The Akron Legal News

Man who murdered woman on Christmas Day loses appeal

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 25, 2015

Recently a panel of three judges in the 1st District Court of Appeals affirmed multiple convictions for a Cincinnati man who shot and murdered a woman after a Christmas Day dispute.

Byron Frazier appealed from the judgment of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, where he was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison for the murder of Kyila Shields and the attempted murder of Adam Deters.

In his appeal, Frazier challenged the weight and sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions, the trial court’s admission of evidence, the court’s failure to grant a mistrial due to prosecutorial misconduct, complicity instructions and a faulty judgment entry.

“Because the trial court failed to include the consecutive sentence findings in the judgment entry, we remand the cause to the trial court to issue a nunc pro tunc entry,” Judge Russell Mock wrote in the opinion that he authored on behalf of the court of appeals. “We affirm the trial court’s judgment in all other respects.”

Case summary states that Frazier’s convictions stemmed from a family dispute that came to a head on Christmas Day, 2012.

At that time, Deters and Shields were engaged to be married and they had a two-month-old son, A.J.

Deters and Shields went to the home of Shields’ maternal grandmother to celebrate the holiday.

Also present were Shields’ mother, Regina Shields, Regina’s boyfriend, Byron Germany, and Germany’s son, Frazier.

Court documents state that everyone got along well until a disagreement arose about a house that Shields and Deters had rented from Regina and Germany in the summer of 2012.

Deters and Shields had allegedly left the rented property in disarray.

Frazier inserted himself into the argument and repeatedly told Deters to “meet me and we can fight.” Case summary states that he also threatened to shoot Deters.

Throughout the argument, people came and went from the home and confronted each other at different times.

At one point Frazier left, but Germany stayed and threatened Shields, saying, “I ain’t going to get you, I’m going to get your man.”

At some point later, Germany and Deters were alone in a room together and Germany told him, “I’m going to take care of all you motherf------ tonight, the both of you tonight.”

Eventually, Germany was escorted out of the home and Shields and Deters left to go to the home of Shields’ paternal grandmother, Doris Lawrence.

When they arrived at Lawrence’s home, it was dark outside. At trial, Deters testified that he and Shields parked the car in the street and began unloading presents while A.J. remained in his car seat.

Then, a black SUV drove by very slowly to the end of the street and then turned around. Deters said he felt uneasy but Shields was confrontational, asking, “What the f--- is this? Who’s this?”

Deters testified that the SUV parked about 20 feet away from the car and Frazier and another man jumped out.

Frazier was holding a two-foot-long black gun in his hands and started walking toward them, saying, “This is what you get.”

Shields told Deters to leave, so he jumped in the car and drove to the end of street, leaving Shields standing outside.

As soon as Deters got into the vehicle, he said that Frazier and the other man fired at least 10 shots. One of them hit Deters in the top of the head.

When Deters looked back, no one was there.

He thought that Shields had been kidnapped so he took A.J., ran to Lawrence’s home and called the police. Deters identified Frazier as the shooter during the 911 call.

The police found Shields’ lifeless body was lying in the grass. An autopsy revealed that she had died from internal bleeding caused by three gunshot wounds to her back and one to the right buttock.

Cellphone records placed Frazier near the Lawrence home at the time of the shooting.

After the incident, Frazier sent a text to an unknown person that said, “Nothin, I took care of it.”

Gunshot reside was found on Frazier’s clothing after he was arrested.

Frazier testified in his own defense and stated that at the time of the shooting, he had fallen asleep in front of his TV. He blamed the shooting on his father, Germany.

After reviewing the evidence and trial testimony, the court of appeals concluded that the state proved its case against Frazier.

“When viewed in a light most favorable to the prosecution, this evidence, if believed, was sufficient for the jury to conclude that Frazier, with the use of a firearm, had committed the felonious assault and murder of (Shields) and the felonious assault and attempted murder of (Deters),” Mock wrote. “Moreover, the jury, as the trier of fact, was in the best position to judge the credibility of the witnesses.”

While Frazier attempted to shift the blame to his father, the appellate panel noted that the evidence of guilt against Frazier was “overwhelming” and that the jury was free to reject Frazier’s version of events.

Some of Frazier’s other assignments of error in his appellate brief challenged the admission of certain evidence during his trial, such as cellphone tower records and firearm supplies found in his home, but the court of appeals found little merit to his claims.

“It is up to the trial court to decide initial questions of admissibility,” Mock wrote.

The reviewing court proceeded to reject Frazier’s claims that there were grounds for a mistrial and it ruled that cumulative error did not warrant a reversal of Frazier’s convictions.

The only error it did find was in the trial court’s sentencing entry, which failed to incorporate its consecutive sentence findings. Mock noted that the error was a clerical one, easily corrected through a nunc pro tunc entry.

The judgment of the Hamilton County court was affirmed with Presiding Judge Sylvia Hendon and Judge Peter Stautberg joining Mock to form the majority.

The case is cited State v. Frazier, 2015-Ohio-3116.

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