Berry v. State

819 N.E.2d 443, 2004 Ind. App. LEXIS 2481, 2004 WL 2903687
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 16, 2004
Docket49A04-0402-CR-122
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 819 N.E.2d 443 (Berry v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berry v. State, 819 N.E.2d 443, 2004 Ind. App. LEXIS 2481, 2004 WL 2903687 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

NAJAM, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE Following a jury trial, Terry Berry ("Berry") was convicted of Attempted Aggravated Battery, as a Class B felqny, 1 and the trial court sentenced him to twelve years. Berry now appeals and “presents the following issues for our review:

1. Whether the State presented sufficient evidence to sustain his conviction.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it imposed a twelve-year sentence.

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 15, 2008, Lee Berry ("Lee") and April Taylor were outside Gerald James' home at 2708 North Winthrop in Indianapolis when Lee's brother, William Berry ("Willie"), drove past them in his red Jeep Cherokee. After Willie noticed Taylor waving to him, he parked in a vacant lot across the street from James' residence and next to a house owned by Kenny Gamble ("Gamble"). Shortly thereafter, Gamble and his brother, Berry, who are first cousins to Lee, drove up the street in Gamble's red Chevy Blazer. As Gamble was driving, he yelled at Lee, "[Ylou're not going to be in this neighbor[hood][.] I don't want you over here." Transcript at 54. Lee replied, "[Who do you think you're talking to because you don't even live over here. You can't tell somebody to come to where they don't live." Id. Gamble then parked his vehicle nearby, and Lee and Gamble continued their argument in the street.

The cousins' verbal altercation escalated when Gamble hit Lee. In response, Lee backed up and repeatedly told Gamble that he did not want to fight. But when Gamble pursued Lee, he kicked Gamble, and the two began to wrestle. Willie suggested to Berry that they intervene, but Berry rejected his suggestion, stating only, "[Llet them fight." Id. at 92. Despite Berry's response, Willie attempted, unsue-cessfully, to separate the two. Subsequently, Lee punched Gamble in the eye, causing it to bleed. At that point, Gamble left to retrieve a baseball bat from his vehicle, and Lee walked down the street. As Gamble used the bat to repeatedly strike the bicycle that Lee had ridden over to James' house, Berry followed Lee, and when he finally caught up with Lee, Berry threatened to kill him. Lee then proceeded to walk away through an alley.

After Berry returned, Gamble tossed him the keys to the Blazer and told him to drive. Gamble then went to the back of his house and retrieved a shotgun, which he loaded as he walked through his yard. They entered the vehicle, and Berry sped off, As Berry drove the Blazer into the alley where Lee was walking, Gamble fired his shotgun out the passenger window.

Lee began running away, and his two cousins continued to chase him. Willie then drove up to Lee, and, as Lee approached Willie's Jeep, Gamble exited the Blazer and fired another shot, which hit Lee in the buttocks. That same shot also hit one of the Jeep's tires and its radiator. Lee entered the Jeep, but then quickly *448 exited the vehicle and began to run away once he realized that Berry and Gamble had pulled up alongside the Jeep. Again, Gamble left the Blazer and attempted to fire the shotgun, but, initially, it jammed. Gamble then fired the gun a third time, and Lee, who had been hit in the wrist, leg, and buttocks, was knocked to the ground. At that point, Gamble returned to the Blazer, and Berry drove him from the scene.

The State charged Berry with Attempted Murder, as a Class A felony, under a theory of accomplice liability. Following a two-day trial that began on December 29, 2003, the jury acquitted Berry of attempted murder but found him guilty of the lesser-included offense of attempted aggravated battery. At the sentencing hearing on February 5, 2004, the trial court issued the following sentencing statement:

The Court will consider the risk the defendant will commit another crime, as the statute requires, and find that it is great. Mr. Berry's conduct has been a fairly-bespeaks a fairly constant involvement in the criminal justice system. He was also on parole on the day that this happened.
In terms of the defense argument concerning the State's earlier offer, the-I'm not sure if I would characterize what happened with that plea the same way as defense counsel would. Basically, it was Mr. Berry's position that he didn't know anything, or he can't read someone's mind, or something like that. And at the time of that rejection-I mean, that's certainly his right. He went to jury trial, and he has the right to a jury trial. But, in addition to the family members in this case, the State provided testimony from some disinterested in probably two senses of the word. [Sic] They knew all sides of the dispute. But, also, they really didn't want to be here.
And one of the-because they just didn't really want to be involved. [Sic] But, they were consistent and the Court found them to be very credible. And their testimony supported some involvement of Terry Berry a little bit earlier on in the dispute. And moreover, they were all entirely consistent about the number of shots fired. So, if Mr. Berry is confused about what he did, the first thing he did was seeing [sic] his brother carrying a shotgun, put those keys in the ignition{,] and take off. The second thing he did was continue to drive. The third thing he did was continue to drive after his brother had shot onee at his cousin. And then [he] pulled up to the scene of the sort of stand off at the end of the whole thing where [Lee] was actually struck, I believe.
So, those were some continued, the continued conduct that makes this-I agree with you, though Mr. Rodriguez. I will say his brother is telling him what to do. It's his big brother. Drive the car. Drive the car. He's listening. That was what the evidence was in this case. And in fact, it's what his brother testified to at the trial, that he told him to do these things. And he, of course, complied. That is classic assisting under Indiana law. Assisting is knowingly helping, or aiding. And he knowingly helped.
I think there was temper. I think there was anger. There may not have been, certainly on Mr. Berry's part who I think was a little bit more operating in the heat of the moment, the intent to kill. And the jury's verdict certainly supported that; that the State did not prove that Mr. Berry, as would be required by law, had the specific intent to have his cousin killed. But it is his cousin. And it's just an awfully silly way to try to resolve the dispute over a bike or money or who is smoking crack in *449 whose driveway. I don't care. It doesn't justify this type of conduct. And moreover, there were a number of people outside on this day. And shooting a shotgun in a neighborhood with a bunch of people outside poses a risk. And you were assisting someone who is shooting a shotgun in a neighborhood, Mr. Berry, poses a risk. [Sic] So, the nature and cireumstances of the crime aren't quite as short-lived as defense counsel argues. There were a series of decisions made, albeit, I'm sure under pressure and under the heat of the moment. But, I think the consideration for that is supported in the jury's verdict to this lesser-included offense versus the A misdemeanor. ,
Your criminal history is significant.

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Bluebook (online)
819 N.E.2d 443, 2004 Ind. App. LEXIS 2481, 2004 WL 2903687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berry-v-state-indctapp-2004.