State v. O'keefe, Unpublished Decision (9-30-2004)

2004 Ohio 5300
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 30, 2004
DocketCase Nos. 2002-A-0015, 2002-A-0048.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2004 Ohio 5300 (State v. O'keefe, Unpublished Decision (9-30-2004)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law.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State v. O'keefe, Unpublished Decision (9-30-2004), 2004 Ohio 5300 (Ohio Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION
{¶ 1} Appellant, State of Ohio, appeals from the trial court's judgment granting in part appellee Robert O'Keefe's Crim.R. 29 motion and various evidentiary rulings made during the trial of this matter. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

{¶ 2} Appellee was a detective with the Ashtabula County sheriff's office. He and his wife Kathleen had been married for approximately thirty-two years when Mrs. O'Keefe began having an affair with Kevin Holko.

{¶ 3} Mrs. O'Keefe arranged via e-mail to meet Holko at the Fairfield Inn, in Warren, Ohio on the afternoon of October 23, 2001. Appellee discovered the e-mail and went to the Fairfield Inn.

{¶ 4} While in the hotel room with Holko, Mrs. O'Keefe received a call from the desk clerk, stating Mrs. O'Keefe's car had been hit in the parking lot. Mrs. O'Keefe and Holko dressed and went downstairs. Appellee was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed Holko and punched him repeatedly. Appellee then told his wife she was coming with him. Mrs. O'Keefe said that she did not want to.

{¶ 5} After Mrs. O'Keefe retrieved her belongings from the hotel room, she and appellee returned to their Williamsfield, Ohio home. During the ride home, appellee berated and threatened Mrs. O'Keefe. He stated he would kill her and Holko but wanted her first to suffer for her adultery.

{¶ 6} When she arrived home, Mrs. O'Keefe grabbed a telephone and called 911. Appellee ripped the telephone off the wall. Mrs. O'Keefe did not think the call went through, however it did and the 911 dispatcher called the house. Appellee answered and told the dispatcher everything was fine and he was just having an argument. The dispatcher sent Detective Brian Hubbard to ensure there was no problem.

{¶ 7} When Detective Hubbard arrived, appellee ordered his wife, who was naked, to sit in a recliner and not to move. Appellee then met Detective Hubbard in the drive. Appellee told Detective Hubbard he had ripped the telephone cord out of the wall because he had just beaten up someone in Warren and he was expecting a telephone call or for Warren police to come to his house. Appellee told Detective Hubbard everything was fine and Detective Hubbard left.

{¶ 8} Appellee continued to berate and threaten his wife. At approximately 10:00 p.m., he stated he was going to move out and left the house. Appellee went to the home of his friend Doug Shilling. Shilling accompanied appellee to Warren to retrieve Mrs. O'Keefe's car. Appellee then returned home and continued to berate his wife. After awhile appellee began to calm down and became apologetic. He and Mrs. O'Keefe then went to sleep.

{¶ 9} When appellee awoke on the morning of October 24, 2001, his hand was hurting and swollen. He left to go to the emergency room to have his hand checked. He returned home at approximately 12:30 p.m. and Mrs. O'Keefe was napping. Appellee entered the bedroom and ripped the covers and nightgown off Mrs. O'Keefe. He took the belt from his pants and proceeded to beat Mrs. O'Keefe repeatedly while calling her a "whore." Appellee beat her intermittently over a period of two hours.

{¶ 10} Appellee then made Mrs. O'Keefe, who was naked, leave the house. Thinking better of it, appellee chased her down and dragged her back into the house. He then beat her with the belt for twenty or thirty minutes.

{¶ 11} Appellee eventually calmed down and inquired as to why Mrs. O'Keefe had not cooked his meal. Mrs. O'Keefe then made a meal and took a shower. Mrs. O'Keefe left for work after eating dinner with appellee.

{¶ 12} Appellee called his wife twice while she was at work. The first time he repeatedly apologized for his behavior. He told Mrs. O'Keefe he had written a confession and would turn himself in to sheriff's deputies. During the second conversation, he said he was going hunting, that he loved her, and wanted to work things out.

{¶ 13} Mrs. O'Keefe returned home the morning of October 25, 2001 after completing her shift and went to sleep in a basement bedroom.

{¶ 14} Appellee eventually returned home. He entered the bedroom and proceeded to beat Mrs. O'Keefe with a narrow alternator belt for about ten minutes. After beating his wife, appellee got a long screwdriver and began to poke Mrs. O'Keefe's pubic area with it. Appellee then beat her again with the alternator belt.

{¶ 15} Appellee next took Mrs. O'Keefe to the garage where he photographed her injuries. He stated he would send the pictures to Holko's wife.

{¶ 16} The two returned to the house and appellee again beat Mrs. O'Keefe with the alternator belt.

{¶ 17} After he calmed down, appellee retrieved his service handgun and put the barrel in his mouth. He then told Mrs. O'Keefe to pull the trigger. She refused to do so. Appellee then said he would get drunk enough to do it himself and began drinking whiskey. He took the whiskey and his handgun and told Mrs. O'Keefe he was going to be on their property and left the house.

{¶ 18} Mrs. O'Keefe, fearing appellee would kill himself, or return and kill her, called 911. Sheriff's deputies arrived at the property and, using a police dog, tracked appellee to a shack on the property.

{¶ 19} Deputy Niemi approached the shack and saw appellee sitting against a wall holding his service handgun to his head. Other sheriff's personnel arrived and tried to convince appellee to put down the weapon.

{¶ 20} During the standoff, appellee removed the magazine from the handgun, showed those present it was loaded, re-inserted the magazine, and racked the slide to chamber a round. Sheriff's deputies continued to try to convince appellee to surrender the weapon. Appellee continued to move the handgun from the side of his head to his mouth and to his chin. Appellee also continued to fill a water glass with whiskey and sip it. Eventually Deputy Bryan Rose, a close friend of appellee's, arrived at the scene, as did Lieutenant Bernardo.

{¶ 21} During the standoff, appellee's mood would go up and down. He would be irate and screaming and then calm down. Appellee repeatedly called the sheriff a crook and a liar as deputies tried to convince appellee to surrender.

{¶ 22} At one point Deputy Niemi was in the shack with appellee while Lieutenant Bernardo and Sergeant Leonhard stood shoulder to shoulder in the doorway. Appellee asked the lieutenant what he thought of Detective Hubbard. The lieutenant replied, "Depends on what he's doing." This response angered appellee. Appellee swore at Lieutenant Bernardo, took the weapon from his head, swept it across Deputy Niemi's chest, passed Sergeant Leonhard, and pointed it at Lieutenant Bernardo for a period of a few seconds. Deputy Niemi started to draw his handgun and Lieutenant Bernardo and Sergeant Leonhard dove for cover. Appellee then returned the weapon to his head.

{¶ 23} Eventually Deputy Niemi was able to disarm appellee as appellee repositioned the handgun and appellee's finger was off the trigger. Deputies then assisted appellee to a nearby cruiser. Appellee was handcuffed and transported to jail. After deputies secured appellee's handgun it was found to have a live round in the chamber.

{¶ 24} After giving a statement to deputies, Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
2004 Ohio 5300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-okeefe-unpublished-decision-9-30-2004-ohioctapp-2004.