State v. Farra

2022-Ohio-1421

STATE OF OHIO Plaintiff-Appellee v. BILLY JOE FARRA Defendant-Appellant

No. 28950

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Second District, Montgomery

April 29, 2022

Criminal Appeal from Common Pleas Court Trial Court Case No 2020-CR-208/2

MATHIAS H. HECK, JR. by LISA M. LIGHT, Atty. Reg. No 0097348, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office, Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee

CARLO C. MCGINNIS, Atty. Reg. No. 0019540, Attorney for Defendant-Appellant

OPINION

EPLEY, J.

{¶ 1} After a multi-day bench trial, Defendant-Appellant Billy Joe Farra was found guilty of eleven felony counts and sentenced to 55 to 60½ years in prison, classified as a violent offender, and ordered to pay restitution. He now appeals from that conviction. For the reasons that follow, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed.

I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} An 85-year-old widower, Eugene Deaton, lived alone in his Wileray Avenue home in Miamisburg and often played the slot machines at two local racinos, Miami Valley Gaming in Monroe and Hollywood Casino in Dayton. On January 11, 2020, Deaton was playing slots at Hollywood Casino when Jessica Boomershine approached him and asked if he was having any luck. He answered in the negative, and she responded that she was not either, commenting, "I'm broke, hungry, and homeless." Trial Tr. at 116. Deaton offered to take her to his house for some food and a shower. Boomershine took him up on the offer, and the two left the casino in Deaton's car.

{¶ 3} The pair went back to Deaton's house, where Boomershine ate a sandwich, took a shower, and according to trial testimony, performed oral sex on Deaton. The following morning, the two exchanged numbers (Boomershine left hers on a post-it note), and then Deaton drove Boomershine back to the casino and gave her $10. The next day, Boomershine showed up at Deaton's house again, stayed for an indeterminate length of time, and then Deaton took her back to Hollywood Casino. She called again that evening, but Deaton told her he could not help. Boomershine again came to Deaton's house unannounced, but this time he told her that if she did not leave, he would notify the police.

{¶ 4} On the evening of January 15, 2020, Deaton came home from the casino and went to bed around 9 p.m. Shortly thereafter, he was awakened by a bright light shining in his eyes; a strange man with a gun was standing over his bed. The man put the gun to Deaton's neck and told him to stay still. Deaton, however, reached for his gun, a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver that he kept near his bed. The man, who was later identified as Farra, got to the gun first and fired a shot into the pillow only inches from Deaton's head. The bullet went through the pillow and ricocheted off the wall. Farra then jammed the gun against Deaton's throat and demanded to know where his billfold was; Deaton replied that it was in the top drawer of his dresser.

{¶ 5} Next, Farra got Deaton out of bed and began to ransack the house with the help of his accomplice, Boomershine. Deaton was led out of the bedroom and made to lay down on the hallway floor. After a short time on the floor, Deaton's hands were tied up, and he was taken to his car, where the intruders put a covering over his head and forced him to lay face down on the backseat floorboard. Once in the car, Boomershine drove and Farra was positioned in the backseat to control Deaton.

{¶ 6} Boomershine and Farra demanded that Deaton reveal his ATM pin and his Social Security number. Deaton initially gave his captors a fake number, but after being beaten with the gun again and having it shoved in his mouth, Deaton told them the real information. They then stopped at an ATM and withdrew money.

{¶ 7} As they were driving, Deaton made the decision to fight back and try to dispossess the gun from Farra. That choice backfired, however. Deaton was left with severely injured arms which resulted in surgeries and skin grafts. The altercation also led Farra to direct Boomershine to stop the car so he could more definitively deal with Deaton. Resultantly, Farra removed one of Deaton's socks and put it in his mouth as a gag, and then stuffed Deaton in the trunk.

{¶ 8} After driving around some more, Boomershine headed to Hollywood Casino and dropped herself off. With Deaton securely in the trunk, Farra then drove to the nearby CSX railyard to dump evidence. Deaton felt the car come to a stop again and heard a door open and close. After waiting five or ten minutes to make sure his captors were gone, Deaton pulled the emergency trunk release and emerged to find himself in a giant Rumpke recycling center. Because it was the middle of the night, the facility was completely empty, so Deaton wandered around looking for a phone to call for help. The facility's surveillance video showed him with only one sock, bloody clothes, and injuries to his arms, face, and neck.

{¶ 9} Eventually, Deaton found the break room and waited for an employee to arrive. At around 3:20 a.m., Marc Hyer arrived for work and called the police. Medics were called as well. Hyer testified: "I found the gentleman at the table all bleeding. His arms was [sic] wide open." Trial Tr. at 336. An officer who responded to the scene described the wounds by invoking "The Walking Dead," declaring that the skin was just falling off the bone. Trial Tr. at 475.

{¶ 10} Law enforcement officers descended on the scene, not realizing that Farra was still in the facility. Video surveillance footage showed that after Farra parked and exited the car, he climbed a nearby concrete retaining wall inside the building and hid for hours while the investigation was being carried out.

{¶ 11} Deaton told Dayton Police Officer Stephen Quigney that his female abductor was the same woman he had had interactions with over the past few days named "Boomershine," and then gave her general physical descriptors. Officer Quigney was able to input that information into his MIS system, and he found a field identification card that linked Boomershine to Hollywood Casino. He then accessed her driver's license picture, which matched the description given by Deaton. Officer Quigney was also informed that Deaton's male abductor had an "S" shaped tattoo on the left side of his face. Officer Quigney then learned that there was a male associated with Boomershine with a large facial tattoo - Farra. Deaton also informed law enforcement that two shots had been fired that night: the first shot went through his pillow in his bedroom, and a second round was fired in the car while he was being driven around. He did not know the circumstances surrounding the second shot, though, because his head had been covered.

{¶ 12} Miamisburg Detective Jason Threlkeld soon arrived at the hospital and was informed by Officer Quigney about what happened and the potential suspects. He then spoke with Deaton and was struck by the severity of his injuries. "I immediately observed very [horrific] severe wounds on both of his arms and his hands, some on his neck [and] face[.]" Trial Tr. at 643. After getting the story from Deaton, Detective Threlkeld notified Miamisburg Detective Sergeant Jeff Muncy about the potential complexity of the investigation due to the multitude of crime scenes.

{¶ 13} Detective Muncy got other Miamisburg detectives involved and enlisted the help of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) and the Tactical Crime Suppression Unit (TCSU - a coalition of detectives from neighboring jurisdictions) for extra manpower. Teams were sent to Deaton's Wileray Avenue home in Miamisburg to collect evidence of the initial break-in and abduction, the Rumpke recycling facility where Deaton was left in the car, and Hollywood Casino in Dayton to collect video footage of Deaton and Boomershine from days earlier. Other crime scenes soon emerged.

{¶ 14} Jeffrey Yount, an Oakwood detective, and Centerville Detective Chad Eckenrode, both part of the TCSU task force, were sent to Hollywood Casino to obtain surveillance footage. While they were there, they received a call that a CSX Railroad employee had found items that could be related to their investigation. Det. Yount testified that the CSX facility was almost immediately next door to the casino, so he and Detective Eckenrode went there. When they arrived, the detectives learned that rail workers had found a "Dopp Kit" (toiletries bag) and a revolver in or near a dumpster next to the tracks. Inside the bag detectives found a Case knife (a brand of collectable knives), a wallet, a Xenia Municipal Court Probation Department business card from Carlos Walker that read: "Next Appointment Date: 1/22 at 2pm," and a post-it note with "Jessica" and a phone number. Inside the wallet were Deaton's identification card, his deceased wife's identification card, an Air Force service card, and credit cards belonging to Deaton.

{¶ 15} As the day of January 16 progressed investigators got more leads. Detective Muncy called the number on the Xenia Municipal Court Probation Department card and spoke to Carlos Walker, a probation officer with the court. He confirmed that the 2 p.m. appointment on January 22 belonged to Farra, who had just gotten out of jail a day earlier. That evening, Boomershine was located at Hollywood Casino by security staff and then arrested by officers. She was taken to the Miamisburg police headquarters and interviewed. At the time of her arrest, she had in her purse car keys belonging to Deaton, a syringe, and a document from Xenia Municipal Court with Farra's name on it. Investigators learned some important information from Boomershine: she admitted to being involved in the crime and implicated Farra as well. Boomershine also confirmed that the...