State v. McCarley, 23607 (2-13-2008)

2008 Ohio 552
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 13, 2008
DocketNo. 23607.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2008 Ohio 552 (State v. McCarley, 23607 (2-13-2008)) 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. McCarley, 23607 (2-13-2008), 2008 Ohio 552 (Ohio Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY
This cause was heard upon the record in the trial court. Each error assigned has been reviewed and the following disposition is made:

{¶ 1} Defendant-Appellant Willard S. McCarley appeals from his sentence in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas. We affirm.

I.
{¶ 2} Charlene Puffenbarger filed a paternity suit naming McCarley as the father of her two year old son in November of 1991. Charlene filed the suit to obtain child support from McCarley, who initially denied paternity. McCarley did not wish to pay Charlene child support as he was already paying child support to

Kim Pennington, his former girlfriend and the mother of his six year old son. *Page 2

McCarley threatened Charlene to drop the suit and stated that he would kill her before paying her child support.

{¶ 3} On January 20, 1992 at approximately 10:00 a.m., a neighbor came to Charlene's apartment and found her on the couch. Charlene had several scalp lacerations, defensive wounds on her hands, and a leather strap wrapped twice around her neck. The coroner later estimated that Charlene had died sometime between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. Both of Charlene's two children were at home when her murder occurred.

{¶ 4} When the police arrived at Charlene's apartment, her three year old son ("D.P.") repeatedly looked at the uniformed officers and stated: "It was him. He hurt mommy." Four days later, he made related statements in the presence of Phyllis Puffenbarger, D.P.'s grandmother. D.P. picked up a toy telephone and said things such as:

"I am going to get the belt. A policeman. Go kick that window. Phone. Get the stick. I am going to shoot you. * * * A policeman. My mom seen the policeman. * * * What you do that to my mom. * * * Policeman hit my mommy. Put tape on her."

Phyllis testified that D.P. had tears in his eyes and was looking at a picture of his mother when he made the statements. As a result of this incident, Phyllis contacted the police and took D.P. to a child psychologist at their suggestion. Dr. Dawn Lord was able to elicit several similar statements from D.P. during her sessions with him. *Page 3

{¶ 5} On December 19, 1995, police officers made a surprise visit to McCarley's home on an unrelated matter. While speaking with McCarley in his garage, police officer Dennis Balogh saw a deputy sheriff's jacket and sheriffs cap strewn across a moving dolly. Officer Balogh remembered D.P.'s statements from years before and confiscated the jacket and cap as contraband.

{¶ 6} On May 21, 2004, a grand jury indicted McCarley on one count of aggravated murder, a special felony embodied in R.C. 2903.01(A). The jury ultimately found McCarley guilty, but an error during trial caused this Court to reverse the jury's verdict on appeal and remand the case. See State v. McCarley, 9th Dist. No. 22562, 2006-Ohio-1176. McCarley's second trial commenced on January 16, 2007. On January 25, 2007, the jury found McCarley guilty of aggravated murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in twenty years. McCarley has timely appealed from this verdict, raising five assignments of error. The Court considers the assignments of error out of order to facilitate our review.

II.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR III
"THE COURT ERRED IN PERMITTING HEARSAY EVIDENCE FROM NUMEROUS WITNESSES, IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO CONFRONT HIS ACCUSERS AND IN VIOLATION OF OHIO RULES OF EVIDENCE INVOLVING HEARSAY."
*Page 4

{¶ 7} In his third assignment of error, McCarley argues that the trial court improperly admitted various hearsay statements, which violated both the Confrontation Clause and the evidentiary rules. We set forth the applicable standard of review below and then address the statements according to their various bases for admission at trial.

{¶ 8} A trial court possesses broad discretion with respect to the admission of evidence. State v. Maurer (1984), 15 Ohio St.3d 239, 265. An appellate court will not disturb evidentiary rulings absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Roberts, 156 Ohio App.3d 352, 2004-Ohio-962, at ¶ 14. An abuse of discretion is more than an error of judgment; it means that the trial court was unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable in its ruling. Blakemore v. Blakemore (1983), 5 Ohio St.3d 217, 219. When applying the abuse of discretion standard, an appellate court may not substitute its judgment for that of the trial court. Pons v. Ohio StateMed. Bd. (1993), 66 Ohio St.3d 619, 621.

Excited Utterances

{¶ 9} McCarley argues that the trial court abused its discretion in permitting Phyllis Puffenbarger to testify as to statements that D.P. made four days after Charlene's murder. While playing with a toy telephone at his grandmother's house, D.P. stated:

"I am going to get the belt. A policeman. Go kick that window. Phone. Get the stick. I am going to shoot you. * * * A policeman. My mom seen the policeman. * * * What you do that to my mom. * * * Policeman hit my mommy. Put tape on her."

*Page 5

Phyllis testified that when D.P. said these things he was looking at a picture of Charlene and had tears in his eyes. By the time of trial, D.P. could not recall the statements that he had made as a three year old. However, the trial court ruled that Phyllis could testify as to D.P.'s statements because they were excited utterances. McCarley insists that the statements were not excited utterances because there was no evidence that Charlene's murder put D.P. under the stress of excitement.

{¶ 10} Initially, we note that McCarley objected to these statements at trial solely on the basis of hearsay, not the Confrontation Clause. And while the caption of McCarley's third assignment of error references the Clause, he fails to argue that the Clause applied to D.P.'s statements in the body of his brief. Accordingly, we decline to address any potential Confrontation Clause issue that might have arisen specifically as to the statements that D.P. made in the presence Phyllis Puffenbarger. See App.R. 12(A)(2) and 16(A)(7). We only decide whether the trial court properly admitted these statements under the Ohio Rules of Evidence.

{¶ 11} An excited utterance is "[a] statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition." Evid.R. 803(2). Excited utterances are deemed trustworthy as the statement is made while the impression of the event is still fresh and intense in the declarant's mind. State v. Taylor (1993), 66 Ohio St.3d 295, 300.

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Bluebook (online)
2008 Ohio 552, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mccarley-23607-2-13-2008-ohioctapp-2008.