Pelley v. State

883 N.E.2d 874, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 706, 2008 WL 928339
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 8, 2008
Docket71A05-0612-CR-726
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 883 N.E.2d 874 (Pelley 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
Pelley v. State, 883 N.E.2d 874, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 706, 2008 WL 928339 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Judge.

Robert Jeffrey Pelley appeals his convictions for four counts of murder.1 Pelley raises three issues, which we revise and restate as:

I. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying Pelley’s motion to dismiss, which requested discharge based upon Ind. Criminal Rule 4(C);
I. Whether the trial court erred by denying Pelley’s petition to appoint a special prosecutor;
III. Whether the trial court committed fundamental error by admitting hearsay statements of a victim;
IV. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by excluding Pelley’s evidence that someone else may have committed the offenses;
V. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by excluding evidence regarding the delay in bringing charges against Pelley; and
VI. Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain Pelley’s convictions.

Because we find the first issue dispositive, we need not address the remaining issues. We reverse and remand.

[877]*877The relevant facts follow. In April 1989, seventeen-year-old Pelley lived in Lake-ville, Indiana, with his father, Robert Pel-ley (“Bob”), his stepmother, Dawn, his fourteen-year-old sister, Jacque, and his three stepsisters, nine-year-old Jessica, eight-year-old Janel, and six-year-old Jolene. Bob was the minister of the Olive Branch Church, and the family lived in the parsonage next door to the church.

On Sunday, April 30, 1989, the Pelley family did not appear for church services, and parishioners noticed that the Pelleys’ vehicles were in the driveway, the doors to the house were locked, and the blinds and curtains were drawn. Parishioners obtained a key to the house and found Bob, Dawn, Janel, and Jolene dead from shotgun wounds. Officers located Jessica and Jacque, who had spent the night with Mends, and Pelley, who had attended his senior prom on Saturday night, had spent Saturday night with friends, and had gone to Great America amusement park in Illinois with Mends on Sunday.

Although Pelley was questioned regarding the murders, the State did not charge him until August 7, 2002. At that time, the State charged Pelley with four counts of murder. Pelley was arrested on August 10, 2002. On August 22, 2002, the State issued a subpoena duces tecum to the Family & Children’s Center (“FCC”) seeking the production of “any and all counseling records from the Rev. Robert L. Pelley family from 1986-1989.” Appellant’s Appendix at 245. On February 26, 2003, FCC filed a motion to quash the subpoena, alleging that the communications were privileged based upon the counselor/client privilege, which is codified at Ind.Code § 25-23.6-6-1,2 and the psychologist/patient privilege, which is codified at Ind. Code § 25-33-1-17.3 At a hearing on FCC’s motion to quash, FCC’s attorneys argued that the communications were privileged, while the prosecutor argued that the “homicide exception” applied and that the counselor/client privilege did not apply because the statute came into effect after the communications were made. See Ind. Code §§ 25-23.6-6-1 & 25-33-1-17. The trial court asked for Pelley’s input regarding the documents, and Pelley’s attorney agreed with FCC’s arguments but also objected to an in camera review of the documents by the trial court. After the hearing and an in camera inspection of the FCC documents, the trial court granted [878]*878the motion to quash on March 20, 2003, finding that the communications in the records were privileged.

On April 2, 2003, the State petitioned for certification of the trial court’s order for interlocutory appeal. On April 4, 2003, the trial court certified the order for interlocutory appeal but advised the State that any delay for the interlocutory appeal would be chargeable to the State. Further, the trial court warned the State that the documents “didn’t contain what you wanted them to contain.” Pretrial Transcript at 452; see also Appellant’s Appendix at 285 (“[The] information as is contained in such records does not relate ‘directly to the fact or immediate circumstances of said homicide’, whether that phrase is given a more limited meaning, or the more expansive meaning proffered by the State in its Memorandum of Law.”). This court accepted jurisdiction over the interlocutory appeal and, on motion of the State, stayed the proceedings. Pelley did not participate in the interlocutory appeal.

On appeal, this court affirmed the trial court’s order quashing the subpoena, State v. Pelley, 800 N.E.2d 630 (Ind.Ct.App.2003), but the Indiana Supreme Court accepted transfer and, on June 14, 2005, reversed in part and affirmed in part, State v. Pelley, 828 N.E.2d 915 (Ind.2005). Specifically, the Indiana Supreme Court held that the counselor/client privilege of Ind.Code § 25-23.6-6-1 did not apply because the communications were made prior to the statute’s enactment, that the eoun-selor/client privilege did not have retroactive effect, and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that the homicide exception in the psychologist/patient privilege statute did not apply. 828 N.E.2d at 920, 922-923. The opinion was certified on July 25, 2005.

Pretrial conferences were then held on August 17, 2005, and October 28, 2005.4 At the October 28th pretrial conference, the parties agreed to a July 10, 2006, trial date. On January 4, 2006, Pelley filed a motion to dismiss requesting discharge under Ind. Criminal Rule 4(C). The trial court denied Pelley’s motion to dismiss as follows:

⅜ ⅜ ⅝ ⅜ ⅜

If the period of months during which the appeal pended were included in the calculation, Defendant is correct in his assertion that a Defendant need not object to a trial setting when the year had already expired. Pearson v. State, [619] N.E.2d 590[, 591-592 (Ind.Ct.App.1993) ].
If however the period of time is tolled by the Interlocutory Appeal, then Defendant’s failure to timely object in October 2005 to the current trial setting would constitute a waiver of his right to object. Vermillion v. State, 719 N.E.2d 1201 [ (Ind.1999) ].
The Court having considered [State ex rel. Cox v. Superior Court of Madison County, 445 N.E.2d 1367 (Ind.1983),] and Martin [v. State, 245 Ind. 224, 194 N.E.2d 721 (1963),] finds that while the Defendant did not cause the delays attendant to the Interlocutory Appeal here, the period of such delay tolls the time period contemplated in C.R. 4.
In Martin,

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Related

Pelley v. State
901 N.E.2d 494 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2009)
Pelley v. State
883 N.E.2d 874 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
883 N.E.2d 874, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 706, 2008 WL 928339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pelley-v-state-indctapp-2008.