Schick v. State

570 N.E.2d 918, 1991 Ind. App. LEXIS 669, 1991 WL 64937
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 23, 1991
Docket79A04-8906-CR-236
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 570 N.E.2d 918 (Schick 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
Schick v. State, 570 N.E.2d 918, 1991 Ind. App. LEXIS 669, 1991 WL 64937 (Ind. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinions

CONOVER, Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Timothy Schick appeals his convictions for Voluntary Man[921]*921slaughter, a class B felony (IND.CODE 35-42-1-3), Theft, a class D felony (IC 35-43-4-2), and Confinement, a class D felony (IC 35-42-3-3).1

We affirm.

Schick raises the following restated and renumbered issues:

1. whether the trial court erred in admitting Schick’s confession,

2. whether Schick’s conviction for confinement was erroneous,

3. whether an instruction given by the trial court erroneously shifted the burden of proof,

4. whether the trial court erroneously enhanced Schick’s sentence,

5. whether Schick was provided with effective assistance of counsel.

On the evening of August 6, 1988, Schick and two friends drove around Lafayette, Indiana, and visited various locations to drink alcohol. Later in the evening, after separating from his friends, Schick entered the car of the victim, Stephen Lamie.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on August 7, Schick knocked on the door of John R. and John P. Hamilton’s (father and son, respectively) home. John P. answered the door and he and Schick went to his room. Schick went to a bedside table and deposited some money, cigarettes, and a watch in the drawer.2 Schick then told John P. that he had been picked up by a man while hitchhiking and they discussed where they could find girls for sex. Schick said he then asked the man if he knew where he could get a “blow job” and the man replied “No, but I will.” (R. 882). Schick then told John P. not to tell anyone and requested that he wake up his father.

After being awakened by his son, John R. observed Schick was nervous and that he had blood on his clothing. Schick told John R. he had met a man while hitchhiking and they had a discussion about girls and oral sex. He asked the man if he knew where he could get a “blow job”. The man then offered to provide the service requested. Schick told John R. they went to a local high school baseball field and he tried to run away, but the man caught up to him, and a struggle ensued.

After Schick finished describing the night’s events, John R., his son, and Schick got into John R.’s car and drove to the baseball field. Schick pointed out the victim’s car and stated he had wiped the fingerprints off of it. He also stated he “hit that dude, kicked him, and beat his ass bad.” (R. 1039). The trio did not get out of the car, but proceeded to Schick’s home.

After taking Schick home, John R. made an anonymous phone call to the police to report that there was a dead or injured person on the baseball field. He later called the police and he and his son gave their statements. The police found a body at the baseball field and identified it as Lamie.

Schick was arrested on the morning of August 7 and taken to the Tippecanoe County Jail. He was advised of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694. Because he was only seventeen, he was allowed to confer privately with his father. He then requested that the police not ask any questions until he received assistance of counsel, and the police honored this request.

Because Schick was considered to be suicidal, he was detained in the juvenile visiting room instead of a cell. Barbara Lear, an employee of the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department, was assigned to stay with him. She observed that he was very upset. Lear asked him if he was “all right” and if he wanted her to get him a glass of water. (R. 1163). Schick told her he was nervous and wanted to talk to her about what had happened the night before. He then told her he was driving around on the night of the 6th and the early hours of the 7th because he was bored. His car broke down, so he decided to hitchhike. Eventually, Lamie picked him up and they drove around for awhile looking for girls. [922]*922After this search proved unsuccessful, Schick asked Lamie where he could get a “blow job” and Lamie stated he “could handle that”. (R. 1168). The pair drove around some more, stopped at a convenience store for cigarettes, and proceeded to the baseball field.

Schick further told Lear that when they arrived at the baseball field, they got out of the car, and Lamie pulled off his shorts, pulled his underwear down to his ankles, grabbed Schick around the waist, and attempted to grab Schick’s penis. Schick then kneed Lamie in the stomach and hit him in the face. When Lamie fell down, Schick stomped him with his feet. When he stopped kicking and hitting Lamie, he heard gurgling noises coming from Lamie’s chest and throat area. He then took money from Lamie’s wallet. The gurgling noises scared him, so he left and went to the Hamiltons’ house.

Schick was charged with the following counts: Count I — murder, while attempting to commit a robbery; Count II — murder; Count III — robbery resulting in serious bodily injury; Count IY — confinement by fraud, enticement, force and threat of force from one place to another, resulting in serious bodily injury; and Count V — confinement by confining another without his consent, resulting in serious bodily injury: A jury found him not guilty of Count I, guilty of voluntary manslaughter (as an included offense of Count II, murder), guilty of theft (as an included offense of Count III), and guilty of confinement resulting in serious bodily injury, as alleged in Count IV.3 At the sentencing hearing, the trial court granted defense counsel’s request that the conviction for confinement resulting in serious bodily injury (a class B felony) be reduced to confinement with no bodily injury (a class D felony) because the injury inflicted merged with voluntary manslaughter. The trial court then sentenced Schick to consecutive sentences of twenty years for voluntary manslaughter, four years for theft, and four years for confinement.

Additional facts are set out below as necessary.

Schick contends the trial court committed fundamental error in admitting Lear’s testimony regarding his statements while in detention. Schick relies on Doerner v. State (1986) Ind., 500 N.E.2d 1178, for the proposition that a confession obtained from an individual after the assertion of his right to counsel is not admissible at trial “in the absence of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that counsel was present or the right thereto was voluntarily and knowingly relinquished prior to the commencement of interrogation.” 500 N.E.2d at 1180. Schick also cites Edwards v. Arizona (1981), 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378, reh. denied, 452 U.S. 973, 101 S.Ct. 3128, 69 L.Ed.2d 984, for the proposition that a defendant’s initiation of a dialogue with police does not suffice to show a valid waiver of the right to counsel, and valid waiver can only be ascertained if a separate inquiry is made.

In order for a confession to be inadmissible, it must be the product of prohibited interrogation. In Johnson v. State (1978), 269 Ind. 370, 380 N.E.2d 1236, 1240, our supreme court defined interrogation as “a process of questioning by law enforcement officials which lends itself to obtaining incriminating statements.” Under Miranda,

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Schick v. State
570 N.E.2d 918 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
570 N.E.2d 918, 1991 Ind. App. LEXIS 669, 1991 WL 64937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schick-v-state-indctapp-1991.