Lewisburg homicide case hinges on tapes

By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item

LEWISBURG November 07, 2009 12:37 am

— In a 911 call and police statement recorded early Sept. 28, 2008, soon after Charity Spickler was gunned down in a Lewisburg apartment, Roderick Sims admitted shooting her in the head because he was angry at her for lying to him.
Although Sims has since claimed in an interview with The Daily Item that he was drunk when he accidently shot and killed Spickler, his 27-year-old estranged fiancee, Lewisburg police Sgt. Fred Hetrick Jr. testified at a pretrial hearing in Union County Court Friday that there was no evidence he was impaired.
“I didn’t detect any alcohol and his actions weren’t consistent with impairment,” said Hetrick, who spoke to Sims on the telephone for 30 minutes immediately after the shooting at 55 S. Water St. and took him into custody.
Sims, 47, is charged with an open count of criminal homicide.
Defense attorneys William J. Miele and Edward “E.J” Rymsza, of Williamsport, are seeking to suppress the 911 call and taped statement Sims gave to police following the shooting on the grounds that he was unaware he was being recorded.
District Attorney D. Peter Johnson argued that it’s common knowledge that 911 calls are recorded, but Judge Louise O. Knight said she couldn’t automatically rule in his favor.
“As I was listening to the tape I didn’t hear the beeping sound” or an audible alert normally heard during taped calls, she said.
Some of the telephone call between Sims and Hetrick was interrupted by other calls to 911 and Miele asked the police officer if Sims ever said the shooting was accidental.
Hetrick said he couldn’t recall.
Miele asked Hetrick why he had blood drawn from Sims and tested if he didn’t believe he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“To cover my bases,” Hetrick replied. “You can be under the influence and exhibit no signs.”
The dramatic 911 call made at 12:03 a.m. Sept. 28, 2008, begins with Sims telling an unidentified Northumberland County dispatcher, “I just shot my fiancee in the head.”
The call was transferred to Union County 911 Center and dispatcher Kevin Dozpat took over.
Sims repeated the same information four minutes later.
“I just shot my fiancee in the head. I’m in the bedroom with a gun to my head,” he said, describing the weapon as a .38 revolver
When Sims refused to put the gun down, Dozpat tried to get him talking about something else and asked about his hobbies.
“The woman I love is on the floor, dying. All over a... lie,” Sims said.
Hetrick took over the call from Dozpat and for 30 minutes spoke with Sims, who at times sobbed and moaned in anguish.
“Oh, please forgive me. I didn’t want this,” he cried.
In the 911 call and subsequent 22 minute taped statement taken at the police station, Sims said he shot Spickler because she lied to him about having relationships with other men and kept him from seeing their three young children.
He described going to the Lewisburg apartment late that September night and finding Spickler in bed with Eric Hitchcock, of Steelton, who told Sims they had just met.
“That infuriated me,” Sims said on the tape. “I just lost it. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Asked by Hetrick why he didn’t shoot the man, Sims said, “I was mad at her.
“She took my kids. She knew I loved my children, but she took them from me. She could have told me she was seeing someone. She kept lying to me.”
At the end of the interview, Sims said he had consumed four to five beers and two shots of liquor the day of the shooting.
A blood-alcohol test conducted by a New Jersey laboratory found no evidence of drugs or alcohol in blood drawn from Sims three hours after the shooting.
The defense wants that evidence dismissed because the blood was destroyed by the lab and isn’t available for further testing.
Barring a dismissal, Miele asked the judge to allow the defense to call at trial expert witness, Dr. Lawrence Guzzardi, to calculate what Sims’ blood-alcohol level was based on the amount of alcohol he consumed.
Knight is allowing the defense and prosecution time to file briefs on the motions to suppress statements and evidence before issuing a ruling. She also ordered the commonwealth to specify aggravating circumstances.

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