Logan B. Lake v. State of Indiana

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 29, 2012
Docket45A03-1106-CR-256
StatusUnpublished

This text of Logan B. Lake v. State of Indiana (Logan B. Lake v. State of Indiana) 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
Logan B. Lake v. State of Indiana, (Ind. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

FILED Pursuant to Ind.Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any court except for the purpose of Feb 29 2012, 9:42 am establishing the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the CLERK of the supreme court, court of appeals and case. tax court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:

KRISTIN A. MULHOLLAND GREGORY F. ZOELLER Office of the Public Defender Attorney General of Indiana Crown Point, Indiana

MICHELLE BUMGARNER Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

LOGAN B. LAKE, ) ) Appellant-Defendant, ) ) vs. ) No. 45A03-1106-CR-256 ) STATE OF INDIANA, ) ) Appellee-Plaintiff. )

APPEAL FROM THE LAKE SUPERIOR COURT The Honorable Diana Ross Boswell, Judge Cause No. 45G03-1003-MR-2

February 29, 2012

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION

BARNES, Judge Case Summary

Logan Lake appeals his conviction for murder. We affirm.

Issue

Lake raises one issue, which we restate as whether the evidence is sufficient to

sustain his conviction.

Facts

On the evening of January 27, 2010, Lake and Dina Ivanovskaia met with Thomas

Haynes in Schaumburg, Illinois. Haynes was upset because he had purchased what he

thought was Ecstasy from Lake‟s brother but, instead, he received rock salt. Haynes

wanted Lake to help resolve the situation with Lake‟s brother. During the meeting,

Haynes showed Lake and Ivanovskaia a handgun in his vehicle‟s glove box. After a few

minutes, Ivanovskaia went home, leaving Lake and Haynes together in Haynes‟s vehicle.

On January 28, 2010, at approximately 4:00 a.m., Haynes‟s upstairs neighbor,

Omar Herrera, heard a loud bang and “stuff moving around” in Haynes‟s apartment in

Whiting, Indiana. Tr. p. 172. At approximately 4:30 a.m., Ivanovskaia received a

telephone call from Lake. Lake asked Ivanovskaia to calm Haynes down. Lake said that

he had Haynes‟s gun in his hand, that Haynes wanted to take it from him, and that the

gun went off. Lake told Ivanovskaia that the bullet missed Haynes and hit the wall. Lake

said that Haynes was angry and asked Haynes to talk to Ivanovskaia. Ivanovskaia heard

Lake talking to Haynes but never heard Haynes respond. Lake sounded like he had been

drinking and seemed scared and panicked.

2 At approximately 11:00 a.m. on January 28th, David Davids was working as a bus

driver and was getting gasoline at a gas station near Haynes‟s apartment. Lake

approached Davids and asked for a ride to the South Shore train station. Davids

responded that he could give Lake a ride, and Lake went behind the gas station and

retrieved a large, black garbage bag. Davids saw a Playstation 3 gaming system in the

bag and was concerned that it was stolen. Lake kept reassuring Davids that it was not

stolen. After dropping off Lake at the train station, Davids stopped at the East Chicago

police station and reported the incident. Officer Benjamin Lopez of the East Chicago

Police Department responded to the train station and located Lake. Lake was carrying a

large garbage bag that contained multiple Blu-Ray movies and two controllers for a

Playstation 3. A Playstation 3 was found in a garbage can near Lake. The officers

arrested Lake for public intoxication.

Later that evening, Haynes‟s girlfriend, Aimee Spencer, went to Haynes‟s

apartment because she had been unable to contact him all day. Spencer found Haynes‟s

body on the living room floor and called the police. Initially, police did not realize that

Haynes had been shot because there was no blood at the scene. However, an autopsy

revealed that Haynes had been shot. The bullet entered his body on the right side of his

back, lacerated his right lung, fractured his thoracic spine, lacerated his left lung, and

exited his body on the left side of his back. The blood collected inside of his chest cavity,

which explained the lack of blood at the scene. Based on the amount of blood inside

Haynes‟s chest cavity, the pathologist thought that Haynes did not die immediately and

3 possibly lived a few hours. However, Haynes would have been immobilized at least after

a few minutes.

In the early morning hours of January 29th, Herrera heard someone trying to get

into Haynes‟s apartment. Herrera went outside onto his balcony and asked “who was

down there.” Tr. p. 178. Lake responded, “Oh, it‟s me. I‟m looking for [Haynes].” Id.

at 179. While his wife called the police, Herrera said that he did not know where Haynes

was and that Haynes was not home. Lake said that he was supposed to play video games

with Haynes, and Herrera told Lake that Haynes had died. Lake left after seeing that

Herrera‟s wife was on the phone.

After learning that Haynes had been shot, the police returned to the scene on

January 29th and found a handgun in the closet and a bullet hole and bullet in the wall in

the living room. They also learned that Haynes‟s Playstation 3 gaming system and

numerous Blu-Ray movies were missing. The serial number on the Playstation 3 gaming

system found with Lake matched the serial number of Haynes‟s Playstation 3. Based on

receipts in Haynes‟s apartment, the police were also able to show that Haynes purchased

at least some of the Blu-Ray movies in Lake‟s possession when Lake was arrested.

The State charged Lake with murder, and Lake was later arrested in Oklahoma.

At his jury trial, a firearms examiner testified that the bullet that killed Haynes was fired

from the handgun found in the closet. She testified that the gun involved in the shooting

was a revolver. She performed a trigger pull test to determine the amount of pounds

needed to pull the trigger. In the single action mode with the gun‟s hammer cocked, it

took three pounds of pressure to fire the weapon. In the double action mode with the

4 gun‟s hammer uncocked, it took ten and one-half pounds of pressure to fire the weapon.

She also performed an impact test to simulate whether the firearm would discharge if it

was dropped or snagged on something. As part of the impact test, the firearms examiner

hit the gun with a hammer over 150 times in both the single action mode and the double

action mode, and the gun did not discharge. DNA found on the grips of the handgun and

the cylinder release demonstrated the presence of a mixture from which Haynes, Lake,

and another unknown individual could not be excluded as possible contributors. During

closing argument, Lake argued that the State did not prove that he intended to kill

Haynes. The jury found Lake guilty as charged, and the trial court sentenced him to sixty

years in the Department of Correction. Lake now appeals.

Analysis

Lake argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction for murder.

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence needed to support a criminal conviction,

we neither reweigh evidence nor judge witness credibility. Bailey v. State, 907 N.E.2d

1003, 1005 (Ind. 2009). “We consider only the evidence supporting the judgment and

any reasonable inferences that can be drawn from such evidence.” Id. We will affirm if

there is substantial evidence of probative value such that a reasonable trier of fact could

have concluded the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.

The State was required to present evidence that Lake knowingly or intentionally

killed Haynes. See Ind.

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Related

Bailey v. State
907 N.E.2d 1003 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2009)
Garrett v. State
714 N.E.2d 618 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1999)

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