Shriner v. State

829 N.E.2d 612, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 1103, 2005 WL 1432626
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 21, 2005
DocketNo. 48A02-0410-CR-904
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 829 N.E.2d 612 (Shriner 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
Shriner v. State, 829 N.E.2d 612, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 1103, 2005 WL 1432626 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBB, J.

Peter Shriner was found guilty by a jury of child molesting as a Class C felony. Shriner now appeals his conviction. We affirm.

Issues

Shriner raises two issues for our review, which we restate as follows:

1. Whether the trial court properly refused to declare a mistrial or admonish the jury to ignore Shriner's testimony after Shriner referred to a lie detector test during his direct examination; and
2. Whether the trial court properly allowed the State to impeach Shriner with a prior inconsistent statement he made under oath outside the presence of the jury.

Facts and Procedural History

Shriner is the step-grandfather of AL. Shriner's wife, Penny Shriner, is the paternal grandmother of AI. Penny and AL. had a close relationship, and AI. spent nearly every weekend with her grandmother and Shriner at the Shriners' home. When AI. spent the night with the Shri-ners, she usually slept alone in one of the bedrooms. AI. testified that sometime when she was between the ages of eight and ten, Shriner began sneaking into her room at night. AI. stated that Shriner would climb into bed next to her, reach inside her pants, and fondle her vagina. AI. indicated that this pattern of behavior continued for several years. AI. eventually told her mother that Shriner was molesting her, and her mother took her to see a doctor. The doctor reported to Child Protective Services that Shriner was abusing A.I. and an investigation of A.L.'s accusations was begun.

During the investigation of AL's accusations, Shriner met with the police. At this meeting, Shriner denied having molested AI. The police asked Shriner if he would [615]*615take a lie detector test and Shriner said that he would be willing to take such a test. When the police later afforded Shriner the opportunity to take a lie detector test, Shriner refused to take the test. Shriner was eventually arrested and charged with child molesting.

Shriner's jury trial began on July 27, 2004. During the trial, Shriner testified. On direct examination, when asked if he molested AL., Shriner stated, "No, sir. I wouldn't do that. It's against everything I believe in." Tr. at 174. The following exchange then took place between Shriner and his attorney:

Q. The police contacted you. Do you remember that?
A. Yeah, it was a couple of months later.
Q. Do you remember that first contact with the detective?
A. Yes, it was on my voice mail at home, the officer said I'm Stan Brown or something like that, and I would like to talk to you if you would please give me a call and set up an appointment, I would appreciate it. Which, of course, soon as I hear that, I did.
Q. You did what?
I called him right back. |}»
You called him right back? ©
Yes. p
Q. What did you tell him in response to his questions?
A. Well, he asked me to come up and see him, so I had Jim drive me up there. And we went in to an interview room and he basically asked me the same thing, did I do it and I told him no.
Q. You were cooperative.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you offer a second interview?
A. Yes, sir. He also asked me if I'd take a lie detector test. I told him yes I would.

Tr. at 175-76 (emphasis added). The State raised no objection to Shriner's mention of a lie detector test. Shriner's counsel completed his direct examination of Shriner shortly after this exchange. The trial court then excused the jury and a bench conference was held. During this conference, the State requested a short recess to consider its options for dealing with Shriner's reference to the lie detector test. The trial court granted the State's request for a recess.

Upon returning from recess, and with the jury still out of the courtroom, the trial court went back on the record. The trial judge, Judge Dennis Carroll, related for the record that during the recess he spoke with counsel for the State and Shriner's counsel about how to handle Shriner's reference to a lie detector test. Judge Carroll stated that he was going to allow the State to ask Shriner on cross-examination whether he had taken the lie detector test the police offered him, and whether he would be willing to take a lie detector test that day. The State, wishing to avoid being surprised by Shriner's testimony, then asked Judge Carroll if it could ask Shriner some questions outside the presence of the jury relating to whether Shriner had taken a polygraph exam with regards to this case. The trial court allowed the State to ask its questions and the following exchange ensued:

Q. Sir, have you ever taken a polygraph examination in connection with the facts of this case?
THE COURT: Or voice stress.
Q. Or a voice stress, any kind of a truth measuring type of an examination?
A. No, sir.
Q. Never?
[616]*616A. No, sir.

Tr. at 181.

Shriner's counsel then asked to approach the bench where a bench conference was held. During this conference, Shriner's counsel informed Judge Carroll that Shriner had in fact taken a polygraph test in connection with this case at his attorney's request, and, therefore, his statement that he had not taken a polygraph test was untrue. The parties then began to consider whether the State should be allowed to impeach Shriner on his testimony that he had not taken a polygraph exam with regards to this case. Judge Carroll ultimately determined that the State should be allowed to impeach Shriner on this testimony.

The jury was brought back into the courtroom and the State proceeded to cross-examine Shriner as follows:

Q. Mr. Shriner, you testified earlier that molesting your grandchild [AL] would be completely against everything you stand for, is that correct?
A. Yes, siv.
Q. Those were your words. You also stand for telling the truth under oath.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That's important to you?
A. Yes, siv.
Q. So when the Judge, when you walked up to that chair and you sat down and you raised your hand and the Judge said some words to you and you said I do, you understood what you were saying there, right?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you understand how important credibility is in the big picture of this case, right?
A. Yes, sir.
* ok s
Q. You mentioned to the jury during your testimony earlier that Officer Brown offered you the opportunity to take a polygraph and you said that's fine.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do I have that correct?
A. Yes, sir.

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Bluebook (online)
829 N.E.2d 612, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 1103, 2005 WL 1432626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shriner-v-state-indctapp-2005.