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State v. Rieb3/29/2005
Submitted March 1, 2005
AFFIRMED
Eric Andrew Rieb appeals a murder conviction, arguing the trial court erred in excluding evidence of his prior psychiatric hospitalizations and refusing to present a jury charge on the law of self-defense. We affirm.
FACTS
In March 2000, kitchen manager Joe Award hired Rieb, a college dropout with some professional culinary training and experience, as a line cook at the Outrigger, a local seafood restaurant. During the initial weeks of his employment, Rieb rode back and forth to work with Award, who lived near him. Shortly after being hired, Rieb was demoted to fry cook. In mid-August, Award fired Rieb from the kitchen staff, citing his unreliability and serious drinking problem. Following his termination, Rieb occasionally mentioned to others his professional dissatisfaction and personal dislike for Award. Two weeks after being terminated, Rieb approached daytime manager Janice Smith about the possibility of being re-hired at the restaurant and working for her. With Award's approval, Rieb was re-hired on the restaurant's daytime cleaning staff, where he would rarely be in contact with Award. At the end of October, the Outrigger terminated Award as nighttime manager.
On Sunday, November 19, Rieb was relaxing at his apartment with co-workers Blake Josephs and Jeremiah Lawson. Around noon, Rieb began receiving phone calls from Award, who wanted Rieb to come over to his place for some drinks. It was known to Rieb and other employees of the Outrigger that Award was homosexual. The phone calls continued all afternoon. Rieb told Award he might stop by, but communicated to Josephs and Lawson that he did not desire to do so. After several calls, Rieb refused to speak with Award. Josephs began answering the calls instead, and repeatedly told Award to stop harassing them; the calls, however, continued. Finally, around 7:30 p.m., Josephs and Lawson suggested that Rieb go over to Award's home and see what he wanted. Rieb complied, left the apartment, and walked over a mile in the pouring rain to Award's residence.
Approximately forty-five minutes later, Rieb called his apartment from Award's home to speak to Josephs. Once Josephs was reached, Rieb told him and Lawson that he had just killed Award and needed help. They told Rieb that they were on their way over to help him, so he should stay where he was, but then called 9-1-1 to report the crime. The police drove to a nearby restaurant to meet Josephs, who directed them to Award's home.
Once on the scene, law enforcement officers surrounded the residence and ordered Rieb to exit. He was soon spotted breaking out a window in the rear of the building in an attempt to escape, but fled back into the home when ordered to halt. Rieb eventually exited from the front of the house and peacefully surrendered. After he was handcuffed, officers searched his person incident to the arrest. Stuffed in his waistline near the small of his back, the police found a household steak knife. The search also revealed what appeared to be a severed penis in his front-right pocket. Rieb was promptly arrested.
Upon entering the small home, officers quickly discovered Award, badly beaten about the head and body, but still breathing, with his groin area exposed and severely mangled. Emergency medical services were called expeditiously, but Award died soon thereafter. A subsequent autopsy was inconclusive as to which specific injury caused Award's death, but determined either the blunt trauma to his head or the bodily injuries could have alone proved fatal.
According to Rieb, he and Award began drinking alcohol together soon after his arrival. In
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