State v. Zimmerman

2011 Ohio 6156
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 1, 2011
Docket96210
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

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Bluebook
State v. Zimmerman, 2011 Ohio 6156 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Zimmerman, 2011-Ohio-6156.]

Court of Appeals of Ohio EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION No. 96210

STATE OF OHIO

PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE

vs.

AMANDA ZIMMERMAN DEFENDANT-APPELLANT

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED

Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CR-538900

BEFORE: Jones, J., Kilbane, A.J., and Blackmon, J.

RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: December 1, 2011 ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT

Kelly A. Gallagher P.O. Box 306 Avon Lake, Ohio 44012

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE

William D. Mason Cuyahoga County Prosecutor

BY: Scott Zarzycki Carl Sullivan Assistant County Prosecutors The Justice Center, 9th Floor 1200 Ontario Street Cleveland, ohio 44113

LARRY A. JONES, J.:

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Amanda Zimmerman, appeals her convictions for

negligent homicide, negligent assault, assault, and failure to stop after an accident.

Finding no merit to the appeal, we affirm.

Procedural History and Pertinent Facts

{¶ 2} In 2010, Zimmerman was charged with two counts each of murder and felonious assault and one count each of aggravated vehicular homicide, theft, and failure

to stop after accident. The matter proceeded to a jury trial. During voir dire,

Zimmerman, who was pregnant, claimed she was experiencing pain and bleeding. She

told the court that she could wait to the end of the day to seek medical attention, but the

court decided to revoke her bond, set bond at $100,000, and remanded Zimmerman for

evaluation by the county’s medical staff. She was then transported to the hospital for

further evaluation.

{¶ 3} After Zimmerman left the courtroom, defense counsel informed the court

that he had concerns about Zimmerman’s competency and claimed she was not assisting

him in her defense. Counsel asked to withdraw from the case. The court denied the

request. Later that afternoon, the trial court called the jury back into the court room and

dismissed them for the day, telling the jury that there were “medical issues that needed

attending to.” Defense counsel objected, asking the trial court to not address the jury

outside the presence of his client.

{¶ 4} Counsel made another motion to have his client evaluated for competency

and sanity, which the trial court denied.

{¶ 5} The hospital cleared Zimmerman and she returned for trial the next day; the

trial court reinstated her original bond. Trial commenced and the following pertinent

information was presented.

{¶ 6} On December 16, 2009, Zimmerman and her boyfriend, Ciro Marzano,

went to Gino’s Bar and Grille in Cleveland. Maria Puente, the bartender, testified that the couple were drinking and Zimmerman was acting intoxicated and “hyper.”

Zimmerman began to argue with Marzano about her purse and Marzano decided to take

her home. Puente, who went outside to smoke a cigarette, saw the couple drive away in

a pick-up truck. Puente saw the truck stop suddenly in the street; Zimmerman got out of

the truck and picked “something up.”

{¶ 7} William Angel, a friend of Zimmerman, testified that he was at a

convenience store when he received a call from Zimmerman’s father, asking him to pick

Zimmerman up at the bar because she had just been “jumped.” He testified that while he

was in the parking lot of the convenience store, he saw a pick-up truck “flying up the

street” with a body hanging from the passenger door. He described the driver as a

woman with blond hair. Angel testified that shortly thereafter he saw Zimmerman in

the driver’s side seat of the same pick-up truck talking to someone who was cleaning the

side of the truck with a rag. Angel testified that Zimmerman offered him $10,000 to not

testify against her.

{¶ 8} Jerry Key testified that Zimmerman called him the night of the incident and

asked him to come to her house. Zimmerman told Key that she got “into it with her new

sugar daddy and he fell off the truck * * * and he was in the hospital.” Key thought

Zimmerman was “on drugs.” Zimmerman called Key the next day and asked him to

pick her up because Marzano was dead and “her people were going to turn her over to the

police.” After he picked her up, Zimmerman told him that she and Marzano went to a

bar and she wanted to “get high.” The couple got into an argument and left the bar. According to Key, Zimmerman admitted she drove Marzano’s truck “about two blocks”

with Marzano hanging onto the passenger side window of the truck. Marzano fell off

the truck, but, according to Zimmerman, “he had no business hanging on.” She further

told Key that “if the son-of-a-bitch wouldn’t have fallen off, I would have smacked him

against a pole * * * .”

{¶ 9} Key testified that Zimmerman told him she took the truck to a “chop-shop”

but the shop would not buy the truck, so she brought the truck back to the area and parked

it on the street. Finally, according to Key, Zimmerman told him Marzano would still

be alive if he had not grabbed onto the truck.

{¶ 10} Cleveland Police officer Brian Pfeiffer responded to the area of West 53rd

Street and Denison Avenue in Cleveland for reports of a man in the street. When the

officer arrived, an ambulance had already taken Marzano to the hospital, where he died

after unsuccessful attempts to save him.

{¶ 11} The coroner, Dr. Frank Miller, testified that Marzano suffered many

internal injuries, including bleeding between the skull and scalp, bleeding between the

brain and skull, multiple contusions on the brain, a broken neck, and other internal

hemorrhaging. He opined that Marzano had bleeding in the brain caused by blunt

impacts and the bruises on the different areas of the brain came from a “head that was

moving during impact,” supporting the state’s theory that Marzano was dragged to his

death. The coroner further testified that the cause of death was a combination of

Marzano’s injuries, mainly his head injuries. He also indicated that Marzano’s injuries could have been caused by just one fall, so as long as Marzano was in motion at the time

of the fall. But, the coroner opined, because of the extent of his injuries, it was evident

that Marzano had been “sliding down the roadway” and the injuries could not have been

caused solely by his running next to the vehicle.

{¶ 12} Patrolman Dwayne Corbin of the Cleveland Police Department, testified

that on the evening of December 16, 2009, around 11:30 p.m., he received a report that

Zimmerman was trying to commit suicide. He went to her house and found her in the

backyard, where she was being held down by family members. The officer noted only a

small bump on her forehead and cuts on her arm. He took Zimmerman to the hospital.

At this time, the police did not know about Zimmerman’s involvement in Marzano’s

death.

{¶ 13} On December 22, the police went to Zimmerman’s house. She initially

denied who she was. After confessing her true identity, the police arrested Zimmerman

and she agreed to make a written statement.

{¶ 14} During trial, the testifying detective read Zimmerman’s written statement

into the record. According to the statement, on the night of Marzano’s death

Zimmerman was drinking, smoking “weed,” and “doing Valiums.” She and Marzano

went to the bar and Marzano got mad because Zimmerman’s phone kept ringing;

Marzano took the phone and threw it in the street. When they left the bar and got into

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