Thorne v. State

509 N.E.2d 877, 1987 Ind. App. LEXIS 2783
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided June 30, 1987·No. 82A04-8612-CR-388·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MILLER, Judge.

Tames Clyde Thorne appeals his convietion by jury for one count of dealing in PCP, a Class B felony, and two counts of dealing in a substance represented to be a controlled substance, Class D felonies. Thorne, a black man, argues he is entitled to a new trial because the State systematically excluded all potential black jurors by striking the only two prospective black jurors and then failed to provide a neutral explanation for those peremptory challenges. Second, Thorne claims the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to stay the jury selection proceedings because two absent jurors were not properly excused. Finally, Thorne asserts the trial court erred in refusing to give jury instructions on the defense of entrapment.

We affirm.

FACTS

Calvin Ard worked as a confidential informant for Evansville Narcotics Officers Frank Wilkins, James Allison and William Fiscus. On November 30, 1984, Ard contacted Wilkins and said he had set up a buy for methamphetamine. Wilkins searched Ard and equipped him with a body trans *879 mitter. Neither Ard nor Wilkins knew who would be selling the drugs. Wilkins drove Ard to an apartment on Carriage Drive where Ard went inside to make the drug buy. Ard came back outside and told Wilkins the dealer who was coming was Clyde Thorne, who had previously worked as a confidential informant for Wilkins. Ard asked Wilkins how he felt about the seller being Clyde and Wilkins replied, "Well, fine," and Ard returned to the apartment. Wilkins observed the defendant, Tames Clyde Thorne, arrive and enter the apart ment. Ard purchased a package of PCP, identified as Exhibit 1, for $55.00 from Thorne and then accepted a ride with Thorne. Wilkins followed Thorne's car but lost it and radioed for backup. Officer Fiscus made contact with Ard and when Wilkins arrived, Ard gave him a baggie containing powder. The substance was later tested and identified as phenecycline (PCP), a Schedule II controlled substance, by William Boles, a forensic chemist at the State Police Post in Evansville.

On December 8, 1984 Ard contacted Officer Allison and told him he had set up another buy of PCP from Thorne for later that day. Allison supervised the drug buy and received a plastic bag containing powder from Ard, identified as Exhibit 2. Boles later tested Exhibit 2 and found it contained nothing identified as a controlled substance.

Officer Fiscus supervised Ard's third PCP buy from Thorne on December 14, 1984 at Thorne's residence and received a baggie of powder identified as Exhibit 3. Boles again tested the substance and found it contained nothing identified as a controlled substance.

Thorne was arrested and charged with one count of dealing in PCP, a Class B felony, and two counts of dealing in a substance represented to be a controlled substance, Class D felonies. Immediately before voir dire, the court noted that five (5) prospective jurors were not present. Three of these prospective veniremen were excused. The remaining two were absent and not excused. Thorne's counsel moved for a continuance until the missing jurors could be located. The trial court denied the motion for continuance. Thorne pled not guilty and elected to have a jury trial. During voir dire, the State peremptorily struck the only two (2) black prospective jurors called to the jury box. Thorne's counsel moved for a mistrial due to the systematic exclusion of black jurors. The State offered no explanation of its peremptory challenges except to note the state also struck two (2) white jurors out of its four peremptory challenges.

Thorne was found guilty by the jury on all three counts. The trial court sentenced Thorne to ten years on Count I, six to be served and four suspended to probation; two years on Count II and two years on Count III, to be served concurrently. Thorne later petitioned for modification of his sentence and the trial court granted his petition, ordering Thorne's six year executed sentence to be served in the Vander-burgh County Work Release Program.

ISSUES

Thorne appeals, raising three issues for our consideration:

I. Whether Thorne is entitled to a new trial because the State struck the only two potential black jurors and failed to provide any neutral explanation for these peremptory challenges.
II. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to stay the proceedings of jury selection due to the absence of two jurors who were not properly excused.
III. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to give the defendant's tendered jury instructions on the defense of entrapment.

DECISION

I. Systematic Exclusion of Blacks From the Jury

Thorne argues on appeal that he is entitled to a new trial because the State systematically excluded the only two prospective black jurors from the panel by using two of its ten peremptory challenges to exeuse these blacks. Thorne argues the *880 State provided no neutral explanation-a reason or reasons other than racial-for excusing the two and only prospective black jurors from the panel and so Thorne's due process and equal protection rights have been violated. The State responds that the facts of this case do not establish a racially-directed use of peremptory challenges by the prosecution and directs our attention to the numerous omissions in Thorne's appellate brief. 1

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Thorne v. State, 509 N.E.2d 877, 1987 Ind. App. LEXIS 2783 (Ind. Ct. App. 1987).

509 N.E.2d 877 (Thorne v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Thorne v. State
519 N.E.2d 566 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1988)