Pitts v. State

904 N.E.2d 313, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 672, 2009 WL 1010839
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 14, 2009
Docket48A02-0807-CR-660
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 904 N.E.2d 313 (Pitts 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
Pitts v. State, 904 N.E.2d 313, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 672, 2009 WL 1010839 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

BROWN, Judge.

Jesse Pitts appeals his conviction and sentence for murder. 1 Pitts raises two issues, which we revise and restate as:

I. Whether the trial court failed to permit Pitts to present a defense;
II. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing Pitts; and
III. Whether his sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender.

'We affirm.

The relevant facts follow. On the evening of September 19, 2007, twenty-year-old Pitts called fourteen-year-old Amanda Brinker, whom he had known for three months, and had a conversation about meeting at a park the following day. The next morning, Amanda called Pitts between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Pitts left his home and picked Amanda up near her bus stop at 6:40 a.m. or 6:45 a.m.

Pitts drove Amanda to Edgewater Park in Anderson so they could smoke a joint. At some point, Pitts repeatedly struck Amanda on the back of her head with a jack handle that he had brought with him.

About an hour or hour and one half after Pitts had left home, he returned upset. At first, he did not say anything to his girlfriend, Barbara Howard, but then later said "something about getting jumped," that Amanda was out at the park, and that they had to go "out there and see about her." Traanseript at 7883, 785.

Pitts and Howard left the house and went to the park where they found Amanda in the river. Pitts and Howard left the park and stopped at a gas station where, at 8:10 a.m., Pitts purchased a grape cigar-ella, which is a "grape cigar of some sort." Id. at 569. Pitts and Howard then went home where Howard told Pitts that he needed to call the police. At 8:18 a.m., Pitts called 911, and said that he and his girlfriend were walking in Edgewater Park and saw a girl in the river that Pitts identified as Amanda.

The police and members of the fire department discovered Amanda's body lying face down in the river in shallow water no more than six to eight inches deep. At that point, it was clear that Amanda was dead. The back of Amanda's head was bloody and an open cut was visible. Amanda's belt "was loose to the point where it looked liked [sic] between two (2) belt loops you just grab it, almost like a duffle bag handle or something." Id. at 395. The police discovered a large amount of blood in the grass and determined that the body had been moved away from the area of the crime seene. Amanda's body was not visible from the asphalt path in the park.

*316 Amanda suffered multiple deep lacerations or blunt force injuries to the back of her head, a skull fracture, bleeding inside of the brain, and some swelling of the brain. Specifically, Amanda suffered "seven or eight or possibly more individual wounds to the back of the head," and "[t]here could actually be more, as some of them were overlapping." Id. at 545. Dr. Paul Mellen, a forensic pathologist, determined that the cause of Amanda's death was multiple blunt force injuries to the head. However, Dr. Mellen added the possibility of water contributing to Amanda's death and stated, "I'm not sure if [the multiple blunt force injuries to the head] alone-if she had not been in the water would've been fatal." Id. at 551. Dr. Mel-len testified that there may be "a survival interval of minutes to hours where the brain swells and the person is still alive at that time and unconscious, but they're not dead yet." Id. at 556.

A search of Pitts's residence revealed a trash bag on the floor with some clothes in it. The police discovered a green shirt with blood stains and later DNA analysis determined that the blood was Amanda's. The police discovered a jack handle lying on the floorboard of Howard's car. The jack handle had possible hairs or fibers that were attached or embedded into the jack handle. DNA analysis of the swab from the grip of the jack handle was consistent with a mixture of the DNA profile obtained from the blood card standard of Amanda and the DNA profile obtained from the stain card from Pitts and a possible third contributor.

Pitts spoke to the police and told several different stories. Initially, Pitts said that Amanda called him that morning and asked if he had anything to smoke after school, but Pitts informed Amanda that he had to work. Pitts said that he and Howard went down to the park to walk and that he usually stops by the riverbank to check out the snakes, ducks, and geese. Pitts said that he noticed a body lying face down in the water, picked it up, and recognized the body as Amanda.

Pitts then said that he met Amanda at her bus stop, gave her a joint, and left. Pitts then said that he picked her up and went down to the park because Amanda wanted to smoke a joint. Pitts said that he left after someone shoved him and placed Amanda in a headlock. Pitts then said that the man that had Amanda in a headlock dropped her and took off towards the bike trail. Pitts said that he picked Amanda up, laid her back down, and went to his house.

Pitts then said that the stranger did nothing, that Amanda turned around to elbow Pitts in the face, that Pitts "took her leg out from underneath her," and that Amanda "hit the ground." Id. at 904. Pitts said that he "didn't hit her with anything." Id. at 905. Pitts then said that after he swept Amanda's leg, he did not "stick around to really check" her. Id. at 916. Pitts then said that after he performed the leg sweep maneuver, Amanda's head was bleeding, and he picked her up and put her on the other side of the walk. Pitts said that he tried to pick Amanda up by her belt and it "felt like something had broke or snapped or gave way." Id. at 955.

The deputy prosecutor then informed Pitts that "[t]he problem is the injuries do not match your little leg sweep theory." Id. at 972. After some discussion, Pitts then said that there was a metal pipe in the bike trails and he picked it up and was swinging it. Pitts said, "I was just swinging it around, and I turned around and looked at the bike trail because I thought someone was following me. When I turned back around, I swung and it hit the back of her head and she dropped." Id. at *317 989. Pitts said that he did not perform a leg sweep maneuver.

Pitts said that the pipe was a handle to a jack Pitts had in the backseat of his car and that he took the jack handle out of the car because he had been attacked in the park in the past. Pitts then said "I turned around and I didn't know she'd stopped. She stopped walking." Id. at 997. Pitts said that after he struck Amanda with the pipe, she hit the ground, and he picked her up and carried her over to the side and laid her on the ground.

The State charged Pitts with murder. Before jury selection, the State made an oral motion in limine for the exelusion of any evidence or information with respect to allegations of Amanda's alleged past sexual conduct with anyone including Pitts. Pitts argued:

The only time we would even contemplate bring [sic] it up is one of the State's witnesses will be testifying as to DNA that was obtained from the vice-tim's body. One of those pieces of evidence was a vaginal swab that did contain DNA from a semen sample and ultimately that sample was tested and Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
904 N.E.2d 313, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 672, 2009 WL 1010839, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pitts-v-state-indctapp-2009.