State v. Grissom

Facts

Joan Butler, Christine Rusch, and Theresa Brown disappeared in June 1989. All three women were in their early 20s and resided in Johnson County, Kansas. The women have not been seen or heard from since their disappearances, nor have any of their remains been located. At the time of the disappearances, D owned Apex, a business that cleaned and painted apartments in the Kansas City area, Olathe, and Lawrence. D kept his painting supplies in a rented locker under the name of Randy Rodriguez. A handwriting expert concluded it was 'highly probable' D had printed the name and address on the Rodriguez rental agreement. D hired men from missions and homeless shelters to work for Apex. D hired Thibodo. D drove a used 1981 brown Toyota Corolla, which Thibodo helped D purchase because D said he had a poor credit rating. The car was registered in Thibodo's name. D dated Cathy Arenal. Arenal met D at a nightclub in Lawrence, Kansas.  When D walked Arenal to her car between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m., he indicated he was going to drive back to Kansas City that night.  Joan Butler lived alone at Comanche Place Apartments in Overland Park, Kansas. Butler maintained frequent contact with her family, who resided in Wichita. Butler parties with friends that same night and said she was going to go back to her apartment because she was tired and needed sleep. Before Butler left, she and her friend made plans to go out the following weekend. It was around 4 a.m. Butler evidently arrived at her apartment because the clothing she had been wearing was found later in her bedroom. Within two hours after Butler left to go home, money was withdrawn from Butler's checking account. At 5:59 a.m. on June 18, 1989, a $300 cash withdrawal was made from Butler's account. At 3:45 a.m. on June 19, 1989, a second $300 cash withdrawal was made from Butler's account at a different branch location. A balance inquiry followed both cash withdrawals. At 2:14 a.m. on June 20, 1989, a balance inquiry was made at yet another branch location. A third $300 cash withdrawal was made, leaving no money in Butler's account. Butler did not call her father on Father's Day, Sunday, June 18. She neither showed up for work nor called her office on Monday morning, Butler was considered responsible and ambitious by family, friends, and co-workers. Her supervisor drove to her apartment. Coleman testified that there was no response to his knock on Butler's apartment door and that he did not see Butler's rented car in the parking lot. Blanz' apartment was directly below Butler's. Blanz testified that between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 18, she was awakened out of a sound sleep by a loud 'thump' noise coming from above her. The noise scared her. She got up and looked out the window into the parking lot, but did not see anything. Blanz said she saw Butler's rented Corsica in the apartment complex parking lot on Sunday morning, but was not sure if the car was there Sunday evening and did not remember seeing it Monday morning or thereafter. Joann Vermillion lived in a townhouse across the street from Comanche Place Apartments. On Tuesday, June 20, Vermillion noticed a brown Toyota parked in one of her assigned parking places. The car, which did not have a license tag, remained there until the following Friday. At trial, Vermillion identified D's brown Toyota as the car she had seen parked in her parking place. Thibodo testified that when he saw Don Tuesday, June 20, D was driving a red Corsica. D told Thibodo that he had rented the Corsica for a job in Lawrence. Thibodo asked to drive the card but D told Thibodo not to look through the trunk or the glove compartment. Thibodo did not open either. Later that evening, Thibodo gave Grissom a ride to an apartment complex in Overland Park where the brown Toyota was parked. D still was driving the Corsica when Thibodo saw him later that week.  Arenal testified that she saw D driving a maroon Corsica on Monday afternoon, June 19 and that when asked, he told her he had rented the car. Arenal stated that he also told her he was very exhausted because he had not slept since she last saw him early Sunday morning. When Arenal saw D the following weekend, he again was driving the Corsica. She also stated that during the weekend D gave her a peso pendant as a present. Carla Dippel also resided at Comanche Place Apartments. Dippel had been out of town during that weekend. When she returned, she noticed a peso pendant and a gold rope necklace were missing. These items formed the basis for the theft conviction. At trial, Dippel identified the peso pendant that D had given to Arenal as the one stolen from her apartment. The manager of Reeds & Sons Jewelers corroborated that the peso pendant given to Arenal was the pendant the jewelry store had made for Dippel. Dippel’s gold chain was eventually found in Butler’s apartment. (The evidence and unusual activities of D goes on and on and on in excruciating detail with even more connections to the disappearance of each woman. The circumstantial evidence was overwhelming.) D denied having killed the three women. After a detective explained why he thought it was unlikely that the women were alive, D said more than once, 'They're not dead.' At one point, D added, 'Well, they probably are by now.' Attempts to get D to explain the last statement were met by D's repeated comment, 'You will dig them up. You will dig them up.' D would not explain further. D also stated that 'everything happened in Kansas and nothing would be found in Missouri.' D specified that the women would be found in Johnson County and that all of the crimes had occurred in Johnson County. At no point did D actually confess to injuring or killing the three Johnson County women. After a jury trial, D was convicted and appealed.

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

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