Troy Shawn Meyers v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
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Opinion
MEMORANDUM DECISION Feb 20 2015, 9:49 am Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any court except for the purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Kristin A. Mulholland Gregory F. Zoeller Crown Point, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana Graham T. Youngs Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Troy Shawn Meyers, February 20, 2015
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Cause No. 45A03-1405-CR-176 v. Appeal from the Lake County Superior Court State of Indiana, Cause No. 45G01-1303-MR-5
Appellee-Plaintiff. The Honorable Salvador Vasquez, Judge
Barnes, Judge.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49G01-1303-MR-5 |February 20, 2015 Page 1 of 6 Case Summary [1] Troy Meyers appeals his conviction for Class C felony involuntary
manslaughter. We affirm.
Issue [2] Meyers raises one issue, which we restate as whether the evidence is sufficient
to sustain his conviction.
Facts [3] In 2012, Miguel and Anna Dozier lived in an apartment in Lake Station with
their children. Meyers, his wife, Shannon, and their infant lived in the
apartment above the Dozier family. Approximately two or three times a week,
the Doziers would hear verbal and physical arguments coming from the
upstairs apartment. Three or four days before September 10, 2012, Anna heard
an argument between Meyers and Shannon. She heard Meyers yell at the baby
“to shut up,” heard Shannon tell Meyers “not to yell at the baby,” and then
heard Meyers say it again. Tr. p. 54. Miguel heard arguing, running, and a
“big thud” that sounded like someone being thrown to the floor. Id. at 80.
Miguel later saw Shannon outside pushing a baby stroller and the left side of
her face was swollen.
[4] At 2:30 a.m. on September 10, 2012, Meyers called 911 and reported that
Shannon was vomiting blood. When the ambulance arrived, they discovered
Shannon sitting next to the bed with her head slumped forward and with a bowl
on her lap that contained “coffee ground emesis,” which is “blood from the Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49G01-1303-MR-5 |February 20, 2015 Page 2 of 6 stomach that’s been digested and it’s been vomited up.” Id. at 105. Meyers was
“[v]ery, very calm” when they arrived. Id. The paramedics found that
Shannon was not breathing and had no pulse. They started CPR and
transported her to the hospital, but they were unable to revive her. Meyers
reported that Shannon had been drinking alcohol that evening, that she had
been vomiting, and that she had a history of alcoholism and seizures.
[5] An autopsy revealed that Shannon had extensive bruises on her body, especially
on the left side of the neck, the left side of the head, the left shoulder, the left
arm, the scalp, and the back of the head. Some of the bruises were “a day or
less old,” while others were a few days old. Id. at 467. Some of the bruising
appeared to be caused by “a cylindrical object.” Id. at 469. The forensic
pathologist also discovered a fracture of the C-2 vertebrae in Shannon’s neck.
There also was a “shard of bone” from the fracture that tore a hole in her
esophagus. Id. at 481. Some of the bruising on Shannon’s neck corresponded
with the location of the fracture. The cause of Shannon’s death was “blunt
force injuries of the head and neck.” Id. at 490. The forensic pathologist
determined that Shannon’s neck injury was caused by “some kind of force
against the left side of the neck, with the head against an unyielding surface.”
Id. at 491. He noted that substantial force would have been required to inflict
the injury and suggested that Shannon’s injury could have been caused by a
foot stomping or a running fist punch. He also opined that Shannon’s injury
could not have been caused by a fall and that the time between her neck injury
and death was probably not more than a day.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49G01-1303-MR-5 |February 20, 2015 Page 3 of 6 [6] When Detective Brian Williams of the Lake Station Police Department
interviewed Meyers, Meyers stated that Shannon had not been eating for three
or four days. She had also been complaining of neck pain, vomiting, and falling
down all the time for the last two days of her life. Meyers denied hitting
Shannon and suggested that she was injured while falling. A warrant was later
issued for Meyers’s arrest, and he was located in Arizona.
[7] The State charged Meyers with murder. At the jury trial, the trial court
instructed the jury on the lesser included offenses of voluntary manslaughter
and involuntary manslaughter. The jury found Meyers guilty of Class C felony
involuntary manslaughter. The trial court sentenced Meyers to six years in the
Department of Correction. Meyers now appeals.
Analysis [8] Meyers argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction. When
reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence needed to support a criminal
conviction, we neither reweigh evidence nor judge witness credibility. Bailey v.
State, 907 N.E.2d 1003, 1005 (Ind. 2009). “We consider only the evidence
supporting the judgment and any reasonable inferences that can be drawn from
such evidence.” Id. We will affirm if there is substantial evidence of probative
value such that a reasonable trier of fact could have concluded the defendant
was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.
[9] At the time of Meyers’s offense, Indiana Code Section 35-42-1-4(c) governed
the offense of involuntary manslaughter and provided: “A person who kills
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49G01-1303-MR-5 |February 20, 2015 Page 4 of 6 another human being while committing or attempting to commit: . . . (3)
battery; commits involuntary manslaughter, a Class C felony.” According to
Meyers, the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction because there was
no evidence of how Shannon sustained the neck fracture and no evidence that
Meyers caused the fracture. Meyers points out that Shannon had a seizure
disorder and was very intoxicated at the time of her death. Meyers argues that
“[t]here is no evidence to support the conclusion that the falling and subsequent
bruising did not result from the seizures or Shannon’s severely intoxicated
state.” Appellant’s Br. p. 10. Meyers also argues that the timing of his alleged
argument with Shannon three to four days before her death is not compatible
with the pathologist’s testimony that Shannon’s injury happened “more than a
few hours before death, certainly less than a day.” Id.
[10] Meyers’s argument is merely a request that we reweigh the evidence, which we
cannot do. The State presented evidence that Meyers and Shannon fought
often and that they had fought in the days leading up to Shannon’s death. The
State also presented evidence that Shannon had extensive bruises on her body
and that some of the bruising appeared to be caused by “a cylindrical object.”
Tr. p. 469. The forensic pathologist testified that Shannon’s neck was broken,
that a hole was torn in her esophagus as a result of the broken neck, and that
the neck injury was inconsistent with a fall. The forensic pathologist also
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