Leon H. Tyson v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 29, 2017
Docket20A03-1704-CR-789
StatusPublished

This text of Leon H. Tyson v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) (Leon H. Tyson 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
Leon H. Tyson v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), FILED this Memorandum Decision shall not be Nov 29 2017, 9:56 am

regarded as precedent or cited before any CLERK Indiana Supreme Court court except for the purpose of establishing Court of Appeals and Tax Court the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Bethany Redinbo Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Delphi, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana Ellen H. Meilaender Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Leon H. Tyson, November 29, 2017 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 20A03-1704-CR-789 v. Appeal from the Elkhart Superior Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Teresa L. Cataldo, Appellee-Plaintiff Judge Trial Court Cause No. 20D03-1512-MR-3

Baker, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A03-1704-CR-789 | November 29, 2017 Page 1 of 17 [1] Leon Tyson appeals his conviction for Murder.1 Tyson argues that the trial

court erred in admitting certain evidence and that the prosecutor committed

misconduct amounting to fundamental error. Finding that the trial court did

not err and that the prosecutor did not commit misconduct, we affirm.

Facts [2] In June 2015, Danielle Buford and Tyson were dating and Tyson lived with

Buford at her apartment in Elkhart. On June 19, 2015, Buford’s uncle, Tommie

Strowder, Buford’s mother, and a friend were sitting together outside her

apartment. Two young men briefly stopped by to speak with Buford. Later,

Buford and her mother heard four gunshots and saw the two men running

down an alley next to her apartment. Tyson arrived shortly thereafter.

[3] When Buford woke up the next day, June 20, 2015, Major Warren and William

Drake, who were friends of Tyson, were at the apartment. Strowder, who had

spent the night at the apartment, needed a ride home, and Tyson volunteered to

take him in Buford’s blue Volvo. Strowder and Tyson left together and Buford

left to run errands. Additionally, at some point that same morning, a neighbor

saw three men in a small, blue car attempting to “hide” a gun in the car’s glove

compartment. Tr. Vol. III p. 96.

1 Ind. Code § 35-42-1-1.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A03-1704-CR-789 | November 29, 2017 Page 2 of 17 [4] Later that day, Tyson called Buford. He was “upset” and told Buford that she

needed to return to the apartment immediately. Id. at 31. Warren and Drake

were waiting outside when Buford arrived. When she entered the apartment,

Tyson asked her to go to the bedroom and, as soon as she walked past him, he

shut the front door and pointed a handgun at her, saying, “‘Your uncle stole my

sh*t, and you know all about it.’” Id. at 32. Buford then went into the bedroom

and, after Tyson ordered her not to leave the bedroom, he took her phone and

left.

[5] Later, Tyson returned with Strowder and, while pointing the gun at Strowder

and Buford, ordered them to different corners of the living room. Tyson was

upset because he believed Strowder had taken another gun and ordered

Strowder to return it or pay him $300. Buford testified that Tyson repeatedly

told Strowder, “‘You did this. You’re the reason . . . your niece is going to

die.’” Id. at 35. To get the money, Tyson permitted Strowder to call Toricha

Williams, the mother of Strowder’s son. Williams testified that Strowder

seemed scared; he requested that she look for $300 hidden in a tube sock in

their basement because his “‘life depended on it.’” Id. at 134. While she was

looking, she heard a male voice arguing with Strowder. After Williams’s search

proved fruitless, Strowder went silent and Williams heard a woman screaming.

[6] Buford testified that after Williams could not find the money, Strowder stood

up and told Tyson, “‘you’re not going to kill [me].’” Id. at 36. Strowder then

opened the door to the porch and attempted to flee. He made it out of the

apartment when Tyson fired the gun at least two times. When Buford got up

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A03-1704-CR-789 | November 29, 2017 Page 3 of 17 and exited the apartment, she did not see Tyson but found Strowder on the

ground outside her apartment. Several witnesses heard the shots and saw one

or two Black men exit the apartment, enter a blue car, and drive away.

[7] Immediately after witnessing the shooting, Buford was concerned that she

would be blamed, so she threw away some of the empty shell-casings. She did

not call 911; instead, she went to Tyson’s sister’s residence, where she found

Tyson and her blue Volvo. Tyson asked Buford to drive him to Chicago and

she agreed to do so out of fear.

[8] Elkhart City Police Department Sergeant Daniel Mayer was the first officer at

the scene. When he arrived, Strowder was still alive, but he died shortly

thereafter. After conducting a search, police officers found a spent .45-caliber

shell-casing under a minivan.

[9] On June 21, 2015, while in Chicago, Tyson gave Buford the key to his minivan

and instructed her to give the key to a friend and not to tell anyone about what

had happened. When Buford arrived in Elkhart, she immediately told her

family and eventually told the police about the incident, including hiding the

spent .45-caliber shell-casings in the trash.

[10] Later that day, police responded to a report that a man was removing items

from Buford’s apartment and putting them in a minivan. When police arrived,

the unidentified male fled and police pursued him. The police lost sight of the

man in an alley adjacent to or near the apartment, but uncovered a .45-caliber

Springfield semi-automatic handgun lying under a bush. A few days later,

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 20A03-1704-CR-789 | November 29, 2017 Page 4 of 17 police officers also recovered the spent .45-caliber shell-casings in the trash and

an autopsy recovered two .45-caliber bullets from Strowder’s body. Subsequent

ballistics tests demonstrated that the two bullets recovered from Strowder’s

body and the recovered shell-casings from under the van and in the trash were

fired from the handgun.2 Appellant’s App. Vol. II p. 4-5. After comparing a

latent fingerprint on the magazine of the gun to exemplar fingerprints on file for

“Leon Tyson,” the fingerprint analyst determined that the fingerprint on the

magazine matched the exemplar prints on the card.

[11] On December 7, 2015, the State charged Tyson with murder and Level 3 felony

criminal confinement. Tyson’s jury trial took place on January 23-26, 2017,

and the jury found Tyson guilty of murder and not guilty of criminal

confinement. On March 14, 2017, the trial court sentenced Tyson to sixty-three

years imprisonment, with five years suspended to probation. Tyson now

appeals.

Discussion and Decision I. Evidentiary Issues [12] Tyson first argues that the trial court erroneously admitted certain evidence.

The admission and exclusion of evidence falls within the trial court’s sound

discretion, and we will reverse only if the decision is clearly against the logic

2 On January 25, 2017, the parties entered into a written agreement attesting to the accuracy of the ballistics tests and stipulating that the reports were admissible.

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