Jacob I. Stidham v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 23, 2020
Docket19A-PC-2702
StatusPublished

This text of Jacob I. Stidham v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) (Jacob I. Stidham v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)) 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
Jacob I. Stidham v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2020).

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 23 2020, 8:37 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 Steven Knecht Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Lafayette, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

Matthew B. MacKenzie Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Jacob I. Stidham, June 23, 2020 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 19A-PC-2702 v. Appeal from the Tippecanoe Circuit Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Sean M. Persin Appellee Trial Court Cause No. 79C01-1608-PC-32

Altice, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-PC-2702 | June 23, 2020 Page 1 of 17 Case Summary [1] Jacob I. Stidham appeals from the denial of his petition for post-conviction

relief (PCR). On appeal, he asserts that the post-conviction court erred in

rejecting his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel.

[2] We affirm.

Facts & Procedural History [3] The facts as set out on direct appeal follow:

On March 5, 2011, R.M. and A.T. were in the Chauncey Hill area in Lafayette to celebrate a friend’s birthday. After drinking at some bars and eating at a fast food restaurant, R.M. began calling for a taxi cab on her cell phone to take her and A.T. back to where they were staying.

At approximately 3:30 a.m., while R.M. and A.T. were waiting for the cab, Stidham pulled up in a white SUV. R.M. assumed that Stidham was the driver from the taxi cab company. Both girls entered the SUV and R.M. noticed that A.T. had “passed out” in the back of Stidham’s vehicle. At some point, Stidham stopped the vehicle and ordered R.M. to perform fellatio on him. When R.M. refused, Stidham grabbed R.M.’s head and pulled her close to him.

R.M. escaped Stidham’s grasp, called 911, and told the dispatcher that her friend had “passed out” in the back of Stidham’s vehicle. While R.M. was talking with the dispatcher, Stidham removed R.M.’s seatbelt, opened the passenger side door, and shoved her out of the vehicle. Stidham then sped away with A.T. still in the back seat.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-PC-2702 | June 23, 2020 Page 2 of 17 R.M. then ran to a nearby residence, where she again called 911 and attempted to call A.T.’s cell phone. The police were unable to find Stidham’s vehicle in light of the description that R.M. had given them.

At approximately 6:29 a.m., A.T. staggered into a Speedway Gas Station (Speedway) on Old U.S. 231 South in Lafayette. A.T. was missing her coat and purse, so she used the gas station’s telephone to contact her family. A.T. noticed that her bra was unhooked and was experiencing soreness in her vaginal area.

Detective Travis Dowell of the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the Speedway and observed that A.T. was cold, upset, and crying. A.T. was transported to the hospital where Shannon Luper, a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, performed a rape test on A.T. and recovered a quantity of DNA from A.T.’s right buttock. Luper also found white secretion and several red abrasions in A.T.’s vagina, and some bruises on A.T.’s right knee and forearms.

The police subsequently tested the DNA and found Stidham’s DNA on record that matched that which was recovered from A.T. Thereafter, on June 21, 2011, police officers obtained a search warrant that authorized them to obtain a DNA exemplar from Stidham. The DNA matched that which was recovered near A.T.’s right buttock. The police also executed a search warrant for Stidham’s apartment, where A.T.’s digital camera was discovered. The camera revealed digital photos of A.T.’s activities on the night of the assault.

Stidham was arrested, and shortly thereafter, he called a friend, Benita Allen, and asked her to move a blue container from another apartment where he occasionally resided. Stidham also requested that Allen not tell the police where he lived. However, following Stidham’s arrest and release on bond, the police

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-PC-2702 | June 23, 2020 Page 3 of 17 learned about the other residence. Thus, they obtained a search warrant for this residence and discovered a newspaper article about the assault on R.M. and A.T. The officers also found several articles of female clothing in a tub.

***

Several days after Stidham had attacked R.M. and raped A.T., Stidham told a friend, Beau Kerkhoff, what he had done to A.T. and R.M. During that conversation, Stidham admitted having sexual intercourse with one of the women.

R.M. testified that in the early morning of March 6, 2011, she made approximately five calls for a taxi-cab to take her and A.T. home from a restaurant in Lafayette. R.M. also described A.T.’s state of intoxication that morning, explaining that “she was definitely impaired. She was not walking straight.... I did not feel that she was capable of making a decision.”

A.T. testified that she remembered drinking alcohol that evening, but had no recollection of the events after her fourth or fifth drink. A.T. testified that she only remembered going to the first bar after dinner, that she did not remember leaving, did not recall going to other bars or the restaurant, and did not remember entering Stidham’s vehicle. A.T. testified that the next thing she remembered was waking up outside the Speedway and not knowing where she was.

A.T. also denied that she gave Stidham permission to have her camera, did not have consensual sexual intercourse with Stidham, and testified that she was unaware that Stidham had sexual intercourse with her. Luper, the sexual assault nurse who

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-PC-2702 | June 23, 2020 Page 4 of 17 examined her, testified that A.T. sustained vaginal injuries, and that the injuries were most likely sustained during nonconsensual sexual intercourse.

Kerkhoff testified about the conversation that he had with Stidham a short time after the attacks where Stidham mentioned that he had picked up two women from a bar, had dropped one of them off, and had sexual intercourse with the other.

The State introduced evidence of Stidham’s cell phone records that placed him in the area where the attacks occurred on March 6, 2011, between 12:55 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., leaving the Lafayette area at 5:11 a.m., and being near the intersection of U.S. 231 and U.S. 52 near Otterbein at 5:20 a.m.

R.M.’s cell phone records placed her in the same area until 3:00 a.m. on March 6 and in an area near U.S. 31 after 3:00 a.m. Her records also indicated that she had called a taxi company at least four times that evening. A.T.’s cell phone records placed her in the Chauncey Village area until approximately 3:00 a.m., at which point the calls that were made to her were forwarded to her voicemail.

Stidham testified that he had a consensual sexual encounter in his Jeep with a woman he had met outside of Harry’s bar. Stidham claimed that the woman performed fellatio and that he ejaculated on her hand. Stidham also claimed that the woman had left her camera with him. Stidham then alleged that he did not have any further contact with the woman that evening.

During closing arguments, Stidham alleged that he was not the individual who picked up R.M. and A.T. Stidham further claimed that he had not committed confinement because R.M. and A.T. had voluntarily entered the vehicle. Finally, Stidham alleged that he did not commit rape because he did not have

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