Coy v. State

720 N.E.2d 370, 1999 Ind. LEXIS 1165, 1999 WL 1128988
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 1999
Docket42S00-9803-CR-166
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 720 N.E.2d 370 (Coy v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coy v. State, 720 N.E.2d 370, 1999 Ind. LEXIS 1165, 1999 WL 1128988 (Ind. 1999).

Opinions

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

Appellant Roger Coy, Jr. was convicted of murder, Ind.Code § 35-42-1-1, and burglary, Ind.Code § 35-43-2-1. The trial court imposed concurrent sentences of sixty years for murder and ten years for burglary.

Coy’s contentions in his direct appeal focus on selection of the jury and admission of autopsy photographs, in particular:

1. Whether the prosecutor committed misconduct when, during voir dire, he:
a. told the jury that a prosecutor acts as a “minister of justice,” or
b. told the jury that Coy, if convicted, would not be sentenced to death or life in prison, or
c. advised the court in front of news media that one of its witnesses needed protection from Coy.
2. Whether the trial court erred by admitting two autopsy photographs into evidence.

Facts and Procedural History

The facts most favorable to the verdict revealed that Dallas Wallace lived alone in a one-room cabin without electricity or running water in Pearl City, an area in Vincennes, Indiana. His income came from government checks, selling scrap metal, and bootlegging liquor. Wallace did not have a bank account; he cashed his checks and carried the money in his billfold, flashing the money around to make sure everyone knew he had it.

[372]*372On November 22, 1994, Wallace sold some scrap metal for $103.50. He cashed the check and spent $50 to $60 at a liquor store and bar on the way home. At home, he also paid a friend $10 for a box in which he could lock up the beer he had ■ purchased. This left him with about $45 of the scrap money in his wallet.

That night, Chris Hand took Coy and Milton Lane, Jr. to Pearl City. Hand testified that earlier that evening Coy and Lane discussed robbing Wallace. Hand dropped them off near Wallace’s house, and met up with them nearby later that night. As they drove home, Coy told Hand that he and Lane had killed Wallace. Coy produced Wallace’s billfold.

A Mend of Coy’s testified at trial that Coy admitted killing someone in Pearl City. (R. at 1341^42.) He reported that Coy said “he couldn’t believe that he took somebody’s life for only $45.00.” (Id.)

Wallace’s body was discovered two days after his death, on Thanksgiving day. Police subsequently discovered that he was killed by a single bullet to his brain, and that his billfold was missing.

The State charged Coy and Lane with murder and burglary. They were co-defendants until partway through voir dire, when the court reconsidered Coy’s earlier motion for separate trial and granted it.

I. Prosecutorial Misconduct

A. Prosecutor as “Minister of Justice”. During voir dire, the prosecutor told prospective jurors that, unlike overzealous prosecutors on television, he was not “out to win,” but instead wanted to ensure a fair trial by protecting Coy’s constitutional rights. (R. at 301-303, 537-41.) He said that prosecuting attorneys are “ministers of justice,” (R. at 304, 538-39), representing the people of the State of Indiana, (R. at 304, 540-41).1

Coy’s counsel objected to these statements multiple times, and he twice moved to strike the jury panel. The judge denied these motions.2 After discussing the matter with the prosecutor and the judge out of the hearing of prospective jurors, defense counsel discussed his own role in the proceedings, saying that he saw himself as a seeker of truth like the prosecutor. (R. at 376.) He further said, “I think if the truth comes out we’ll be okay.” (R. at 377.)

Coy contends that when prosecutors call themselves “ministers of justice” the defendant’s lawyer is “by implication, cast in a role subordinate to that of the Prosecutor and rendered suspect to the jury.” (Appellant’s Br. at 14.)

“The function of voir dire examination is not to educate jurors, but to ascertain whether jurors can render a fair and impartial verdict in accordance with the law and the evidence.” Bannowsky v. State, 677 N.E.2d 1032, 1034 (Ind.1997). A prosecutor’s attempt to indoctrinate the jury during voir dire may require reversal if his or her questions amount to misconduct, and if that misconduct subjects the defendant to grave peril. Bardonner v. State, 587 N.E.2d 1353, 1357 (Ind.Ct.App.1992), trans. denied. The gravity of the peril is “determined by the probable per[373]*373suasive effect on the jury’s decision, not by the degree of impropriety of the conduct.” Id.

In Bardonner, the prosecutor asked prospective jurors whether they thought that both the State and the defense have an obligation to seek the truth. When a juror responded affirmatively, he told the panelists “that wasn’t the law.” Id. at 1355. He quoted extensively from a dissenting opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court, United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 256-58, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967) (White, J., dissenting), on the role of prosecutors and defense attorneys. He interspersed his own comments. The prosecutor said that the State’s obligation was not to win its case, but to see that justice is done. Bardonner, 587 N.E.2d at 1356. The prosecutor also declared that defense counsel need present no evidence, even if he knows the truth, that defense counsel can confuse a witness, even a truthful one, and that our system of justice requires conduct from defense attorneys that in many instances has little if any relation to the search for truth. Id.

The Court of Appeals held these statements to be misconduct that placed the defendant in grave peril, stating, “we cannot say that the prosecutor’s comments— attacking the integrity of defense counsel by indicating that defense counsel would do anything to hide the truth, including impeaching testimony of truthful witnesses — did not affect the jurors’ verdict.” Id. at 1362. Our Court disapproved of similar statements by a prosecutor in Miller v. State, 623 N.E.2d 403, 407 (Ind.1993).

Here, Judge Crowley reviewed defense counsel’s objections and motions in light of Bardonner. (R. at 687.) He noted that there are two potentially objectionable components to the statements challenged in Bardonner: (1) painting prosecutors as “ministers of justice”, and (2) denigrating defense attorneys. (Id.) He overruled Coy’s objections, because the prosecutor had used only the first Bardonner component. (Id. at 688.) We agree with Judge Crowley’s resolution of this issue.

While it is true that prosecutors have special responsibilities set out in Indiana Professional Conduct Rule 3.8,3 all attorneys are officers of the legal system, Prof. Cond. Preamble, and have a duty of candor toward tribunals, Prof. Cond. R. 3.3.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
720 N.E.2d 370, 1999 Ind. LEXIS 1165, 1999 WL 1128988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coy-v-state-ind-1999.