Georgopolus v. State

• Decision Date: 29 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. 29S00-9803-CR-155.,29S00-9803-CR-155.
• Citation: 735 N.E.2d 1138
• Parties: Peter N. GEORGOPOLUS, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

735 N.E.2d 1138

Peter N. GEORGOPOLUS, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 29S00-9803-CR-155.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

September 29, 2000.

Jennifer M. Lukemeyer, Symmes, Voyles, Zahn, Paul & Hogan, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorney for Appellant.

Jeffrey A. Modisett, Attorney General of Indiana, Arthur Thaddeus Perry, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee. RUCKER, Justice.

After a trial by jury, Peter Georgopulos was convicted of murder in the stabbing death of a real estate agent. The trial court sentenced him to an enhanced term of sixty-five years imprisonment. In this direct appeal, Georgopulos raises two issues for our review which we rephrase as follows: (1) did the trial court err in refusing Georgopulos' tendered instruction concerning the consequences of a verdict of guilty but mentally ill; and (2) did the trial court err in sentencing Georgopulos by relying on improper aggravating factors and not giving proper weight to mitigating factors. Finding no error, we affirm.

Facts

On June 30, 1996, a Hamilton County deputy sheriff received a report of blood on the floor of a model home. Upon investigation the deputy discovered the body of real estate agent Kimberly Schriner. A later autopsy revealed that Schriner suffered a skull fracture consistent with being struck with a rock. The autopsy also revealed that Schriner suffered fifty-five stab wounds that caused severe internal injury and ultimately her death. Later that day Georgopulos checked into a motel in Clarks Hill, Indiana. Early the following morning Georgopulos went to the front desk, told the clerk that he had committed a crime, and asked the clerk to call the police. Ultimately officers of the Fishers Police Department took Georgopulos into custody. In an audiotaped statement, Georgopulos admitted striking Schriner with a rock that he had picked up on his way into the model home. He also admitted stabbing Schriner with a knife he had brought with him for that purpose. Apparently Georgopulos was obsessed with Schriner, from whom he had purchased a house over a year earlier, and he was upset because she had originally agreed to go on a date with him but later canceled.

Georgopulos was charged with murder and notified the State that he intended to interpose the defense of insanity. As a result, Georgopulos was examined by three court appointed psychiatrists who concluded that he was not insane at the time of the offense. In any event during voir dire both the defense and the State questioned prospective jurors at length concerning their views of the insanity defense. Some of the prospective jurors expressed skepticism of the defense referring to it as a "cop-out," a "loophole," and "a way to get a lesser plea." Ultimately the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged. Thereafter the trial court sentenced Georgopolus to the maximum term of sixty-five years. This appeal followed. Additional facts are set forth below where relevant.

Discussion

I.

Georgopulos tendered the following final jury instruction: "A finding of guilty but mentally ill is of no consequence whatsoever. The effect is in all things the same as a finding of guilty." R. at 178. The trial court refused the instruction, and Georgopulos contends it erred in so doing because the instruction represented a correct statement of the law, there was evidence in the record to support giving the instruction, and the substance of the tendered instruction was not covered by other instructions. See Hartman v. State, 669 N.E.2d 959, 960-61 (Ind.1996)

. Georgopulos cites Stader v. State, 453 N.E.2d 1032 (Ind.Ct.App.1983), for the proposition that where the verdict options before a jury include not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty but mentally ill, an instruction on the consequences of these verdicts "becomes mandatory in cases where an erroneous view of the applicable law becomes implanted in the minds of the jurors." Id. at 1036.

First, we disagree with Georgopulos' contention that his tendered jury instruction represents a correct statement of the law. The language used in the instruction is taken from this Court's opinion in Truman v. State, 481 N.E.2d 1089 (Ind.1985).¹ However, "[t]he mere fact that certain language or expressions are used in the opinions of this Court to reach its final conclusion does not necessarily make it proper language for instructions to a jury." Morgan v. State, 544 N.E.2d 143, 148 (Ind.1989). Contrary to the language in Georgopulos' tendered instruction, there are indeed consequences to a jury verdict of guilty but mentally ill that are different from a verdict of guilty. It is true that whenever a defendant is found guilty but mentally ill at the time of the crime, the court shall sentence the defendant in the same manner as a defendant found guilty of the offense. See Ind.Code § 35-36-2-5(a). However, a physician must evaluate the guilty but mentally ill defendant before the trial court may sentence him. See Ind.Code § 35-36-2-5(b). Also, at the Department of Correction, the guilty but mentally ill defendant must be further evaluated and treated as is psychiatrically indicated for his mental illness. See Ind. Code § 35-36-2-5(c). Neither of these additional procedures is available to a defendant who is found simply guilty of an offense. Because Georgopulos' tendered instruction is not a correct statement of the law, the trial court did not err in refusing to give it.

Further, we do not agree with the underlying premise of the need for the proposed tendered instruction, namely: that an erroneous view of the law had been planted in the jurors' minds. Generally, it is improper to instruct a jury on the specific penal ramifications of its verdicts. Schweitzer v. State, 552 N.E.2d 454, 457 (Ind.1990). However, a defendant is entitled to an instruction on post-trial procedures if "an erroneous view of the law ... has been planted in [the jurors'] minds." Dipert v. State, 259 Ind. 260, 262, 286 N.E.2d 405, 407 (1972). In Dipert during voir dire a prospective juror asked the prosecutor what would happen to the defendant if he were found not guilty by reason of insanity. The prosecutor responded that the defendant would go "scot free." Id.,286 N.E.2d at 406. The trial court refused to admonish the jury to disregard the remarks or to give an instruction concerning the post-trial proceedings involved in a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. On appeal this Court declared that normally a defendant who interposes a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity is not entitled to an instruction concerning post-trial procedures. However, a defendant is "entitled to inform the jury of such procedures where an erroneous view of the law on this subject has been planted in their minds." Id.,286 N.E.2d at 407. Recently, in Caldwell v. State, 722 N.E.2d 814 (Ind.2000), the defendant tendered two instructions detailing the consequences of the verdicts guilty but mentally ill and not responsible by reason of insanity. The trial court refused the instructions, and the defendant objected. In the State's rebuttal to the defendant's closing argument, the prosecutor made the following comment:

Don't by your verdict and [sic] tell us that he's not responsible, don't tell us that he has a license to kill. Don't let him walk out of this courtroom with the rest of us when this case is over with, don't let him get away with murder. Don't let him get away with murder.

Id. at 816. The defendant again objected and requested that the rejected instructions or an admonishment be given to the jury to eliminate any confusion that the prosecutor's comments may have engendered in the jury. The trial court overruled the defendant's objection and again refused to give the requested instructions or an admonishment. Id.

Observing that the prosecutor's comments were not as misleading as the statements in Dipert, we determined that these statements nonetheless implied that the defendant would be able to walk out of the courtroom if he were found not responsible by reason of insanity. Id. at 817. As such, the prosecutor's closing remarks created in the jury an erroneous impression of law, namely: what would happen to the defendant if he were found not responsible by reason of insanity. Id. Accordingly, we found reversible error in the trial court's failure to either admonish the jury or give the defendant's tendered instructions. Id.

Unlike the facts in either Dipert or Caldwell, here the prosecutor did not implant an erroneous view of the law in the minds of the jury. Indeed, the record shows whenever a prospective juror asked the prosecutor during voir dire whether Indiana had any guidelines regarding the penal consequences concerning a verdict of not responsible by reason of insanity, the prosecutor responded that there are dispositional alternatives available; however, he should not go into the details because the jury should return a verdict based solely on the evidence, not on the possible penal ramifications, which is a matter left entirely to the trial judge. R. at 1078-79. Georgopulos seems to acknowledge that the prosecutor himself did not implant an erroneous view of the law in the minds of the jury. Rather, he complains the voir dire examination revealed that the "consequences of the verdicts offered were unclear to the jurors" and that the discourse between the jurors and counsel for both sides "revealed jurors' ignorance and misconception about applicable law." Brief of Appellant at 12. We assume without deciding that an erroneous impression of the law on this subject implanted in the minds of the jury, regardless of its source, entitles a defendant to a curative jury instruction. However, we disagree that the jury had such an impression in this case. Our review of the record shows little more than prospective jurors expressing their attitudes, concerns, and opinions about the insanity defense itself and...