Juan M. Garrett v. State of Indiana

992 N.E.2d 710, 2013 WL 4552755, 2013 Ind. LEXIS 634
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 28, 2013
Docket49S04-1207-PC-431
StatusPublished
Cited by179 cases

This text of 992 N.E.2d 710 (Juan M. Garrett v. State of Indiana) 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
Juan M. Garrett v. State of Indiana, 992 N.E.2d 710, 2013 WL 4552755, 2013 Ind. LEXIS 634 (Ind. 2013).

Opinions

RUCKER, Justice.

We hold that the “actual evidence” test announced in Richardson v. State, 717 N.E.2d 32 (Ind.1999) is applicable to cases in which there has been an acquittal on one charge and retrial on another charge after a hung jury. We conclude however that the post-conviction court properly denied the petitioner’s claim that counsel rendered ineffective assistance in failing to pursue this issue at trial or on direct appeal.

Facts and Procedural History

Factual Background

This case arises out of an abduction and sexual assault and resulted in two successive trials. The underlying facts are recited in the Court of Appeals memorandum decision on direct appeal as follows:

[715]*715Early in the morning of June 9, 2007, A.W. reported to the police that three men forced her into a van, took her to an apartment, and forced her to submit to multiple acts of oral sex and vaginal intercourse. One of the perpetrators gave her a piece of paper with the name “Juan” and a phone number written on it. He told her “to call him again if [she] wanted to have a good time again.” A.W. showed an officer the location of the apartment where she had been raped.
Police discovered the phone number and apartment belonged to Garrett. On June 25, 2007, Garrett went to the Sex Crimes Office and was interviewed by Detective Linda White and Sergeant Craig McCartt. Detective White gave Garrett Miranda warnings, which Garrett said he understood. She then read him an advice of rights form, which he said he understood and signed.
Garrett told the officers he had called off work on the evening of June 8 because he was sick, but he then went to the Embassy Suites for off-track betting. He claimed he returned home around 9:00 and went straight to bed. He denied that anyone was at his apartment that evening. When confronted with the note, Garrett said, “I meet a lot of people on the bus downtown. I have no idea from there.” Detective White asked Garrett if he would give a buccal swab, but Garrett refused.
Garrett’s DNA was later obtained by court order, and his DNA matched a sample from A.W.’s rape examination. Detective White showed A.W. a photographic array, and A.W. identified Garrett as one of the perpetrators.
On June 27, 2007, Garrett was charged with Count 1, Class A felony rape (alleging he raped A.W. while armed with a knife); Count 2, Class A felony rape (also alleging he raped A.W. while armed with a knife); Count 3, Class B felony criminal deviate conduct; Count 4, Class B felony criminal confinement (alleging he confined A.W. in an apartment while armed with a knife); and Count 5, Class C felony criminal confinement (alleging he forced A.W. into a vehicle).

Garrett v. State, No. 49A02-0807-CR-609, slip op. at 2-3, 2009 WL 485203, at *1 (Ind.Ct.App. Feb. 25, 2009) (citations and footnotes omitted), tram, denied.

First Trial

Garrett’s case was first tried to a jury on April 14, 2008. In addition to the foregoing facts, following are additional facts of what occurred at the first trial. During the course of her testimony, A.W. testified that her clothes were forcefully removed and that all three men forced her to perform oral sex. When asked “what happened next” A.W. testified as follows:

A. The older one made me get up, and he bent me over the bed and stuck his penis in my vagina.
Q. Okay. And you said he bent you over the bed. He was behind you?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And he put his penis in your vagina?
A. Yes.

Tr. 1 at 51-52.1 A.W. further testified that after the man was done he told her to put her clothes back on and that she could leave. Id. at 56. However, one of the younger men prevented her from leaving, [716]*716pushed her back over the couch and raped her. Id. at 56-57. Thereafter, according to A.W. “the older man made me have sex with him again.” Id. at 58. The following exchange then occurred:

Q. Okay. When you said the older man made you have sex with you [sic] again, where were you when that happened?
A. I was on the bed.
Q. Back where the first one happened? A. Yes.
* * *
Q. Okay. After that happened, what did he say?
A. He told me I could put my clothes back on and leave.
Q. And did you do it?
A. I put my clothes on and I got to the door. He wrote his phone number down and told me to call him if I wanted to have a good time again.

Id. at 58-59. When asked if she saw one of the men in the courtroom who raped her A.W. identified one of the spectators who appeared to have been exchanging hand signals with the defendant during the course of trial. See id. at 76-77. After a recess, A.W. identified Garrett as the older man who raped her. See id. at 80.

The jury returned verdicts of not guilty on Count 1 (Class A felony rape), Count 3 (Class B felony criminal deviate conduct), and Count 5 (Class C felony criminal confinement). The jury was unable to reach a verdict on Count 2 (Class A felony rape) and Count 4 (Class B felony confinement). The trial court discharged the jury, declared the jury deadlocked on Counts 2 and 4, and scheduled a pretrial hearing for the following week, April 23, 2008. The record is not altogether clear on what transpired at the pretrial hearing. In any event, retrial on Counts 2 and 4 was scheduled for June 5, 2008. Garrett waived his right to trial by jury, and the case proceeded to a bench trial.

Second Trial

Prior to commencement of retrial the following colloquy between the trial court and the deputy prosecutor occurred:

The Court: Okay. We’re on the calendar for a Court trial. The trial is not scheduled to begin until 10:00 o’clock a.m. but [Deputy Prosecutor], you said you had some preliminary matter you wanted the Court to hear?
[Deputy Prosecutor]: I do, Your Honor. Just to clarify for the record before we get started and I call [A.W.] to testify in this matter. One of [sic] the Court’s guidance with regard to the direct testimony she’s going to be giving today, as the Court’s aware, we tried this case to a jury on April 14th of 2008, the jury found Mr. Garrett not guilty on [Count] 1 ... and we are here to retry [Count] 2.... My question for the Court is with regard to [C]ounts 1 and 2 which are both rape as class A felonies. The jury found Mr. Garrett not guilty on one count and hung on the other.
The Court: Not guilty on one.
[Deputy Prosecutor]: And hung on the other.
The Court: And hung on 2.
[Deputy Prosecutor]: Right.
The Court: So what’s your question?
[Deputy Prosecutor]: My question is, Your Honor—

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
992 N.E.2d 710, 2013 WL 4552755, 2013 Ind. LEXIS 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/juan-m-garrett-v-state-of-indiana-ind-2013.