Jason T. Myers v. Thomas D. Maxson Amy L. Hutchison Bruce W. Graham and Trueblood & Graham (In their Official and Individual Capacities) (mem. dec.)

51 N.E.3d 1267, 2016 Ind. App. Unpub. LEXIS 398, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 456, 2016 WL 1212070
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 29, 2016
Docket79A05-1501-CT-39
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 51 N.E.3d 1267 (Jason T. Myers v. Thomas D. Maxson Amy L. Hutchison Bruce W. Graham and Trueblood & Graham (In their Official and Individual Capacities) (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
Jason T. Myers v. Thomas D. Maxson Amy L. Hutchison Bruce W. Graham and Trueblood & Graham (In their Official and Individual Capacities) (mem. dec.), 51 N.E.3d 1267, 2016 Ind. App. Unpub. LEXIS 398, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 456, 2016 WL 1212070 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

[1271]*1271BROWN, Judge.

[1] Jason T. Myers appeals the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Thomas Maxson, Amy L. Hutchison,. Bruce W. Graham and True-blood & Graham, P.C. (collectively, the “Appellees”). He raises five issues which we consolidate and restate as:

I. Whether the trial court erred when it denied Myers’s requests for the transcripts of the evidentiary hearing of his May 23, 2011 post-conviction proceeding; and
II. Whether the trial court erred when it granted the Appellees’ motions for summary judgment.1

We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] The facts relating to Myers’s conviction for battery resulting in serious bodily injury as a class C felony, which provide context for the issues raised in his appeal, are as follows:

In the early morning hours of May 10, 2003, Felicia Norris (“Norris”) joined two friends at a bar in Lafayette. While there, she met Myers, her “on-again/off-again” boyfriend. Tr. p. 16. Norris and Myers discussed “hanging out later.” Tr. p. 17. Norris and her friends left the bar and returned to her apartment. Later, Myers and several of his friends joined them.
When the group got too loud, Norris asked everyone to leave. Meanwhile, Myers was upset and defensive because Norris was speaking with his brother. When Myers started to leave, Norris grabbed his arm because she wanted to talk to him. The two began to yell, scream, and push each other and Norris slapped Myers on the head several times. Myers pinned Norris against the wall and held her by the throat with both hands, so that her feet were barely touching the ground. One of Norris’s friends tried but was unable to pull Myers away from Norris. Myers struck Norris in the nose with his fist, causing a compound nasal fracture.
Myers then fled the apartment. A short time later, he called Norris to check on her. He told her to go to the hospital, but threatened to kill her and everyone in the house if she pressed charges against him. Tr. p. 23. As the result of her injuries, Norris received five stitches, suffered bruising, swelling, and pain, and later underwent surgery.

Myers v. State {“Myers I”), No. 79A05-0507-CR-405, 853 N.E.2d 553, slip op. at 2-3 (Ind.Ct.App. August 23, 2006), trans. denied.

[3] Maxson, a police officer with the Lafayette Police Department, arrested Myers on May 11, 2003. At the time of the arrest, Myers told Maxson that he was acting in self-defense, and Maxson told Myers he would note that Myers’s injuries were less severe than those of the complaining party. On June 20, 2003, the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office charged Myers with battery resulting in serious bodily injury as a class C felony; battery as a class Á misdemeanor; confinement as a class D felony; and criminal recklessness resulting in serious bodily injury as a class D felony. Id. at 3.

[4] Myers initially hired private counsel, but the Tippecanoe County Public Defender was later appointed to represent [1272]*1272him, and on November 11, 2003, Hutchison entered an appearance on Myers’s behalf. On February 24, 2005, Myers submitted to the court a pro se motion to dismiss based on an alleged violation of Criminal Rule 4(C),2 and on March 11, 2005, the court scheduled a two-day jury trial for June 28, 2005. The trial was held as scheduled, and Maxson testified that he could not recall whether a May 11, 2003 booking photograph accurately depicted Myers’s physical appearance at the time of his arrest. Myers requested to see the booking photograph, told Hutchison that she should use the photograph in her cross-examination of Maxson, and that she should re-call a previous witness to present an alleged inconsistent statement to support Myers’s claim that he had acted in self-defense during the events on May 10, 2003. In response to Myers’s requests that she use his booking photograph and re-call the previous witness, Hutchison advised Myers that the booking photograph was probably not admissible and that re-calling the previous witness might be damaging because the witness’s statement referred to Myers’s drug use. Hutchison sought the advice of a long-time investigator who explained to Myers that the witness’s statement related to Myers’s drug use. Myers ultimately decided not to use the booking photograph and was convicted of battery as a class C felony. He was sentenced on September 29, 2005.

[5] On October 20, 2005, Graham entered an appearance on Myers’s behalf and filed a notice of appeal. On August 23, 2006, this Court issued an opinion affirming Myers’s felony battery conviction. See Myers I, slip op. at 1. On Myers’s behalf, Graham filed a petition to transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court, and the petition was denied on October 3, 2006. After notifying Myers of the outcome of the transfer petition, Myers wrote Graham a letter in which he accused Graham of ineffective assistance of counsel in appealing his felony conviction for battery and threatened Graham with “a malpractice action” for his failure to assert a Criminal Rule 4(C) violation. Appellant’s Appendix at 160.

[6] On March 5, 2008, Myers, pro se, filed a petition for post-conviction relief from his 2005 battery conviction, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel.3 On April 1, 2008, the court appointed the Indiana Public Defender to represent him. On December 9, 2010, Deputy Public Defender Gregory Lewis met with Myers, who was incarcerated on unrelated drug charges,4 to discuss post-conviction reme[1273]*1273dies available to him. Lewis advised Myers that the court’s scheduling of his trial date may have violated Criminal Rule 4(C).

[7] Beginning in April 2011, Myers began sending Douglas Masson, the Tippecanoe County Attorney, a series of letters related to allegations of legal malpractice against Hutchison. Masson employed a policy of “retain[ing] the envelope if a letter is sent using certified or registered mail,” he did not have “any envelopes associated with the letters from Mr. Myers,” and it was his belief “the letters were not received via registered or certified mail.” Id. at 67. Myers’s April 4, 2011 letter contained headings titled “Discovery Rule” which attempts to explain his reasons why the discovery rule should apply to his case, “Compensatory Damages” which states his alleged mental health problems resulting from the alleged malpractice, and “Punitive Damages” which he bases on Hutchi-son’s failure to identify the Criminal Rule 4(C) Violation. Another letter, dated April 26, 2011, references a request Myers made to Tippecanoe County’s insurance company to settle his alleged malpractice claim against Hutchison for her failure to file a motion to dismiss on the basis of Criminal Rule 4(C). Hutchison also received a letter from Myers in late April or early May 2011, which enclosed unsigned and undated materials as well as certain documents stemming from his battery conviction, direct appeal, and correspondence with his counsel for his petition for post-conviction relief.

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51 N.E.3d 1267, 2016 Ind. App. Unpub. LEXIS 398, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 456, 2016 WL 1212070, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jason-t-myers-v-thomas-d-maxson-amy-l-hutchison-bruce-w-graham-and-indctapp-2016.