Tyler Steffey v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

• Court: Indiana Court of Appeals
• Decided: September 27, 2018
• Docket: 18A-CR-798
• Status: Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION FILED Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), Sep 27 2018, 7:04 am this Memorandum Decision shall not be CLERK regarded as precedent or cited before any Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals court except for the purpose of establishing and Tax Court

the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Scott King Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Russell W. Brown, Jr. Attorney General of Indiana King, Brown & Murdaugh, LLC Caroline G. Templeton Merrillville, Indiana Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Tyler Steffey, September 27, 2018 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 18A-CR-798 v. Appeal from the Lake Superior Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Salvador Vasquez, Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge Trial Court Cause No. 45G01-1603-F1-4

Pyle, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 1 of 10 Statement of the Case

[1] Tyler Steffey (“Steffey”) appeals his convictions, following a jury trial, for Level

3 felony aggravated battery1 and Level 6 felony auto theft.2 Steffey argues that

there was insufficient evidence to support both convictions. Finding that there

was sufficient probative evidence and reasonable inferences for jurors to find

Steffey guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, we affirm his convictions.

Issue

Whether there was sufficient evidence to support Steffey’s convictions.

Facts

[2] During the afternoon of February 19, 2016, a friend of Steffey, Kendra Skinner

(“Skinner”), drove her car and picked Steffey up at a gas station in Hammond,

Indiana. After Skinner picked up Steffey, she drove to another gas station

located in Gary to purchase cigarettes. During this second stop, Steffey

proposed that he and Skinner rob a marijuana dealer. Once they agreed to

commit the robbery, Skinner drove to the apartment she shared with her sister,

Brittany Sullivan (“Sullivan”), to obtain a gun that she had stolen a few days

earlier.

1 IND. CODE § 35-42-2-1.5. 2 I.C. § 35-43-4-2.5(b)(1) (repealed, effective July 1, 2018).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 2 of 10 [3] After retrieving the gun, Skinner and Steffey drove to a third gas station. Before

Skinner went inside the gas station to buy cigarettes, Steffey leaned his seat

back and told her not to tell anyone she was with him. Later, Steffey directed

Skinner to drive to an alleyway behind a church at 10th Avenue and Chase

Street in Gary to wait for the marijuana dealer they had planned to rob.

Skinner parked her vehicle near a dumpster in the alleyway. Skinner was in the

driver’s seat, and Steffey was in the front passenger seat.

[4] During the approximately hour and a half they waited, Skinner never saw

anyone else in the area. Indeed, she had time to clean out her vehicle and place

bags of clothing in the nearby dumpster. While waiting, Steffey possessed the

gun, and he showed her how it worked. He showed her how to load a clip and

where the safety was. “After he showed [her] the clips and the 9 mm and he

put the clip in, the last thing [Skinner] remember[ed] was waking up on the

ground” in the alleyway near the dumpster. (Tr. 123). Skinner saw her vehicle

being driven down the alleyway but could not see who was driving. Skinner

was shot twice, once on the right side of her head and once in the chest. She

crawled to a nearby house on Chase Street and asked for help. The homeowner

called the police and Skinner was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

[5] As a result of being shot, Skinner suffered injuries to her left abdominal area, a

broken jaw that had to be wired shut for several months, a loss of hearing in her

right ear, and a loss of her sense of smell. She also suffered from severe

headaches and poor short-term memory. After arriving at the hospital, Skinner

was unconscious for two days. When she woke up, she was unable to open her

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 3 of 10 mouth. Using a chalkboard, she wrote down the following: “Where is my

car?”, “Does my sister know?”, and “Tyler Steffey.” (Tr. 79). Skinner wrote

Steffey’s name because she knew “he did this to [her].” (Tr. 79).

[6] Skinner’s sister, Sullivan, called Steffey and asked him what happened to her

sister after learning she was in the hospital. Steffey responded that Skinner

never picked him up. Sullivan called Steffey a second time, and he stated that

Skinner had picked him up and dropped him off at his mother’s home. Sullivan

called Steffey a third time, and he said he had never seen Skinner.

[7] Two months later, on April 13, 2016, Skinner’s vehicle was found in an

apartment complex. Inside the car, police found blood splatter on the front

windshield and dashboard. The driver’s side front window was shattered and

there was a bullet hole in the driver’s seat. A spent bullet casing was also

located inside the driver’s side front door. The police did not attempt to recover

fingerprints because any number of people could have entered the vehicle

between February and April. The police also did not perform DNA testing on

any of the blood stains in the car because the information suggested that

Skinner had been the only person injured.

[8] The State charged Steffey with: Level 1 felony attempted murder; Level 3

felony aggravated battery; Level 5 felony battery with a deadly weapon; Level 5

felony battery causing serious bodily injury; Level 6 felony auto theft; and Class

A misdemeanor theft. A two-day jury trial began on October 3, 2017. Skinner,

Sullivan, and the police testified to the facts above. There was a dispute

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 4 of 10 regarding what side of the head Skinner was shot on. The jury returned guilty

verdicts on the aggravated battery and the felony auto theft charges, and it

found Steffey not guilty on the remaining charges.

[9] Thereafter, the trial court sentenced Steffey to twelve (12) years for the Level 3

felony aggravated battery conviction and two (2) years for the Level 6 felony

auto theft conviction. The trial court ordered the sentences to be served

consecutively in the Department of Correction for an aggregate sentence of

fourteen (14) years. Steffey now appeals.

Decision

[10] On appeal, Steffey challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for both of his

convictions. Our standard of review for sufficiency of evidence claims is well

settled. We do not assess the credibility of the witnesses or reweigh the

evidence in determining whether the evidence is sufficient. Drane v. State, 867

N.E.2d 144, 146 (Ind. 2007). We consider only the probative evidence and

reasonable inferences supporting the verdict. Id. (emphasis added). Reversal is

appropriate only when no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the

crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. Thus, the evidence is not

required to overcome every reasonable hypothesis of innocence and is sufficient

if an inference may reasonably be drawn from it to support the verdict. Id. at

147.

1. Aggravated Battery

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 5 of 10 [11] In order to convict Steffey of aggravated battery, the State was required to prove

beyond a reasonable doubt that: (1) Steffey; (2) knowingly or intentionally; (3)

inflicted injury on Skinner; (4) that created a substantial risk of death or caused

serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss of impairment of a bodily

member or organ. I.C. § 35-42-2-1.5. A person engages in conduct

“knowingly” if he “is aware of a high probability that he is doing so.” I.C. § 35-

41-2-2(b). A person engages in conduct “intentionally” if “it is his conscious

objective to do so.” I.C. § 35-41-2-2(a).

[12] Steffey concedes that the injuries Skinner suffered created a substantial risk of

death or caused serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss of

impairment of a bodily member or organ. Instead, he first argues that the

“record is devoid of any direct evidence” that he inflicted injury on Skinner.3

(Steffey’s Br. 10). Alternatively, Steffey argues that there was no evidence that

he knowingly or intentionally inflicted injury on Skinner.

[13] With regard to Steffey’s first argument, that the record is devoid of any direct

evidence that he inflicted injury on Skinner, we note that a verdict may be

sustained based upon circumstantial evidence alone if that circumstantial

evidence supports a reasonable inference of guilt. Houston v. State, 730 N.E.2d

1247, 1248 (Ind. 2000). Our review of the record shows that there was

3 Steffey also argues that the State failed to present evidence that he possessed a motive to injure Skinner. The State was only required to prove the statutory elements of the offense, which do not include motive. See Sallee v. State, 51 N.E.3d 130, 134 (Ind. 2016).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 6 of 10 sufficient circumstantial evidence to support a reasonable inference that Steffey

inflicted injury on Skinner. Specifically, Skinner identified Steffey as the only

other occupant in her vehicle. See Thompson v. State, 674 N.E.2d 1307, 1311

(Ind. 1996) (a conviction may rest solely on the uncorroborated testimony of a

victim). She testified that Steffey was in possession of the gun immediately

before she lost consciousness. Just before she was shot, Steffey showed Skinner

how to load the clip, and he showed her the safety. Skinner did not see anyone

else in the alleyway during the hour and a half that she and Steffey waited in

the alleyway. Steffey’s argument that the record is devoid of any direct

evidence that he inflicted injury on Skinner is nothing more than a request that

we reweigh the evidence. This we will not do. See Drane, 867 N.E.2d at 146.

[14] Alternatively, Steffey argues that there was no evidence that he knowingly or

intentionally inflicted injury on Skinner. Because intent is a mental function,

absent an admission by the defendant, it must be determined from a

consideration of the defendant’s conduct and the natural and usual

consequences thereof. Metzler v. State, 540 N.E.2d 606, 609 (Ind. 1989). The

trier of fact usually must resort to “reasonable inferences based upon an

examination of the surrounding circumstances to determine whether, from the

person’s conduct and the natural consequences that might be expected from

that conduct, a showing or inference [of] the intent to commit that conduct

exists.” Id.

[15] The State presented evidence that: Skinner was seated in the driver’s seat, and

Steffey in the front passenger seat; Steffey was the only person with Skinner as

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 7 of 10 they waited to rob a marijuana dealer; he possessed the a gun right before

Skinner lost consciousness; Skinner was shot twice, once in the head and once

in the chest; Skinner testified that she was shot on the right side of her face;

there was blood spatter on the front windshield and across the dashboard; there

was a bullet hole in the driver’s seat; and a spent bullet casing was located

inside the driver’s side door. Sullivan also testified that Steffey gave conflicting

accounts as to whether he saw Skinner at all on the day she was shot twice. She

stated that she spoke to Steffey three times and that he denied seeing Skinner

twice and admitted to being with her once. The cumulative effect of the

evidence supports the reasonable inference that Steffey knowingly or

intentionally shot Skinner. Thus, after consideration of the circumstantial

evidence and Steffey’s conduct and the natural and usual consequences thereof,

it was reasonable for the jury to conclude that the elements of Level 3 felony

aggravated battery were proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

2. Auto Theft

[16] In order to convict Steffey of felony auto theft as charged, the State was

required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that: (1) Steffey; (2) knowingly; (3)

exerted unauthorized control over the motor vehicle of Skinner; (4) with the

intent to deprive her of its value or use. I.C. § 35-43-4-2.5(b)(1).

[17] Steffey argues that “the State did not present any evidence that [he] stole

[Skinner’s] vehicle.” (Steffey’s Br. 11). Our review of the record shows that the

State presented circumstantial evidence that Steffey was the person who exerted

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 8 of 10 unauthorized control over Skinner’s vehicle. Circumstantial evidence alone

may support a theft conviction. Rogers v. State, 902 N.E.2d 871, 875 (Ind. Ct.

App. 2009). The question for an appellate court reviewing the sufficiency of the

evidence is whether a reasonable jury could draw inferences from

circumstantial evidence that would establish the defendant’s guilt. Sidener v.

State, 55 N.E.3d 380, 385 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

[18] The evidence presented at trial was that Skinner, who was seated in the driver’s

seat, and Steffey, who was in the front passenger seat, were the only occupants

in her vehicle during the time they were waiting for the marijuana dealer. The

State also presented evidence that Steffey was the only person in the vicinity

with Skinner. See, e.g., Kindred v. State, 257 N.E.2d 667, 668 (Ind. 1970) (“[T]he

fact that appellant was in the room alone at a time the evidence shows the cash

register was opened and the fact that immediately thereafter the money was

missing is sufficient upon which the trier of fact could find appellant had taken

the money”). Skinner testified that she observed her vehicle being driven away

after she regained consciousness on the ground. Additionally, she stated that

she never gave anyone permission to drive her vehicle. The circumstantial

evidence and inferences drawn therefrom support a reasonable inference that

Steffey was the person who exerted unauthorized control over Skinner’s

vehicle. Again, our role is not to reweigh the evidence; we determine whether

sufficient probative evidence and reasonable inferences support a guilty verdict

beyond a reasonable doubt. See Drane, 867 N.E.2d at 146.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 9 of 10 [19] Finding that the evidence was sufficient to prove Steffey committed aggravated

battery and felony auto theft, we affirm his convictions.

[20] Affirmed.

Najam, J., and Crone, J., concur.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-798 | September 27, 2018 Page 10 of 10