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Stow man’s murder conviction in pregnant wife’s death remanded
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: September 18, 2017
A Stow man convicted of killing his nine-months pregnant wife in 1985 was deprived of due process of law, according to the 9th District Court of Appeals.
Scott Purk appealed his convictions for murder and tampering with evidence.
He argued a Summit County trial judge erred by denying his motion to dismiss the charges and allow him to stand trial for conduct he allegedly committed 28 years before his indictment.
The appellate court recently reversed and remanded the case for the trial court to apply the correct standard in the first instance.
The victim’s death was initially ruled a suicide after an autopsy.
Case summary shows that on March 18, 1985, Park called 911 to report his pregnant wife had tried to hang herself from the railing in their two-floor apartment.
Purk told police at the scene that he had found his wife hanging, had used a knife to cut her down and had attempted CPR before calling for help.
Paramedics were able to restore her heartbeat and transported her to a hospital. Her son was delivered via cesarean birth, but both the mother and son died.
The case was reopened in 2009 after police Sgt. Ken Mifflin investigated a house fire at Purk’s home. During the investigation, Mifflin discovered his first wife had died of an apparent suicide, but some people found the circumstances suspicious.
Mifflin then spent three years investigating his wife’s death. The Summit County Medical Examiner agreed to exhume the victim’s body for a second autopsy, which was completed in September 2011. The death was then ruled a homicide.
Four days before trial, the trial court rejected Purk’s motion to dismiss the indictment for pre-indictment delay. A jury convicted him on both counts. The trial court sentenced Purk to 18 years to life in prison to be served consecutively with another sentence on an unrelated case.
Purk claimed he was prejudiced because certain evidence was not available to him at the time of trial – the rope his wife used to hang herself, the knife that he allegedly used to cut her down, the original photos police took at their apartment, hospital records, his wife’s psychiatric clinic records and leasing records for their apartment.
Purk said that evidence would have shown the exact manner in which his wife hung herself and shown she had a history of suicidal tendencies.
The trial court failed to address actual prejudice from the pre-indictment delay, according to a 3-0 opinion written by 9th District Judge Donna J. Carr.
“The court stated that it was denying the motion to dismiss because the State had brought its charges based on at least some new evidence,” Judge Carr stated. “Because this Court functions as a reviewing court, `we are not inclined to resolve this matter in the first instance.’ (State v. Doll, 9th Dist. Wayne No. 13CA0041, 2015-Ohio-1875).
“Rather, we conclude that it is appropriate to remand this matter to the trial court for it to properly apply in the first instance the burden-shifting test set forth in (State v.) Luck…Should the court determine on remand that Purk’s motion to dismiss lacks merit, his convictions will stand without retrial.”
Appellate judges Thomas Teodosio and Lynne Callahan concurred.
The case is cited State v. Purk, 2017-Ohio-7381.