report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect.

{¶ 9} That evening, Lester cared for Christopher in her apartment. Christopher was healthy and played until his bed time. When Tucker returned home near midnight, she took Christopher into her bedroom. Lester fed Christopher at 4:00 a.m. She played with Christopher while Tucker prepared for work. Christopher played normally and had no visible signs of injury. As Tucker prepared to leave for work, she informed Lester that Lester's niece would be caring for Christopher that morning.

{¶ 10} Instead of taking Christopher to Lester's niece, Tucker met Finley outside the apartment. He had spent the night in the basement of Lester's apartment. He drove Tucker's car and delivered her to work at 7:00 a.m. Christopher remained in Finley's care. Finley and Christopher returned to Lester's apartment. Using keys provided by Tucker, Finley entered the apartment and spent two hours alone with Christopher.

{¶ 11} After 10:00 a.m., Finley left Lester's apartment with Christopher and travelled to his mother's apartment in Mt. Auburn. As Finley carried Christopher into the apartment, Pam Slaughter, Finley's mother, thought that Christopher was asleep. Finley placed Christopher on Slaughter's couch. Slaughter cautioned Finley not to leave Christopher unattended. He picked Christopher up and carried him into the bedroom. Slaughter became alarmed because Christopher was not breathing.

{¶ 12} Slaughter called for emergency assistance by dialing 911. The emergency operator instructed Finley how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Christopher. Paramedics also attempted to revive Christopher, but he was pronounced dead shortly *Page 5 after his arrival at Children's Hospital. The hospital staff reported to the police the suspicious nature of Christopher's death.

{¶ 13} An autopsy revealed extensive injuries over his entire body. Christopher suffered contusions to his spine, neck, chest, buttocks, both thighs, and both arms. And he may have been shaken or swung by his arms or chest. Christopher also had an unusual mark on his right buttock. At trial, the state's forensic dentist testified that the mark was caused by a bite made by Finley.

{¶ 14} Christopher sustained a severe blunt-trauma injury to the right side of his head. The blow fractured his skull along the entire length of the right parietal bone. That injury resulted in brain hemorrhaging and was the cause of his death. The assistant coroner testified that these injuries could not have been caused by Christopher failing from a bed onto a floor. She compared the energy required to cause the fatal head wound to "a major impact like you'd swing a baseball bat." Based on the nature of the head wound, the coroner opined that the wound had resulted when Christopher's head had been swung at a great rate and struck a fixed object. The fatal injury would have resulted in immediate unconsciousness and was inflicted within two hours of death.

{¶ 15} Police investigators interviewed Tucker, Lester, Slaughter, and Finley. In his initial statement to police, Finley stated that Christopher had acted normally while in his care. In a subsequent statement, he told police that he remembered that Christopher had fallen off of the bed during the morning.

Weight and Sufficiency of the Evidence
{¶ 16}

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Bluebook (online)
2008 Ohio 4904, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-finley-c-061052-9-26-2008-ohioctapp-2008.