William Gajdik v. State of Indiana

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 14, 2013
Docket15A05-1210-CR-539
StatusUnpublished

This text of William Gajdik v. State of Indiana (William Gajdik v. State of Indiana) 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
William Gajdik v. State of Indiana, (Ind. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Aug 14 2013, 5:46 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:

LEANNA WEISSMANN GREGORY F. ZOELLER Lawrenceburg, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

CHANDRA K. HEIN Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

WILLIAM GAJDIK, ) ) Appellant-Defendant, ) ) vs. ) No. 15A05-1210-CR-539 ) STATE OF INDIANA, ) ) Appellee-Plaintiff. )

APPEAL FROM THE DEARBORN CIRCUIT COURT The Honorable James D. Humphrey, Judge Cause No. 15C01-1110-FA-24

August 14, 2013

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION

FRIEDLANDER, Judge William Gajdik appeals from his conviction and sentence for Attempted Murder,1

Burglary,2 and Robbery.3 He presents the following restated issues for our review:

1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion under Indiana Evidence Rule 404(b) by admitting evidence of prior bad acts?

2. Did the trial court abuse its discretion when imposing consecutive sentences?

3. Is Gajdik’s sentence inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender?

We affirm.

At approximately 6:30 a.m. on September 6, 2011, Thomas Jacobs (T.J.), a

construction worker, went to the work shop behind his residence and began preparations for

the work day. At around 8:30 a.m. when T.J. returned to his residence to pick up some

paperwork, he noticed parked in his driveway an unfamiliar maroon Saturn vehicle that was

still running. T.J., who had a truck for sale along the side of the road, surmised that a person

had stopped to look at the truck. After walking down to the area where the truck was parked,

he did not see anyone, and walked up his driveway. As he approached the front door of his

residence, he noticed that it was open. T.J. thought that someone was breaking into his

house, so he approached the Saturn, sat down in it, removed the keys from it, and placed the

keys in his pocket.

1 Ind. Code Ann. § 35-42-1-1 (West, Westlaw current with all 2013 legislation)(murder); Ind. Code Ann. § 35- 41-5-1(West, Westlaw current with all 2013 legislation)(attempt). 2 Ind. Code Ann. § 35-43-2-1 (West, Westlaw current with all 2013 legislation). 3 Ind. Code Ann. § 35-42-5-1 (West, Westlaw current with all 2013 legislation).

2 T.J. then removed the keys from two other trucks that belonged to him and which

were parked in front of his house. Preparing to defend himself, T.J. grabbed a hammer from

one of his trucks and approached the front door of his house. Upon noticing that the mud-

room door, which leads out the back of the house, was wide open, T.J. turned around and

went back outside. As he was exiting the house, he saw an individual running down the

sidewalk. That person entered the maroon Saturn and attempted to start the car. He was

unsuccessful, however, because T.J. had the key to the Saturn in his pocket. The individual

exited the vehicle and began running down the street, with T.J. in pursuit of him.

After the two had run nearly a quarter of a mile, the individual stopped, reached into a

pillowcase that he was clutching in his hand, pulled out a Glock .357 SIG, and pointed it at

T.J. Believing that the handgun appeared to be his, T.J. stopped, turned around, ran back into

his residence and called the police. A pillowcase from one of the pillows in T.J.’s bedroom

was missing. T.J. also discovered that his Glock .357 SIG handgun and ammunition, several

pieces of T.J.’s wife’s jewelry, and T.J.’s wallet, which had been left on his nightstand, were

missing from the house.

Sergeants Mike Prudenti and Max Socks with the Aurora and Dearborn Police

Departments responded to T.J.’s call. Upon arriving at T.J.’s house, Sergeant Prudenti

observed the maroon Saturn parked in the driveway. T.J. informed the officers about the

intruder and that after finding the intruder in the house had chased him south from his

property. Sergeant Prudenti, who is a K-9 handler, used his canine to attempt to track the

individual who burglarized T.J.’s residence. Although they searched around T.J.’s residence,

3 Sergeant Prudenti never saw the canine alert. Later, Deputy Ken McAllister of the Dearborn

County Sheriff’s Department arrived with his canine, Djardi, and that dog did not alert.

Between approximately 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., one of T.J.’s neighbors, William

Pleiman, who was asleep in his residence, was awakened by the sound of a helicopter

overhead. As he looked out the front window of his home for the helicopter, Pleiman noticed

a person wearing white pants run across his backyard from east to west. A moment later,

Pleiman noticed the same man standing on Pleiman’s patio. Because Pleiman’s three dogs

began barking, Pleiman stepped out of the house onto his patio. When Pleiman asked the

man if he could assist him with anything, the man responded that his car had broken down.

Pleiman told the man the location of a nearby mechanic. The man proceeded in that direction

and Pleiman continued with his usual activities.

Between 11:30 a.m. and noon that same day, Corey Hester, another of T.J.’s

neighbors, heard a knock on his front door. When Hester answered the door, he found a man

who was out of breath and sweating, and who indicated that his car had broken down. Hester

peered out his front door, but did not see a car there. The man asked Hester for a glass of

water. Hester gave him a bottle of water, shut the door, and said “have a nice day.”

Transcript at 514. Five minutes later Hester did not see the man anywhere in the

neighborhood. After Hester notified police, Sergeant Prudenti responded to Hester’s report

with his canine, however, the dog did not alert.

Robert Tibbits arrived home from work between 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. When he

opened his front door, he noticed a shadow in the hallway. A man then emerged from the

4 hallway with a revolver in his hand. Tibbits turned to run out of the house when the man

fired the revolver. The bullet struck Tibbits in his lower back and the impact pushed him out

onto his front porch. The man approached Tibbits, who lay on the ground, rolled Tibbits

onto his back, and pointed a gun in Tibbits’s face. The man used profanity in his demand to

have Tibbits surrender his car keys. Tibbits still had the car keys to his black Thunderbird in

his hand. He extended his arm and the man took the keys from Tibbits’s hand. The man left

Tibbits’s home, entered Tibbits’s vehicle, and drove away.

Tibbits, who remained on the ground, reached behind his back to assess his injuries

and realized that his hand was full of blood. Tibbits then reached for his cell phone to call

911, but his hands were shaking and he was unable to complete the call. Tibbits yelled for

help.

After a few moments, Angela Moore, who had been visiting her brother at his house

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