Ketchem v. State

858 N.E.2d 255, 2006 WL 3490811
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 5, 2006
Docket48A05-0512-CR-743
StatusPublished

This text of 858 N.E.2d 255 (Ketchem v. State) 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
Ketchem v. State, 858 N.E.2d 255, 2006 WL 3490811 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

JOSHUA R. KETCHEM, Appellant-Defendant,
v.
STATE OF INDIANA, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 48A05-0512-CR-743.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

December 5, 2006.

THOMAS G. GODFREY, Anderson, Indiana, ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT.

STEVE CARTER, Attorney General of Indiana, GEORGE P. SHERMAN, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE.

MEMORANDUM DECISION

VAIDIK, Judge.

Case Summary

Joshua Ketchem appeals from his convictions and sentences for attempted murder and prisoner possession of a dangerous device. He brings several arguments before this Court: (1) that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied his motion to exclude evidence; (2) that his separate convictions for these two crimes violate the principles of double jeopardy; (3) that the trial court abused its discretion when it cited aggravators not found by a jury or otherwise permissible under Blakely v. Washington; and (4) that the trial court abused its discretion when it ran his sentences consecutively. Finding no error either at trial or sentencing, we affirm the trial court.

Facts and Procedural History

In 2005, Defendant Joshua Ketchem was serving a twelve-year sentence with the Indiana Department of Correction for his convictions on charges of conspiracy to commit battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon. Ketchem and inmates Michael Gibson, David Sidener, and Scott Simmons were incarcerated in the same range of cells at the Pendleton Correctional Facility. Sidener had previously written a letter to prisoner officials indicating that he had information regarding the stabbing of a prison guard. The persons involved in the stabbing were friends of Gibson, and in August 2004, Gibson informed Sidener that he knew of the letter.

On March 5, 2005, Sidener came to Gibson's cell and asked him to go to the prison's "recreation pad" facility with him. The pair, along with Simmons and Ketchem, were admitted to the recreation pad by a prison guard. Sidener immediately walked to a telephone in the area and placed a call. While Sidener was on the phone, Gibson told Simmons, in Ketchem's presence, that Sidener had "snitched on some of his affiliated brothers," and "I'm gonna take him [Sidener] out." Tr. p. 441, 443. Simmons saw that Ketchem had a double-edged "shank" in his pants.

Several minutes later, Ketchem approached Sidener, who was still on the telephone. Ketchem kicked Sidener in the eye and began stabbing him. Gibson also began stabbing Sidener with another weapon. Gibson told Sidener, "[Y]ou're gonna die you Jewish bi***." Id. at 174. Sidener, who was now bleeding onto the floor, screamed and attempted to fend off the attack. This alerted Correctional Officer Harvey Pollard to the attack. He witnessed both Gibson and Ketchem on top of Sidener, and he at first thought they were hitting him. He soon noticed blood, however, and realized Sidener was being stabbed. Officer Pollard radioed for assistance, then went to the recreation pad's gated entrance and ordered the men to stop. Ketchem then backed away from Sidener, but Gibson continued attacking him. Officer Pollard sprayed Gibson with a chemical agent through the gate, at which point Gibson backed away and Officer Pollard saw that he had a knife in his hand.

Another officer on the scene radioed other officers that there was a disturbance involving a weapon. Gibson then returned to Sidener and stabbed him in the chest an additional five or six times. During this period, officers were attempting to gain entry to the recreation pad, but Ketchem was holding the gate shut against them. Officer Pollard sprayed Ketchem with the chemical agent, and when Ketchem backed away, officers entered the area and removed Sidener, who was taken to the hospital. The officers ordered Ketchem and Gibson to drop their weapons, at which point Gibson removed his knife, which had been attached to his hand by either a piece of cloth or a lanyard, and then threw it down. Ketchem threw down his knife as well, but he claimed that Sidener had actually pulled that knife on him and Gibson and that he only acquired it after getting it away from Sidener. Officers observed that neither Ketchem nor Gibson was wounded.

Sidener's wounds included multiple stab wounds to the chest, right hand, and left leg. While none of the wounds proved fatal, several of them, particularly two wounds to the lower chest, were near vital organs and could have been fatal.

After Ketchem and Gibson were moved to holding cells, Officer Pollard overheard them laughing about the incident. Ketchem also yelled to another inmate, Kenneth Munson, that if he had been at the scene with them, "we would have killed you." Id. at 278. Ketchem also stated, "[W]e tried to kill that bi***, you shoulda heard that bi*** screaming, shoulda heard him screaming like a baby . . . ." Id. at 293. When Munson began arguing with Ketchem, Gibson yelled, "if it was you, you'd be dead. As soon as we get to you, you're dead, you're next bi***." Id. Another inmate, Gerry Deckor, also overheard Ketchem talking about the attack, and he heard Ketchem say "we finally got that bi***." Id. at 329. Ketchem also threatened Officer Pollard, telling him not to repeat what he overheard.

On March 16, 2005, the State charged Ketchem with Count I: Attempted Aggravated Battery, a Class B felony,[1] County II: Attempted Murder, a Class A felony,[2] and Count III: Prisoner Possession of a Dangerous Device or Material, a Class B felony.[3] A joint jury trial for Ketchem and Gibson, who was similarly charged, was scheduled for November 7, 2005, and the State filed its Notice of Anticipated State's Witnesses on October 25, 2005. The filing stated that Simmons had written a letter indicating that he was an eyewitness to the stabbing and that he would be willing to testify against Gibson and Ketchem in exchange for favorable treatment in his own proceeding for modification of his sentence in another court. At a pretrial hearing on October 31, 2005, counsel for co-defendants Gibson and Ketchem confirmed that he had received a copy of the letter approximately two weeks earlier. However, defense counsel did not attempt to depose Simmons until November 4, 2005, and Simmons refused to cooperate at that time.

Defense counsel deposed Investigator Mike Rains, who had been at the scene of the attack, on November 4, 2005. At that time, Rains provided counsel for both sides with a sixty-seven-page report he had prepared following the attack. As it turns out, only twenty-one pages of the report had been previously provided, while the rest had been inadvertently retained by the Indiana State Police. In the full report, Rains indicated that inmate Simmons was an eyewitness to the attack and that inmates Munson and Deckor had given statements concerning what they overheard when in holding cells near Gibson and Ketchem. On the first day of trial, defense counsel filed a motion to exclude Simmons' testimony, arguing that both parties had originally determined his testimony to be self-serving and of little value and noting that Simmons refused to be deposed on November 4, 2005. The motion also sought to exclude any testimony by Munson or Deckor and any testimony or evidence relating to their testimony, arguing that because the Indiana State Police had failed to turn the report over to the parties before Rains' deposition, the report should be considered as evidence withheld by the State. The trial court denied the motion to exclude on all grounds but did provide defense counsel with the opportunity to depose the witnesses before they testified, which defense counsel did.

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Bluebook (online)
858 N.E.2d 255, 2006 WL 3490811, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ketchem-v-state-indctapp-2006.