Opinion ID: 2157140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: State v. Ralph Edwards

Text: On February 11, 1984, Ralph Edwards, an eighteen-year-old male, was walking along the local railroad tracks when he noticed a nine-year-old female on the platform near the tracks. He followed the victim as she went inside an abandoned station. He approached the victim and asked her to sit with him on a mattress which was discarded in the station. He exposed himself to the victim and attempted to sexually assault her. As he turned her on her stomach to rape her anally, the victim managed to knee Edwards in the groin area and run from the station. Edwards caught up with the victim and used a plastic strap that he had found to restrain her by wrapping it around her neck more than once. When he yanked the strap, the victim fell to the ground and hit her head. She lay motionless. Edwards picked her up and carried her to an area between two track railings. He then went back to the station, retrieved a sheet from the mattress he found in the station and covered the victim's body. Her body was discovered approximately five hours later. The cause of death was strangulation. Edwards was convicted on April 8, 1984 for receiving stolen property. He was arrested one month later when police officers observed him sexually assaulting a young boy on the railroad tracks about a mile and a half from the murder scene. Edwards confessed to the murder when questioned about the latter sexual offense. Edwards was charged with murder, felony murder and attempted aggravated sexual assault. A notice of aggravating factors was provided by the State: c(4)(c) (extreme suffering), c(4)(f) (avoiding detection) and c(4)(g) (contemporaneous felony). A jury acquitted him of purposeful murder, but found him guilty of knowing murder and other charges. Edwards had no prior convictions. Evidence of his history of psychological and mental problems was presented, indicating that he functioned on a mental/emotional level of a nine-year-old. At the penalty phase, the jury found factors c(4)(f) and c(4)(g) were present. The jury also found the following mitigating factors applied: c(5)(c)(age), c(5)(d)(mental disease), c(5)(f)(criminal history) and c(5)(h) (catch-all factor). Edwards received a life imprisonment sentence, with a thirty-year period of parole ineligibility for the murder count. The felony murder charge merged with the murder charge for sentencing purposes. On the remaining charge, Edwards was sentenced to ten years, with a five-year period of parole ineligibility to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed on the murder count.