Moore v. State

557 N.E.2d 665, 1990 Ind. LEXIS 145, 1990 WL 110130
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided August 2, 1990·No. 45S00-8805-CR-461·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinions

GIVAN, Justice.

A jury trial resulted in the conviction of appellant of two counts of Murder, and the finding that appellant was a habitual offender. The trial court sentenced appellant on Count I, Murder, to an enhanced sentence of eighty (80) years, and on Count II, Murder, to fifty (50) years, with the sentences to run consecutively.

The facts are: On December 15, 1986, Cynthia Wright and her boyfriend, Cleveland Walker, resided at 1730 Monroe Street in Gary, Indiana, with their three children. Both Wright and Walker were acquainted with appellant and had an arrangement with him to handle drug transactions in their apartment. Appellant rented the [667] apartment above Wright and Walker and lived in an apartment across the street.

Wright testified that on the morning of December 15, 1986, she noticed that appellant was crying. When she asked why he was crying, he responded that he was tired of people “lying on him.” After this conversation, Wright returned to her apartment. She informed her boyfriend, Walker, about the conversation and asked him to go upstairs and talk with appellant. Appellant indicated to Walker that Ben Parker and Emit Rafer had lied about him.

During the time Walker was talking to appellant, Wright was visiting with her girlfriend, Vicki Willis, and a man by the name of Kenny. Soon thereafter, Toni Cooper entered the apartment and approximately fifteen (15) minutes later, Ben Parker and Tracy Blackburn, the victims in this case, entered. Walker left appellant’s apartment but soon returned and upon his return he saw Nate Rimpson and a man named Eric talking with appellant. During this conversation, Walker overheard them talking about killing Ben Parker.

Walker testified that appellant had some money and a .45 caliber handgun on the table and told Rimpson: “If you take this pistol and this money, I won’t have to do the job. But if you don’t, I will anyways [sic].” Appellant said that he was tired of this boy running around talking about killing him. Eventually, Walker returned to his apartment, and while Wright was doing Walker’s hair, Rimpson, Eric, and appellant entered. Soon thereafter appellant left the apartment only to come back approximately fifteen minutes later.

Upon appellant’s return, he asked to speak with Wright and Walker in their back bedroom. In addition, appellant also called Rimpson into the room and shut the door. Wright testified that appellant and Rimpson discussed what was about to happen. Walker testified that appellant acknowledged that Parker was a friend of both Walker and Rimpson but explained that what he was about to do had to be done because Parker could not be allowed to continue running around talking about killing him.

Appellant also told Wright that Parker and Blackburn could not leave the apartment, and when Wright asked appellant if she could leave with her children, he responded, “Nobody’s leaving.” Appellant next told her that he was going to take Willis and Cooper “for a ride,” to which she responded by assuring appellant that Willis would not talk. Appellant told Wright, “Well, it’s on you that she don’t talk. If she does, something’s going to happen to you and your man and your babies.”

Appellant then confronted Parker and Blackburn and ordered Wright, Willis, and Cooper and the children to the storage room. Wright testified that while they were in the storage room she heard appellant and Parker arguing. Wright testified that she heard appellant say to Blackburn, “Bitch, get over there and sit in his lap bitch,” to which Blackburn responded, “What’s happening, Dennis? I thought me and you was sisters and brothers.” Appellant responded by saying she was to blame for what was happening.

Appellant then told Parker, “I’ll put a bullet in this gun, and if you kill this bitch, I’ll let you live,” to which Parker replied, “I can’t do that, Moe.” Next, a scuffle occurred and gunshots were fired. A few seconds later, Parker pleaded for his life and said he was hurt and told appellant, “Oh, I’m dead, Moe,” to which appellant replied, “Oh, no, you’re not, Mister.” Then more shots were fired. Walker testified that he heard approximately fifteen to twenty shots fired in the bedroom. He also testified that Rimpson came out of the bedroom and asked for a rifle to make sure Parker was dead. Appellant told Rimpson that it was not necessary.

Soon thereafter appellant and Rimpson exited the bedroom and appellant handed Rimpson three to four guns. Appellant then instructed Rimpson to dispose of the guns while he, Walker, Eric, and Dwight Taylor moved the two bodies into Rimp-son’s car. Soon thereafter, appellant came to the storage room and warned the women not to say anything about the incident; then he released them. The bodies were dumped at an abandoned property.

[668] At approximately 1:45 p.m., the bodies were found by police. Parker sustained nine gunshot wounds while Blackburn had four. The cause of death in both instances was determined to be multiple gunshot wounds from both .45 and .38 caliber weapons. On the same day of the incident, Toni Cooper contacted the detective division of the police department and talked to officer Joe Starks. Cooper like Wright and Walker testified regarding the shooting incident.

Appellant contends he was denied effective assistance of counsel and that there was a conflict of interest. The record reveals that on September 15, 1987, a pretrial conference was conducted. At this conference, Mr. Olson indicated that he was going to withdraw as counsel for appellant because of a letter appellant wrote to the Disciplinary Commission. During the pretrial conference, Mr. Olson provided a copy of the letter to the trial court. In the letter, appellant alleged that Olson passed along personal correspondence of appellant’s to an P.B.I. agent without his consent to do so.

On September 22, 1987, Mr. Olson outlined his reasons for withdrawing as counsel. He expressed concerns involving only the deterioration of the attorney-client relationship and made no conflict of interest claim. The record further reveals that at the pretrial conference on September 15, 1987, counsel denied forwarding appellant’s mail to anyone. Appellant, when questioned about this allegation, stated that he mailed the letter from the jail. Later, when F.B.I. agents came to appellant and indicated that they knew of his letter, he assumed his attorney had passed along the correspondence but presented nothing at the hearing to substantiate this. In addition, when the P.B.I. agents asked appellant whether he needed a lawyer or monetary assistance, he indicated that he did not and stated several times that he was satisfied with Olson’s representation.

During the hearing on the motion to withdraw, counsel also informed the trial court that appellant did not mention the P.B.I. encounter for six months and indicated that this was an attempt to damage the attorney-client relationship. Counsel further indicated that he and appellant had argued over pro se motions which appellant wished to file thus causing interference with counsel’s work on the case.

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Moore v. State, 557 N.E.2d 665, 1990 Ind. LEXIS 145, 1990 WL 110130 (Ind. 1990).

557 N.E.2d 665 (Moore v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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