Barton v. State

936 N.E.2d 842, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 2064, 2010 WL 4492842
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided November 10, 2010·No. 18A04-0910-CR-609·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

OPINION

KIRSCH, Judge.

Kevin Barton appeals his conviction for failure to return to the scene of an accident resulting in death 1 as a Class C felony. Barton raises the following three restated issues:

I. Whether the trial court erred when it denied Barton's motion to dismiss, which asserted that the State was barred under collateral estoppel principles from prosecuting him for failure to return to the seene of an accident resulting in death;
II. Whether certain statements made by the State during rebuttal closing argument constituted Doyle 2 violations; and
III. Whether the trial court erred when it refused Barton's mistake-of-fact instruction.

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Around 1:80 am. on October 8, 2006, Jamie Beaty ("Beaty"), a twenty-three-year-old female, and her boyfriend, David Pyles ("Pyles"), were at a party near Yorktown, Indiana, which is located between Anderson and Muncie. Pyles got mad at Beaty and left the party on foot, to walk back to Muncie to retrieve his car. Beaty followed him as he walked along State Road 32. Pyles was walking ahead of Beaty and told her to quit following him; the two continued to argue as they walked. At some point, Pyles looked back and saw Beaty in the road, with headlights fast approaching, and he attempted to reach her to get her out of the way. Pyles explained that the next thing he knew, he was knocked down and a car had hit Beaty. That car, later determined to be a Nissan driven by Steven Brinkley, did not stop. Moments later, Beaty's body was run over and dragged by another vehicle, later determined to be Barton's black F-150 pick-up truck. Beaty died at the *846 scene. -In July 2007, Brinkley was convicted of, among other things, Class C felony failure to return to the scene of an accident resulting in death, and we affirmed his conviction by unpublished decision. Brinkley v. State, No. 18A02-0709-CR-826, 2008 WL 2580764 (Ind.Ct.App. June 30, 2008), trans. denied.

The State also charged Barton with Class C felony failure to return to the scene of an accident resulting in death. In addition, the State charged Barton with Class A misdemeanor operating while intoxicated endangering a person and Class D felony resisting law enforcement, but later dismissed the resisting law enforcement charge. In May 2009, prior to his jury trial, Barton filed a motion to dismiss the charge of failure to return to the scene of an accident resulting in death, arguing that collateral estoppel barred the State from pursuing the charge because Brink ley had already been convicted of the same offense. After a hearing, the trial court denied his motion.

At Barton's trial, Brinkley's passenger, Benjamin Gibson testified that he and Brinkley had been drinking throughout the night at various parties and establishments. As they were heading home to Anderson, Brinkley was driving down the road, when suddenly they saw what appeared to be a person, later determined to be Beaty, lying in the road. Before Brink ley had time to react, the Nissan he was driving hit her. Gibsor felt two quick thumps and said, "I think you hit someone." Tr. at 242. Brinkley kept driving until Gibson persuaded him to return to the scene, where they stayed briefly but did not report their involvement to authorities at the scene before leaving.

Barton, who was then, and had been for fifteen years, the Director of Transportation for Muncie Indiana Transit System ("MITS"), also testified. He stated that he had met his friend Julie Johnson that night in Yorktown for "a couple drinks," and as he was driving back toward Muncie from Yorktown, he was on the phone with a former girlfriend, Janice Litz, when he suddenly saw a person lying on the ground and another person next to him or her, and although he initially drove past them, he then turned around and went back to assist. Id. at 820. He stated that he pulled to the side of the road, exited his vehicle, and ran back to find Beaty in the road, not moving, and Pyles over her. Barton testified that he then saw an oncoming car, which he tried to flag down and stop, but which instead accelerated and ran over Beaty and did not stop. Barton testified that it was a white, older vehicle with shiny wheels and a "bad muffler job." Id. at 851. Barton explained that then another vehicle, a Green Ford Explorer, stopped to assist, and he ran back to his truck and, using his MITS cell phone, called 911. Barton stated that when he tried to call 911, he somehow reached Johnson, so he hung up and redialed 911, telling the operator that "A guy just hit a girl." Id. at 836.

Barton did not provide the 911 operator with his name, address, or registration number. He did not mention the description of the car that he saw run over Beaty. According to 911 records, the call was somehow disconnected, but not by the 911 center. Barton's cell phone records indicated that, during the relevant time frame, Barton dialed Litz at 1:18 a.m., Johnson at 1:24 am., and 911 at 1:27 am. After the 911 call, Barton said he went back to the scene, but another man, later identified as John Farris, was at that point rendering assistance to Beaty. Barton testified that he left the seene because he thought Far-ris was an emergency medical technician ("EMT") and that Farris told him to "get back and get out of here." Id. at 851. *847 Barton's truck was stopped by police not far from the accident location.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Barton v. State, 936 N.E.2d 842, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 2064, 2010 WL 4492842 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

936 N.E.2d 842 (Barton v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Yariel Butler v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2020
John Johnson v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2016
Santiago Valdez v. State of Indiana
56 N.E.3d 1244 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2016)
Lori Ann Barcroft v. State of Indiana
26 N.E.3d 641 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2015)
Gregory Hudson v. State of Indiana
20 N.E.3d 900 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014)
Ronald Wayne Shewmaker v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014
Fredy Sanchez v. Eric Holder, Jr.
757 F.3d 712 (Seventh Circuit, 2014)
People v. Fung
43 Misc. 3d 43 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 2014)
Demetrius Damon Taylor v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2013
James E. True v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2012
Jason Russell Richardson v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2012