MANSFIELD, Ohio – A 19-year-old woman pleaded no contest to charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in Judge Ron Spon’s juvenile courtroom on Tuesday.
Visibly shaken, and through teary eyes, the juvenile spoke clearly but quietly to the judge when standing to enter her plea, but was given permission to sit again after becoming emotional. The juvenile was accompanied in court by her mother and stepfather and her attorney, Robert Whitney.
Judge Spon explained a no contest plea to both charges means the juvenile is merely admitting the facts of the case as presented are true and accurate, but not admitting to any guilt. In juvenile court, defendants may plead admission, denial or no contest.
“There are some scenarios in life where the facts are what they are,” said Spon. “But it does not mean a person is of a guilty mind.”
Before the court will accept the juvenile’s plea of no contest, Spon stated he would hear testimony, review documents or make further inquiry as appropriate before determining whether acceptance of the juvenile’s no contest plea is appropriate.
Spon postponed his acceptance of the juvenile’s no contest plea for 45 to 60 days and stated he would announce his decision at the case’s findings and dispositional hearing.
The charges stem from an incident on July 23, 2013 when the decomposed body of a female infant was found in the trunk of the juvenile’s vehicle at Broadway Automotive & Exhaust in Shelby.
According to a report completed by Keith Swisher on July 23, 2013, police were dispatched to 211 N. Gamble Street where the complainant, 35-year-old Ronald Hamilton, had called 911 to report what he believed was the corpse of an infant child that was found in a cardboard box in the trunk of a car.
The juvenile was 17 years old at the time of the incident, and is from the Mansfield-Madison area. During an interview with Shelby’s now-Chief Lance Combs, the juvenile admitted to giving birth to the infant at her home in late January or early February.
The juvenile’s culpable mental state – the state of mind of an individual while committing a crime – was the greatest point of contention during Tuesday’s court session. Spon specified that the juvenile’s plea of no contest is merely an admission to the truth and accuracy of the facts alleged, but excludes admission to culpable mental state.
“The prosecutor would need to prove culpable mental state as to meet the definition of knowingly,” said Spon.
Both charges against the juvenile are felonies; abuse of a corpse is a felony of the fifth degree, and tampering with evidence a felony of the third degree. If convicted as a delinquent, the maximum penalty the juvenile could receive from Spon is to be committed into the legal custody of the Ohio Department of Youth Services for an indeterminate period of time, anywhere from six months until she turns 21 on Jan. 6, 2017.
The juvenile is charged with abuse of a corpse in that no person, except as authorized by law, shall treat a human corpse in a way that would outrage reasonable community sensibilities.
She is also charged with tampering with evidence in that no person, knowing that an official proceeding is in progress or is about to be or likely to be instituted, shall alter, destroy, conceal, or remove any record, document, or thing with purpose to impair its value or availability as evidence in such proceeding or investigation.
Culpability is not explicitly stated as part of the abuse of a corpse charge. Because culpability is not specified in the charge of abuse of a corpse, the plea of no contest is only an admission to fact and cannot be considered an admission to culpable mental state, and the court must refer to the surrounding evidence.
From the perspective of the Richland County Prosecutor’s office, Assistant Prosecutors Melissa Angst and Omar Siddiq stated they feel they have evidence to demonstrate the reckless and possibly purposeful element of the juvenile’s culpable mental state.
“The state feels she knew what she was doing: She made the active and conscious decision to hide the baby’s body,” said Angst.
Ohio Revised Code specifies three degrees of culpability attached to mental states: purposefully, when it is the person’s specific intention to cause a certain result; knowingly, when the person is aware that their conduct will probably cause a certain result; and recklessly, when with heedless indifference to the consequences the person disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the person’s conduct is likely to cause a certain result.
Siddiq contended that the juvenile’s actions went beyond reckless to the point of purposeful, to the objection of the juvenile’s attorney Robert Whitney.
“[The juvenile] purposefully put [the infant] in the trunk knowing that’s not where you put a body, and drove around with the smell in the subsequent months,” said Siddiq.
In her closing statements to Judge Spon, Angst stated that on or about Jan. 23, 2013, the juvenile allegedly gave birth to an infant girl. The juvenile allegedly wrapped the infant in a towel, severed the umbilical cord, and retrieved a cardboard box from the basement of her home before putting the infant in the box and in the trunk of her vehicle.
“In her interview with the Shelby Police Department, [the juvenile] states she didn’t want anyone judging her or thinking less of her,” said Angst. “There was a very lengthy discussion as to what she was thinking and why she concealed it.”
Angst stated the prosecutor’s office believes the juvenile had a very active thought process in trying to conceal the birth of the infant girl to protect her reputation.
“Her actions were also reckless in that after giving birth to a full-term baby … she didn’t seek medical attention for herself or the baby,” said Angst.
According to the autopsy report completed by Dr. Lisa Kohler, Summit County’s Chief Medical Examiner, bone length and dental maturation confirm the infant was full term.
Angst stated the abuse of a corpse charges come from the inability to determine whether the infant was alive at the time of the birth.
“If we were contending the baby was alive, we would be proceeding with murder charges,” said Angst. “Tampering hinders the determination of whether the child was alive at birth.”
According to Dr. Kohler’s report, the infant’s remains were partially mummified and skeletonized. Kohler also noted that the question of whether the infant was the product of a live birth versus stillbirth cannot be determined with accuracy.
“No anatomic cause of death could be identified,” read Kohler’s report. “The degree of decomposition limits the extent of evaluation that can be performed.”
Kohler’s report also noted significant blunt force trauma, penetrating injury, suffocation or strangulation cannot be excluded as cause of death due to the limited amount of flesh remaining.
Angst stated the juvenile had stated previously that the infant was allegedly not moving or crying at the time of the birth.
“A 17-year-old should have known what to do in this case,” said Angst. “She delivers a baby and doesn’t even ask for her own mother’s help. She herself doesn’t call 911 – that’s a basic principle instilled in young children.
“If she had called 911, with a proper investigation we could have determined that the baby was stillborn and she wouldn’t be sitting over there today,” said Angst.
The juvenile’s attorney Robert Whitney declined to give a closing statement on Tuesday, choosing instead to reserve the right to make a statement at a later time in written form.
“If she had called 911, with a proper investigation we could have determined that the baby was stillborn and she wouldn’t be sitting over there today,” said Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Angst.
