Lay v. State

933 N.E.2d 38, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1590, 2010 WL 3390290
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 30, 2010
Docket10A01-1001-CR-17
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 933 N.E.2d 38 (Lay 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
Lay v. State, 933 N.E.2d 38, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1590, 2010 WL 3390290 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

KIRSCH, Judge.

Terry Gene Lay ("Lay") was convicted of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, 1 a Class B felony, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, 2 a Class A felony, reckless homicide, 3 a Class C felony, and he admitted to being an habitual offender. 4 Lay appeals, raising the following restated issues:

I. Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed Lay's wife ("Amanda") to waive her marital privilege and testify against Lay;
II. Whether the State provided sufficient evidence to sustain Lay's conviction for neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a Class B felony, in regard to his daughter, Ky.L.; and
*40 III. Whether the abstract of judgment violates the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. 5

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Lay and his wife Amanda lived with their five children in Evansville, Indiana. The children included three-year-old twins, KL., a boy, and Ky.L., a girl. On Thursday, March 27, 2008, Amanda sent KL. to his bedroom when KL. told her that he did not have to listen to her. Later that day, when Amanda informed Lay of K.L.'s behavior, Lay entered K.L.'s room. Soon thereafter, Amanda heard thumps on the wall. She entered KL's room and saw Lay with his hand on K.L.'s shoulder holding him down. That night, Amanda heard KL. vomiting, and he ran a low-grade fever the next day. He did not eat, drink, or talk much on Saturday or Sunday.

Around noon on Monday, Amanda noticed that K.L.'s lips were blue and one of his hands was clenched. She called Lay who came to the home and then called 911. Sheriffs deputies and other emergency personnel were dispatched to Lay and Amanda's trailer. The emergency responders transported KL. by ambulance to the hospital where he died from injuries resulting blunt force trauma to the head.

Before KL. was taken to the hospital Lay left the home with some of the other children. Sergeant Darren Baumberger of the Vanderburgh County Sheriffs Department later found the children. One of the children was KL's twin sister, Ky.L. who had lacerations on her face and severe bruising on her back and legs.

Lay and Amanda were arrested and charged with multiple counts of felony neglect. Lay was also charged with being an habitual offender. Amanda entered into a plea agreement under which she received a sentence of thirty-five years, agreed to cooperate with law enforcement, and to testify against Lay.

After a jury trial, Lay was found guilty of a Class A felony neglect of a dependent resulting in death, with respect to KL., Class B felony neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury, with respect to Ky.L., and Class C felony reckless homicide. He admitted to the habitual offender allegation. The trial court entered judgment only on the felony neglect counts, and the habitual offender finding. The court sentenced Lay to consecutive terms of fifty years on the A felony convietion, enhanced by thirty years for the habitual offender finding and twenty years on the B felony for a total sentence of one hundred years executed. Lay now appeals. Additional facts will be added as necessary.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. Waiver of Marital Privilege

Lay argues that the trial court erred when it allowed Amanda to testify against him in contravention of the marital privilege. Further, Lay maintains that the State coerced Amanda into waiving the marital privilege and testifying against him. The State asserts that Lay has waived the issue of marital privilege on appeal. We agree.

Prior to trial, Lay filed a motion in limine to prohibit the State from eliciting confidential marital communications from his wife. Prior to Amanda's trial testimony, the trial court held a hearing on the motion and determined that Amanda's waiver of the marital privilege was voluntary and not coerced as alleged and per *41 mitted her to testify against Lay. Tr. at 326-39. During the trial, Lay failed to raise any objections to Amanda's testimony on the ground that her testimony violated the marital privilege.

Our Supreme Court has observed:

Only trial objections, not motions in limine, are effective to preserve claims of error for appellate review. Failure to object at trial to the admission of the evidence results in waiver of the error, notwithstanding a prior motion in li-mine.... To preserve a claimed error in the admission of evidence, a party must make a contemporaneous objection that is sufficiently specific to alert the trial judge fully of the legal issue.

Raess v. Doescher, 883 N.E.2d 790, 796-97 (Ind.2008), reh'g denied (internal quotes and citations omitted). Because Lay did not raise any objection during Amanda's testimony at trial concerning any violation of the marital privilege, the issue is therefore waived on appeal. Id.

Waiver notwithstanding, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it allowed Amanda to testify against Lay. The trial court has broad discretion to admit evidence, and the trial court's ruling regarding the admissibility of evidence will be reviewed on appeal only for an abuse of that discretion. Laster v. State, 918 N.E.2d 428, 432 (Ind.Ct.App.2009). An abuse of discretion occurs only when the trial court's ruling is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and cireum-stances before it, or if the trial court has misinterpreted the law. Id.

The marital privilege is statutory: "Except as otherwise provided by statute, the following persons shall not be required to testify regarding the following communications.... (4) Husband and wife, as to communications made to each other." Ind. Code § 34-46-3-1(4). Regarding the privilege, our Supreme Court has explained: "The marital privilege prevents a court from requiring a spouse to testify as to confidential marital communications, but does not bar the spouse from testifying if the spouse chooses to do so." Glover v. State, 836 N.E.2d 414, 422 (Ind.2005).

The record before us indicates that Amanda voluntarily chose to waive the marital privilege and testify against Lay. Prior to testifying against Lay at trial, a hearing was held outside of the presence of the jury where Amanda was questioned by the trial court and counsel for both parties regarding her waiver of the marital privilege. Amanda testified that she knew of the marital privilege, that it had been explained to her, and that she had voluntarily chosen to waive the marital privilege and testify against Lay. Tr. at 330.

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Bluebook (online)
933 N.E.2d 38, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1590, 2010 WL 3390290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lay-v-state-indctapp-2010.