Morgan v. State

755 N.E.2d 1070, 2001 Ind. LEXIS 921, 2001 WL 1174177
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 5, 2001
Docket34S00-0006-CR-350
StatusPublished
Cited by97 cases

This text of 755 N.E.2d 1070 (Morgan v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morgan v. State, 755 N.E.2d 1070, 2001 Ind. LEXIS 921, 2001 WL 1174177 (Ind. 2001).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, Justice.

Defendant Bradley Morgan was convict, ed of murder for shooting Billy Wiley to death at a party. Defendant has shown neither the deficient performance nor prejudice necessary to sustain his claims that his trial lawyer was ineffective. His claim that the trial court improperly instructed the jury is not available for our review. And it was within the court's discretion to allow an expert's opinion of certain details of the crime. For these reasons, we affirm.

Background

The facts most favorable to the judgment indicate that on the evening of January 16, 2000, Defendant and Billy Wiley were at a party in Kokomo and got into a minor argument where one or both of them pushed the other. Defendant told Wiley, "I'm going to get you, I'm going to get you for this." Defendant then walked out of the party. About twenty minutes later, Defendant returned; he walked out of the bathroom with a gun in his hand and approached Wiley. Another person at the party stepped between the two, but Defendant fired a shot at Wiley. Defendant and Wiley struggled with each other and Defendant fired two more shots in rapid sue-cession and Wiley fell onto Defendant.

Wiley died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. Defendant was bleeding from a gunshot wound to his hand. Defendant then fled from the party to the house of his mother who drove him to St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis. Defendant initially told the hospital personnel that he had fallen on some glass, but the hospital staff found fragments in his hand and called the police. When a police officer arrived, Defendant and his mother told him that one of Defendant's friends had accidentally shot him at an Indianapolis apartment complex. Defendant was charged and convicted of Murder, 1 and Defendant was sentenced to 60 years incarceration.

I

Defendant contends that he was denied his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel. 2 He argues that "his attorney failed to object to a mandatory jury instruction; failed to object to hearsay testimony; failed to object to the prosecutors' statement that [Defendant] could have come forward and spoken to the police; and failed to tender an instruction on voluntary manslaughter." Appellant's Br. at 4.

To establish a valid ineffective assistance of counsel claim, Defendant must show, first, that counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness based on prevailing professional norms, and, second, that "there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's *1073 unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different." See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 LEd.2d 674 (1984); Lambert v. State, 748 N.E.2d 719, 730 (Ind.2001).

We have stated in past cases that the first prong of the Strickland test affords counsel "considerable discretion in choosing strategy and tactics, and we will accord that decision deference. A strong presumption arises that counsel rendered adequate assistance and made all significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment." Lambert, 748 N.E.2d at 780 (quoting State v. Holmes, 728 N.E.2d 164, 172 (Ind.2000)). Regarding the second prong of the Strickland test, "[a] reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine the confidence in the outcome." Id.

A

Defendant argues that counsel was ineffective for failing to object to two jury instructions.

Final instruction no. 3 read in pertinent part: "If the state did prove each of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant guilty of murder." {(emphasis added). Final instruction no. 16 provided:

If, after considering all of the evidence, you have reached a firm belief in the guilt of the defendant that you feel safe to act upon that belief, without hesitation, in a matter of the highest concern and importance to you, then you will have reached that degree of certainty which excludes reasonable doubt and authorizes conviction.

(R. at 142.) (emphasis added).

Defendant argues that the emphasized language of these two instructions conflicts with the trial court's initial instruction that the jury was the judge of the law and the facts under Art. 1, § 19, of the Indiana Constitution. Specifically, Defendant argues that the trial court's use of the words "should" and "will" in the contested instructions was improper. He stated that "the jury was told how to think and act. In the first instance, the trial court told the jury what it ought to do, and in the second, it told them at what point it ought to do it." Appellant's Br. at 6.

We have held in a variety of contexts that Art. I, § 19, is not violated when the types of instructions given in this case are accompanied by an instruction informing the jury that it is the judge of the law and the facts. See, eg., Parker v. State, 698 N.E.2d 737, 742 (Ind.1998); Loftis v. State, 256 Ind. 417, 420, 269 N.B.2d 746, 747-8 (1971); Mitchem v. State, 508 N.E.2d 889, 891 (Ind.1987). Defendant acknowledges that a law and the facts instruction was given here.

As to instruction no. 8, we recently reiterated that a trial court may use the word "should" in such a manner. See Wright v. State, 730 N.E.2d 713, 716 (Ind.2000). In Wright, this court found a similar instruction to be "instructive, and hardly offensive to any of our fundamental precepts of criminal justice." Id. We stated, "A trial court may instruct the jury that if they find that all the material allegations of the indictment or affidavit are proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they 'should' con-viet the defendants." Id. at 716-17 (Ind. 2000) (quoting Loftis, 256 Ind. at 419-20, 269 N.E.2d at 747).

As to instruction no. 16, we have indicated that the use of the analogy about what would cause one to act without hesitation on a matter of highest personal concern and importance is neither required nor particularly desirable in explaining the concept of reasonable doubt. Winegeart v. State, 665 N.E.2d 893, 902 (Ind.1996). But *1074 we have not disapproved its use. Nor have we questioned it as a violation of Art. I, § 19-the claim Defendant asserts here.

The foregoing analysis demonstrates that instructions no. 3 and no. 16 comported with the requirements Art. I, § 19. As such, we conclude that it was within the range of reasonable attorney behavior not to object to these instructions. And because we assume competence on the part of a lawyer at trial, an action or omission that is within the range of reasonable attorney behavior can only support a claim of ineffective assistance if that presumption is overcome by specific evidence as to the performance of the particular lawyer. Woods v. State, 701 N.E.2d 1208, 1212 (Ind.1998). No such evidence has been offered here.

B

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Bluebook (online)
755 N.E.2d 1070, 2001 Ind. LEXIS 921, 2001 WL 1174177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morgan-v-state-ind-2001.