The Akron Legal News

Murder conviction affirmed for mother whose child died of meth overdose

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: December 17, 2013

A woman whose 17-month-old child died as a result of ingesting large amounts of methamphetamine had her conviction affirmed recntly when the 9th District Court of Appeals overruled her appeal and affirmed the sentence imposed by the Summit County Court of Common Pleas.

The child, Patrick Lerch, was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital by paramedics who responded to a call indicating that Patrick was not breathing shortly before 11 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2012. Patrick was pronounced dead upon arrival.

At the time of his death, Patrick had bruises, abrasions, burns and needle puncture marks to his body.

An autopsy revealed that he died from methamphetamine poisoning and a search of the home where he was found uncovered numerous components of methamphetamine production.

The mother, Heather Lerch, was charged by a grand jury in an 18-count indictment that included drug, child endangering and murder charges.

The state dismissed six counts before trial and the trial court acquitted Lerch of two counts at the close of the state’s case.

The remaining 10 counts were given to the jury, which found Lerch not guilty of four counts.

Lerch was convicted on three counts of child endangering, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of felony murder.

She was sentenced to serve 22 years to life in prison.

Upon appeal, Lerch argued that the trial court should have granted a motion she filed before trial to suppress statements she made to police during several interviews.

She claimed that her statements were involuntary and elicited in violation of her rights because she was never read her Miranda rights.

Judge Beth Whitmore, writing on behalf of the district’s three-judge appellate panel, stated that the Fifth Amendment requires that a suspect receive Miranda warnings when they are questioned in a custodial setting in order to protect against compelled self-incrimination.

However, the court of appeals’ review of the record resulted in a determination that Lerch was not in custody at the time of her interviews, therefore, law enforcement was not required to read her rights.

Det. Gary Shadie, of the Akron Police Department’s Juvenile Bureau, interviewed Lerch a total of three times. He admitted that he never gave her Miranda warnings.

The first interview took place shortly after Patrick’s pronounced death at the hospital.

The following two interviews took place at the police station. Shadie conducted all three interviews in his plain clothes and without his firearm.

According to his testimony and recordings of the final two interviews, Shadie told Lerch before he began interviewing her that she was free to go and that she did not have to answer any of his questions.

Lerch never informed the detective that she did not want to answer the questions, nor did she ever ask to leave.

After initial questioning at the hospital, Lerch agreed to come to the police station and accepted a ride from Officer Sean Taylor because she did not have a car with her.

Once there, she was taken to an interview room.

She was not handcuffed and, when she informed the detective that she was claustrophobic, he agreed to leave the interview room door open during questioning.

Lerch was able to keep her cell phone with her and used it during the interview.

She was allowed to take a bathroom break and to go outside and smoke, though she was accompanied by an officer who was concerned for her safety outside alone at that time of night.

“Having reviewed the record, we agree with the trial court’s conclusion that Lerch was not in custody on any of the three occasions when Det. Shadie interviewed her,” wrote Judge Whitmore, noting again that Shadie specifically told Lerch that she was not under arrest and did not have to answer questions.

That assignment of error was overruled along with Lerch’s additional arguments that her rights were violated when evidence was gathered as a result of a warrantless search of the home where Patrick was found and that her convictions were against the manifest weight of the evidence.

The responding officers, Sean Taylor and Joseph Horak, testified that they searched the home in order to make sure that there were no other victims and to ensure that no others witnesses or suspects were left in the home.

Randy Legg and his mother Tonia, the owner of the home, informed Officer Horak at the scene that there were two people inside the home sleeping only after extensive questioning.

The officers testified that they found it strange and concerning that Legg and his mother were reluctant to disclose the presence of the other occupants.

Horak also stated that it was unusual that at least two people in the house had retreated to various bedrooms to sleep, despite knowing that the paramedics and police were on their way.

They expressed their concerns to their sergeant, who ordered a search of the house for other victims and occupants. Tonia signed a consent-to-search form.

The officers did not open any drawers or cabinets but they did note the “deplorable” state of the house.

Horak testified that the house was very dark and there were only two working light bulbs in it. Garbage was strewn across the floor in every room.

He said he looked inside the crib where Patrick had been sleeping and found only a plate of chicken wings sitting on the mattress.

Horak found materials used to manufacture meth when he opened a large trunk to check if another child was inside.

“The trunk that Officer Horak found in the basement was large and could have concealed a child inside it, unlike the drawers and cabinets that (he) left closed while conducting his search,” wrote Judge Whitmore. “Given the particular facts and circumstances in this case, we cannot conclude that Lerch has demonstrated plain error with regard to Officer Horak’s search of the home and his opening of the trunk.”

The pill bottles and tubing contained in the trunk gave Horak probable cause to suspect illegal drug activity in the house, the appellate court ruled, and that gave the police a valid basis for the subsequent in-depth search of the home.

Lerch initially denied having any knowledge of drug abuse in the home.

She gave Shadie an “elaborate version of the events” prior to Patrick’s death, which included her gently rocking the baby to sleep and letting him hold her hand before she put him safely in his crib for the night.

Witnesses, however, stated that Lerch took Patrick to the house repeatedly and left her child in the filthy environment in the basement with men who were actively smoking meth.

Considering the collected evidence as well as witness testimony regarding Lerch’s turbulent lifestyle, the appellate panel found no merit to her claims that the convictions were against the manifest weight of the evidence.

“Patrick suffered numerous injuries before his death,” wrote Judge Whitmore. “He finally died of a methamphetamine overdose in the pitch black basement that Lerch herself did not want to spend time in. The evidence showed that he had been dead for several hours before Lerch decided to check on him.”

Lerch’s sentence and convictions were affirmed unanimously with Presiding Judge Carla Moore and Judge Donna Carr concurring.

The case is cited State v. Lerch, 2013-Ohio-5305.

[Back]