Hovis v. State

455 N.E.2d 577, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1010
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 31, 1983
Docket1282S484
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 455 N.E.2d 577 (Hovis 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
Hovis v. State, 455 N.E.2d 577, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1010 (Ind. 1983).

Opinion

*579 GIVAN, Chief Justice.

Appellant was charged by information with Murder and Felony Murder. He was tried before a jury and found guilty of Murder. He was sentenced to a fifty (50) year term of imprisonment.

The facts are: Thomas Hardy testified that at about 3:00 A.M., on February 2, 1980, he was awakened by sounds of a "commotion" outside his home in Fort Wayne. He saw two men "hunched over" a third man who was on the ground. The man on the ground was eventually identified as the decedent, one John Faurote, a cab driver. A taxi cab with the passenger door open was parked on the street. Hardy ran outside grabbing a stick off his porch. He then called out to the men to stop, whereupon one of them fled. He identified this man as Duane Mason with whom he was acquainted. The other man began to move toward him, whereupon he swung at him with the stick he was carrying, striking him in either the head or the hand. He described this assailant as a caucasian with light colored hair. However, when asked if he could identify anyone in the courtroom as the assailant, he stated he could not. Hardy's attention was called to appellant specifically by appellant's attorney on cross-examination. Hardy testified appellant's features did not match "the picture I had in my mind [of the assailant.]" He concluded his testimony by stating he didn't think appellant was the man he confronted on the night of the crime.

State's witness Terry Becker testified he was the owner of a bar in Fort Wayne. He stated that around 2:00 A.M. on February 2, 1980, appellant and another man came into his bar and stayed for about an hour. He heard appellant telephone "the cab company" to get a ride home. The pair left the bar in a cab driven by a male. He could not identify the driver nor say which cab company was called.

State's witness Yvonne Swangim testified she was casually acquainted, with appellant. Around 4:00 A.M., on February 2, 1980, appellant came to her house and stayed until sometime the next day. Appellant told her he and Duane Mason had been in a fight and that his hand hurt where he had been struck with a board during the fight.

We do not reweigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of witnesses. Wells v. State, (1982) Ind., 441 N.E.2d 458. Where the evidence is circumstantial, the conviction is affirmed where reasonable inferences may be drawn to support the jury's findings. Wells, supra.

Appellant claims there is not substantial evidence to identify him as the perpetrator of the offense.

The inability of an eyewitness to the crime to identify the defendant in court as the perpetrator of the offense is not dispositive of the question of sufficiency of the evidence that the defendant is the perpetrator of the crime. See, eg., Dillon v. State, (1983) Ind., 448 N.E.2d 21. It is for the jury to resolve conflicts in the testimony and to weigh the evidence. Logsdon v. State, (1980) Ind., 413 N.E.2d 249; Hauger v. State, (1980) Ind., 405 N.E.2d 526. The key question in this case is whether from all the evidence the jury could have drawn a reasonable inference that appellant was the perpetrator of the crime. See Dillon, supra.

We believe such an inference is reasonable. From the evidence above recited, the jury could have reasonably inferred appellant was the assailant whom Hardy confronted and who was beating the decedent.

Appellant also argues there is insufficient evidence of the required intent to kill another human being so as to sustain a convietion for murder under 1.C. § 85-42-1-1(1) [Burns 1979]. The intent element of murder may be shown by evidence that the perpetrator engaged in conduct while aware of a high probability death would occur as a result. See Bryan v. State, (1983) Ind., 450 N.E.2d 53. In the case at bar the pathologist who performed an autopsy on the decedent testified he died as a result of suffocation in his own blood. The decedent's son testified he visited his father in the hospital before he died and that he *580 had been beaten "very badly" and that his face "was just a total mess." This is sufficient evidence from which the jury could infer awareness on appellant's part that death would result from the conduct in which he was engaged. See Bryan, supra.

We hold the evidence is sufficient to support appellant's conviction for murder under 1.C. § 35-42-1-1(1).

Appellant claims the trial court erred when the State called Duane Mason as a witness. When the judge asked Mason to take the oath after he was called, Mason stated that he would not testify in appellant's trial. The judge inquired if he knew he could be held in contempt for refusing to do so, and Mason said he understood that. We note the record indicates Mason had been tried for and convicted of Faurote's murder earlier. Then Mason reiterated that under no cireumstance would he testify in appellant's trial. The judge then sentenced Mason to ninety (90) days imprisonment for direct contempt. All this occurred in the presence of the jury.

Following Mason's removal from the courtroom, the judge admonished the jury to disregard what they had seen and to draw no inferences, favorable or unfavorable, on behalf of either the defendant or the State, based upon what they had seen. However, at the conclusion of the trial he refused to give an instruction containing the same admonishment to the jury.

Appellant claims the trial court erred on grounds the total effect of these events was to deny him the Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross-examine a witness.

Appellant first cites Douglas v. Alabama, (1965) 380 U.S. 415, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 in support of his argument. In that case the defendant Douglas's alleged accomplice, one Loyd, was called by the State as a witness at Douglas's trial. Loyd had already been tried for and convicted of the offense. Loyd took an oath but then refused to answer all questions put to him, invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege. The prosecution then proceeded to read a statement allegedly made by Loyd in which he incriminated Douglas, pausing every few sentences to ask him if he had made such a statement. Loyd refused to answer each such question. Eventually the entire statement was read to the jury in this matter.

The Supreme Court held this procedure violated the defendant's confrontation rights. However, contrary to appellant's claim in his brief, the Court did not identify the jury's witnessing of Loyd's refusal to testify as the error requiring reversal. Rather, the error was in permitting Loyd's alleged statement to be read in the presence of the jury without permitting Douglas to cross-examine Loyd. The Court stated: "[ Douglas's] inability to cross-examine Loyd as to the alleged confession plainly denied him the right of cross-examination secured by the Confrontation Clause." (Emphasis added.) Id. at 419, 85 S.Ct. at 1077, 13 L.Ed.2d at 937.

A case decided by this Court, Aubrey v. State, (1974) 261 Ind. 692, 310 N.E.2d 556, is also cited in support of appellant's argument.

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Bluebook (online)
455 N.E.2d 577, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1010, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hovis-v-state-ind-1983.