Opinion ID: 2690146
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: M. testified, “He shoot my mommy.”

Text: {¶ 14} Maxwell ran from the house after shooting Nichole and fled down the street. Lauretta followed him for a short distance before he disappeared. Shortly afterwards, police officers and emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene. Nichole was taken to the hospital, where she died from her injuries. {¶ 15} On the morning of November 27, Michelle Kenney, Nichole’s other sister, called Gregg and told him that Maxwell had killed Nichole. Gregg said that he then called Maxwell and asked him if he had killed Nichole. Maxwell admitted killing her and recounted what happened. He said he had followed Nichole from her home to the bar. She went into the bar, and Maxwell waited outside in his car. He then went inside and saw Nichole and another man sitting in the back of the bar “making out.” Maxwell then returned to his car and waited. After they left the bar, he followed Nichole and the man as they drove in separate cars to Nichole’s house. Nichole kissed the man and went into her house, and the man drove away. {¶ 16} Gregg also testified that Maxwell told him that he called Nichole after the other man drove away and asked if he could come over. Nichole said he 4 January Term, 2014 could, and Maxwell went to her house. Maxwell answered the phone at Nichole’s house, including repeated calls from a man who asked to speak to Nichole. He also answered a call from Lauretta. Maxwell told Gregg that “they started arguing and then he confronted her about that night.” Lauretta then came to the front door, and Maxwell “opened the door[,] pointed the gun and fired but she had ran.” Then, Maxwell told Gregg, “he just turned around, shot Nichole and she fell down and    she moved and then he shot her again.” C. The Police Investigation {¶ 17} Police investigators found two .25 caliber shell casings inside the house. Investigators looked inside and outside the house for a third shell casing, which they never found. Investigators also did not find any bullet holes inside or outside the house. {¶ 18} Dr. David Dolinak, a medical examiner with the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office, conducted Nichole’s autopsy. Nichole suffered two gunshot wounds to the head. One gunshot in the middle of the right eyebrow broke the bones of the eye socket. The bullet did not enter the brain but lodged in the sinuses on the right side of the nose. The other gunshot went through the left side of the head into the right side of the brain. Dr. Dolinak concluded that Nichole died from gunshot wounds to the head and that the death was a homicide. {¶ 19} Detective James Ealey, a firearms examiner with the Cleveland Police Department, examined the two bullets recovered during the autopsy. Ealey testified that they had been fired from the same weapon. His written report stated that the bullets were “consistent with 25 auto type ammunition.” {¶ 20} The police sought to locate and arrest Maxwell following Nichole’s death. On December 16, 2005, FBI Special Agent Robert Riddlebarger and other members of the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Fugitive/Gang Task Force went to a Cleveland home to arrest him. After entering the home, they found Maxwell hiding in a crawl space behind a bed in a second-floor bedroom. As he was being 5 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO handcuffed, Maxwell was asked whether he was armed or whether there were any weapons nearby. He replied, “I do not have a gun anymore.” A few seconds later, Maxwell blurted out that he had gotten rid of the gun that he had. {¶ 21} The defense presented no witnesses during the guilt phase of the trial.