White v. State

381 N.E.2d 481, 269 Ind. 479, 1978 Ind. LEXIS 802
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 25, 1978
Docket177S11
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 381 N.E.2d 481 (White v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. State, 381 N.E.2d 481, 269 Ind. 479, 1978 Ind. LEXIS 802 (Ind. 1978).

Opinions

Hunter, J.

— The defendant, Sarah Isabel (Cindy) White, was convicted of arson and six counts of felony murder. She was sentenced to the Indiana Women’s Prison for not less than five nor more than twenty years on the arson conviction; she was sentenced to the Indiana Women’s Prison “for and during life” on each of the six murder convictions. In the defendant’s appeal to this Court, four questions are raised:

1. Should the trial court have granted the defendant’s motion to suppress the photographs of the bodies of the burn victims ?
2. Did the trial court err in allowing testimony regarding the results of a polygraph test to be introduced within the state’s case in chief ?
•3. Did the state prove the necessary elements of arson beyond a reasonable doubt?
4. Is direct evidence necessary to establish guilt in an arson felonymurder?

Neighbors alerted the fire department on December. 31, Í975, that a home located at 24 Sayre Drive, Greenwood, Indiana, was in flames. The defendant was seen coming' from the rear of'the home; she was hysterical, screaming, and was restrained from reentering the burning home. The residence [481]*481was the dwelling house of Charles and Carol Roberson and their four minor children, Michael, Dale, Gary, and Rita. All six of the Robersons perished in the fire. The coroner testified that each of them died from carbon monoxide and smoke inhalation. The defendant had been living with the Roberson family. ...

After an extensive investigation into the cause of the fire, it was determined that the fire had been deliberately set. Bum patterns found in the home showed that an accelerant such as gasoline had been used. The accelerant caused the rapid burning of the home as well as the intense heat generated. Experts testified that the occupants of the home had probably perished within a few minutes of the initial conflagration.

The defendant was burned only slightly. Her testimony was to the effect that she had awakened from her bed on the living room couch, seen the flames oh the wall near the Christmas tree, alerted the family, and attempted to get the children out. The smoke was so thick, though, that she lost touch with the children; she exited through a small, rear bedroom window, thinking that the children and the family would be behind her.'

Testimony elicited at trial revealed that the defendant had made a telephone call, on the night of the fire, to her sister-in-law. The defendant was inquiring about a fire, which had occurred two days earlier, at her grandmother’s home. The defendant was most interested in how the fire started and in whether her siblings (who were living with her grandmother) had received new clothes as a result of the fire. It was less than four hours after the defendant had inquired about the fire at her grandmother’s house that the Roberson home was in flames. The arson investigators stated unequivocally that the Roberson fire was not accidental. The Christmas tree was a flame-proof variety; tests within the courtroom demonstrated that the tree would melt before it would ignite. The wiring, the appliances, the gas lines, and the furnace of the [482]*482Roberson home were all checked. The results demonstrated that the fire itself had damaged each system, rather than the system causing the fire.

Additional evidence was introduced. Nude and pornographic photographs of the nineteen-year-old defendant were found in Charles Roberson’s billfold. Love letters written by the defendant to Charles Roberson were also found. The pajamas worn by the defendant were shown to be made of a highly flammable material; yet they were not burned at all. Inconsistencies in. the defendant’s recollection of the fire were demonstrated through the testimony of those to whom the defendant had told her story. The defendant had a history of emotional disturbance, especially since the death of her father, and had spent the year prior to moving in with the Robersons as a patient in LaRue Carter Hospital.

I.

The defendant moved, at trial, to suppress the photographs of the bodies of the burn victims on the basis that the photographs would be unduly prejudicial and generally inflammatory to the jury. The trial court suppressed many of the photographs offered by the state, but did admit one photograph each of the victims. The photographs which were admitted showed the bodies of the victims in the positions in which they were found after the fire. The photographs were identified at trial by the coroner who testified as to the condition of the body of each victim and to the cause of death.

Relevancy is the controlling question to be answered regarding the propriety of admitting the photographs into evidence. The relevancy of a photograph is to be deter- mined by an inquiry as to whether or not a witness would be permitted to describe the objects or scenes photographed. Pierce v. State, (1970) 253 Ind. 650, 256 N.E.2d 557. In this case, the coroner testified (without objection) that Charles Roberson’s body, which had been found [483]*483in the living room, partly on the couch, was the most charred of all of the victims. The coroner further testified that the degree of burns on the corpses corresponded with the arson investigators’ findings regarding the rooms in which the corpses had been found. Therefore, the photographs were not only relevant, they tended to prove or disprove a material fact in issue: could the defendant have been asleep on the living room couch (the living room had the greatest amount of fire) and have reasonably escaped injury? The trial court did not err in admitting the six photographs. Carroll v. State, (1975) 263 Ind. 696, 338 N.E.2d 264; Lund v. State, (1976) 264 Ind. 428, 345 N.E.2d 826.

II.

The defendant’s second allegation of error is that the trial court should not have allowed the state to introduce testimony regarding the results of a polygraph test within the state’s case in chief. The defendant admits that she stipulated prior to the taking of the test that the results could be used as evidence at trial. She now argues, however, that the state should have only used the evidence in rebuttal, as a form of impeachment. She cites certain Indiana cases which have approved the admissibility of polygraph tests, after expressed waivers, in rebuttal testimony. See Reid v. State, (1972) 259 Ind. 166, 285 N.E.2d 279; Zupp v. State, (1972) 258 Ind. 625, 283 N.E.2d 540. She argues that this Court, by its holding in Vacendak v. State, (1976) 264 Ind. 101, 340 N.E.2d 352, prohibits the use of polygraph test evidence, other than in rebuttal, by its statement that “the degree of accuracy of these tests, currently rated at eighty per cent, is not sufficient to mandate their admission on the question of guilt or innocence.” Vacendak v. State, supra. This is an incorrect reading of Vacendak; “some form of waiver” is all that is required.

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White v. State
381 N.E.2d 481 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
381 N.E.2d 481, 269 Ind. 479, 1978 Ind. LEXIS 802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-state-ind-1978.