Wilkes v. State

• Citation: 917 N.E.2d 675
• Decision Date: 10 December 2009
• Docket Number: No. 10S00-0808-DP-453.,10S00-0808-DP-453.
• Parties: Danny Ray WILKES, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

917 N.E.2d 675

Danny Ray WILKES, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 10S00-0808-DP-453.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

December 10, 2009.

John Andrew Goodridge, Evansville, IN, William Wayne Gooden, Mt. Vernon, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.

Joel M. Schumm, Ann M. Sutton, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Amicus Curiae Marion County Public Defender Agency.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Stephen R. Creason, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

BOEHM, Justice.

In this direct appeal, Daniel Wilkes appeals his murder convictions and death sentence. We affirm Wilkes's murder convictions and death sentence.

Facts and Procedural History

In the spring of 2006, Daniel Wilkes met Donna Claspell and Michael Baker while all three were being treated at a drug rehabilitation center. After discharge, Wilkes stayed with Donna and her two daughters, eight-year-old Sydne Claspell and thirteen-year-old Avery Pike. Wilkes told Baker that one night he awoke to find Avery "hunching on his leg," and that he and Avery then engaged in mutual oral sex. Wilkes later admitted to molesting Avery on a total of three or four occasions. On the evening of April 23 or the early morning of April 24, Donna found Wilkes and Avery together and told Wilkes that he would have to leave the home.

Around eight o'clock the next morning, Donna's neighbors observed Baker picking up Wilkes at the home, and one heard Wilkes say something like, "I've got to get out of here." That night, according to Baker, Wilkes kept looking out the windows and expressed concern that the police would come for him.

On April 26, the bodies of Donna, Sydne, and Avery were found in their home. Donna and Sydne were in the master bedroom. Donna had sustained multiple injuries, including a deep cut wound to the neck and blows to the head from a hammer and another blunt instrument. A knife was found under Donna's shoulder. Sydne had died from at least twenty-seven blows to the head, back, and shoulders from a hammer head and claw. Avery was found in her bedroom naked and face down on the bed. Her hands were bound behind her back with a cord, her ankle was tied to the bedpost, and she had been strangled with a piece of clothing.

DNA and serological tests were performed on several items from Donna's home and also on clothing Wilkes was wearing at the time of his arrest. Donna's blood was found on the ball and claw of a hammer and on a level found at the home, and also on a shirt and hat worn by Wilkes. Sydne's blood was found on the claw of the hammer and on Wilkes's shirt and her DNA was found on Wilkes's shoe. Wilkes confessed to the murders under circumstances described below.

Wilkes was charged with all three murders. The State filed a death penalty request alleging as a statutory aggravating circumstance of each murder that Wilkes had committed multiple murders and, as to Sydne, that the victim was less than twelve years old.

The jury found Wilkes guilty of all three murders. In the penalty phase, the jury found all four aggravating circumstances and found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances, but could not agree on a sentencing recommendation. After discharging the jury, the trial court conducted the sentencing. The court accepted the jury's findings and independently found the aggravating circumstances and that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances. For each murder, the trial court sentenced Wilkes to death.

In this direct appeal, Wilkes challenges his convictions and his sentence, arguing that:

I. The trial court erred in admitting transcripts and recordings of four interviews in which he acknowledged his guilt;

II. The trial court erred in admitting evidence of his molesting of Avery, expert testimony regarding a presumptive test for blood, and opinion testimony on guilt;

III. Indiana's death penalty statute violates the Indiana Constitution's requirement of separation of powers and the Federal Sixth Amendment; and

IV. Wilkes was not sentenced properly.

I. Admissibility of Wilkes's Interviews

At trial, over Wilkes's objection, the State introduced transcripts of four interviews in which Wilkes acknowledged his guilt. A videotape of the first interview and audio recordings of the other three were also admitted. Wilkes argues that the trial court erred in admitting these because the interviews were given involuntarily in violation of his right to remain silent.

Unlike the Federal Constitution, Indiana law imposes on the State the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a confession is voluntary. Lego v. Twomey, 404 U.S. 477, 488-89, 92 S.Ct. 619, 30 L.Ed.2d 618 (1972); Pruitt v. State, 834 N.E.2d 90, 114-15 (Ind.2005) (plurality); Miller v. State, 770 N.E.2d 763, 767 (Ind.2002); Owens v. State, 427 N.E.2d 880, 884 (Ind.1981). In evaluating a claim that a statement was not given voluntarily, the trial court is to consider the "totality of the circumstances," including any element of police coercion; the length, location, and continuity of the interrogation; and the maturity, education, physical condition, and mental health of the defendant. Miller, 770 N.E.2d at 767. To determine that a statement was given voluntarily, the court must conclude that inducement, threats, violence, or other improper influences did not overcome the defendant's free will. Clark v. State, 808 N.E.2d 1183, 1191 (Ind.2004).

On appeal, the trial court's determination of voluntariness is reviewed as other sufficiency matters. Id. We do not reweigh the evidence, and we affirm the trial court's finding if it is supported by substantial evidence. Miller, 770 N.E.2d at 767.

A. April 26 Interview

Wilkes's first interview by police took place on April 26 from approximately 6:00 to 11:00 p.m. and was videotaped. Before making any statements, Wilkes was advised of his Miranda rights and signed a written waiver. Wilkes was provided dinner and cigarettes at a half-hour break around 9:30 p.m. In the course of the interrogation, Wilkes admitted to killing Donna, Avery, and Sydne. Wilkes claims that any statements in the April 26 interview were involuntary because of the convergence of the following factors: (1) he was under the influence of drugs during the interview; (2) police used a psychologically coercive interrogation method; (3) the statements in his interview contained inconsistencies; (4) police promised Wilkes a cigarette in exchange for information; and (5) Wilkes attempted to end the interrogation before admitting to the crimes.

1. Influence of drugs. At five points in the April 26 interrogation Wilkes claimed to be under the influence of drugs. Statements are inadmissible due to intoxication only when an accused is intoxicated to the point that he is unaware of what he is saying. Pruitt, 834 N.E.2d at 115 (plurality opinion) (citing Williams v. State, 489 N.E.2d 53, 56 (Ind.1986)). Intoxication to a lesser degree goes only to the weight to be given the statement. Id. Here, Wilkes does not claim that his intoxication caused him to be unaware of his statements during the interview, and the detectives who interrogated him testified that he did not appear intoxicated. The trial court's ruling that Wilkes's interview was not involuntary due to his intoxication is supported by sufficient evidence.

2. Psychologically coercive interrogation methods. Wilkes argues that the April 26 interrogation was coercive because the detective insisted that Wilkes remembered the crimes and supplied him with details even though Wilkes repeatedly denied remembering the crimes. Wilkes argues that his confession was involuntary because he merely repeated back to the detective facts he learned during the interrogation.

Certainly a confession in which the defendant parrots detective-fed details of the crime may be less reliable than one in which the defendant freely volunteers his story in its entirety. But under Wilkes's circumstances, the trial court had sufficient evidence to find that Wilkes was not psychologically coerced. Because the exchange was videotaped, the trial court was in a position to evaluate demeanor.¹ The interrogation lasted five hours, and Wilkes was provided with three cigarettes and a break for food. It is true that the detective provided Wilkes with many details of the crimes, but Wilkes also described details of the crimes that were not provided by the detective. For example, he stated that he had a flash of Donna lying on her bed in a lot of blood before the detective told him that Donna was found on her bed. Moreover, in the interviews Wilkes identified instances when he was referring to police suggestions rather than his own memory. Wilkes cites no authority for his contention that supplying some facts to a defendant renders the defendant's statement involuntary. This Court has previously held that various interrogation techniques—"good cop, bad cop," providing a morally acceptable answer, blaming the victim, and bargaining—do not necessarily create an involuntary statement. Pierce v. State, 761 N.E.2d 821, 824 (Ind.2002). Given all of these considerations, the trial court's conclusion that the interrogation method did not render Wilkes's interview involuntary is supported by more than sufficient evidence.

3. Inconsistent statements. Wilkes cites to inconsistencies in his April 26 interview as evidence that his statements were not voluntarily given.² Inconsistencies are a factor to be considered in determining whether a statement is voluntary. Light v. State, 547 N.E.2d 1073, 1077 (Ind.1989). But inconsistencies can also be the product of untruthfulness or evasiveness, and are not in themselves a strong indication of lack of voluntariness. The trial court had the opportunity to view the videotape of the interrogation and make a determination as to whether Wilkes's will had been overcome. Again, given the...