Bruce Dewayne Thomas, III v. State of Indiana (mem. dec,)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided June 28, 2017·No. 71A03-1608-CR-1908·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED regarded as precedent or cited before any Jun 28 2017, 5:42 am court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK

the defense of res judicata, collateral Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals

estoppel, or the law of the case. and Tax Court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Mark F. James Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Anderson, Agostino & Keller P.C. Attorney General of Indiana South Bend, Indiana Tyler G. Banks

Deputy Attorney General

Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Bruce Dewayne Thomas, III, June 28, 2017 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.

71A03-1608-CR-1908

v. Appeal from the St. Joseph Superior Court

State of Indiana, The Honorable Jane Woodward Appellee-Plaintiff. Miller, Judge Trial Court Cause Nos.

71D01-1602-MR-1

71D01-1110-FB-166

Brown, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 71A03-1608-CR-1908| June 28, 2017 Page 1 of 18

[1] Bruce Dewayne Thomas, III, appeals his conviction for murder. Thomas raises three issues which we consolidate and restate as:

I. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence statements he made to a detective; and

II. Whether the court abused its discretion in not instructing the jury on the offenses of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [2] Kayli Miller and her two children previously lived with Tyshawn Williams;1 they stopped living with him two or three weeks prior to December 24, 2015, and moved into an apartment at the Miami Hills Apartments. Her brother, her brother’s girlfriend Martrina Reid, the daughter of Miller’s brother and Reid, Miller’s mother, and Clevee Chick, who was the boyfriend of Miller’s mother, were staying there as well. Miller did not tell Williams where she was staying, and he tried to communicate with her to find out where she was. On the evening of December 23, 2015, Miller received a text message from Williams stating that he was going to kill her. Also in December 2015, Thomas was in a relationship with Amanda Kleepsie, who had previously been in a relationship with Williams.

1 At trial, Miller testified that Williams thought that both of the children were his but that he is the father of only the younger child.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 71A03-1608-CR-1908| June 28, 2017 Page 2 of 18

[3] On the morning of December 24, 2015, Williams contacted Kleepsie and said he needed a ride to see his children, and she agreed to give him a ride. Kleepsie picked up Williams in her vehicle, drove to the Miami Hills Apartments, and parked in the parking lot. Williams stayed in the vehicle, and then Kleepsie pulled out of the lot and traveled north. As they were driving, they saw Thomas walking toward the Miami Hills Apartments, Kleepsie pulled over, Williams told Thomas that he might need his help, and Thomas entered the backseat of the vehicle. Kleepsie drove back to the Miami Hills Apartments and parked in the parking lot. Williams and Thomas stayed in the vehicle for approximately ten minutes. Williams and Thomas, both of whom carried guns under their hoodies, exited Kleepsie’s vehicle, entered an apartment building, and walked up the steps to the third-floor apartment where Miller was located. At the time, Miller and her two children, Reid, the daughter of Reid and Miller’s brother, Miller’s mother, and Chick were among those inside.

[4] In response to a knock on the apartment door, Reid opened it to see Thomas and Williams both pointing guns at her, and she yelled “they’ve got guns.” Transcript Volume II at 117. Chick ran to the door, Reid or Chick closed or slammed the door, Chick placed his back against the door so that Williams and Thomas could not enter the apartment, and “[a]s soon as it slammed . . . [t]he gunshots was already coming.” Id. at 98. Chick was struck by two bullets, the first striking him in the back of the head and the second striking the back part of his shoulder, and he died as a result. The trajectories of four bullets which struck the apartment door show that the door was partially open when two

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 71A03-1608-CR-1908| June 28, 2017 Page 3 of 18 shots were fired through it from the hallway, and that the other two bullets were fired from the hallway through the door, which the crime scene investigator believed was shut at that point, and struck Chick. Kleepsie, who was in the car, heard three gunshots, a pause, and then three additional gunshots.

[5] Thomas and Williams exited the apartment building and walked to and entered Kleepsie’s vehicle, and Kleepsie drove away from the apartment complex. Kleepsie noticed that Thomas was holding his hand and was bleeding and gave him one of her shirts to wrap his hand, and Thomas indicated that, although he did not know how, Williams had shot him. After dropping Williams off at a house, Kleepsie drove Thomas to his mother’s house and, after less than fifteen minutes, drove him to an area a couple of blocks away from the Miami Hills Apartments, where Thomas exited the vehicle and spoke with his brother for five to ten minutes. Kleepsie then drove Thomas to her house and later drove him to the hospital. Kleepsie and Thomas indicated to a police officer at the hospital that they were cleaning guns and that Thomas’s injury was an accident.

[6] On January 25, 2016, Detective Timothy Wiley and his partner went to the St. Joseph County Jail, where Thomas was being held on unrelated charges, and asked for Thomas to be brought down to the booking area. Detective Wiley asked Thomas if he was willing to talk in the interview room, and Thomas responded affirmatively. Detective Wiley noticed Thomas had a bandage on his finger and asked him what had happened, and Thomas “said he got shot.” Transcript Volume III at 27. Detective Wiley asked Thomas “how it happened,” “where it happened,” and “where he sought medical treatment,” Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 71A03-1608-CR-1908| June 28, 2017 Page 4 of 18 and “[t]o all of those questions [Thomas] said he did not know.” Id. At that point, Thomas asked if he could leave the interview room and stated he did not want to talk anymore, Detective Wiley “said okay,” and Thomas stood up and walked out. Transcript Volume I at 33. Thomas was in the room with Detective Wiley for approximately three of four minutes. Detective Wiley later located and interviewed Kleepsie.

[7] On February 5, 2016, the State charged Thomas with murder under cause number 71D01-1602-MR-1 (“Cause No. MR-1”). Thomas moved to suppress his statements to Detective Wiley at the St. Joseph County Jail and argued he was in custody at the time he made his statements. The trial court noted that the interview was very short, Thomas left as soon as he said he wanted to leave, and he was not in restraints and there was no guard outside the door. The court found that Thomas had not been in custody for Miranda purposes and the interview was not a custodial interrogation under Ind. Trial Rule 617, and denied the motion to suppress. Thomas submitted proposed jury instructions on sudden heat, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter, which the trial court rejected. The jury found Thomas guilty of murder and was sentenced to fifty-five years. After sentencing Thomas under Cause No. MR-1, the court noted that he had received a suspended sentence under cause number 71D01-1110-FB-166 (“Cause No. 166”), took judicial notice of the verdict of the jury, found that Thomas violated his probation in that cause by committing a new criminal offense, and scheduled a sentencing hearing. At the subsequent sentencing hearing under Cause No. 166, the State argued that Thomas had

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