Aguirre v. State

Decision Date11 April 1990
Docket NumberNo. 45S00-8705-CR-455,45S00-8705-CR-455
Citation552 N.E.2d 473
PartiesConstantino AGUIRRE, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
CourtIndiana Supreme Court

Diane M. McNeal, Appellate Public Defender, Crown Point, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Michael Gene Worden, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

DeBRULER, Justice.

Appellant was convicted by a jury of attempted voluntary manslaughter, a class B felony, 1 for the shooting of Stella Guzman. I.C. 35-42-1-3; 35-41-5-1. Class B felonies carry a presumptive sentence of ten years, which can be enhanced by an additional ten years for aggravating circumstances. I.C. 35-50-2-5. The trial court found that aggravating circumstances did exist in this case and imposed the maximum sentence of twenty years. Appellant raises only one issue in this direct appeal. He claims that the sentence imposed by the trial court was manifestly unreasonable and asks that this Court exercise its power to revise sentences pursuant to Indiana Rule for the Appellate Review of Sentences 2(1).

The evidence produced at trial which tended to support the verdict showed that appellant was a divorced man whose ex-wife and children lived in Illinois. Appellant lived in a house in Hammond which had been converted into apartments. Stella Guzman, the victim, and Sanda Jefferson, a friend of appellant's, were also residents of the apartment house. On the morning of Wednesday, December 4, 1985, Jefferson came to Guzman's apartment and asked for a jump start because her car would not start. Guzman agreed and got her jumper cables from the hall, but told Jefferson that they had to hurry because she had a job interview that morning. The two women spoke briefly about an incident which had occurred two nights previously, when appellant accused Guzman of stealing his mail from the mailbox. Guzman asked what was wrong with appellant, to which Jefferson replied, "He's sick." Guzman responded, "He's sick, all right," then they went about the business at hand.

Guzman testified that she threw the cables on the ground and got into her truck to move it around to face Jefferson's car. She saw appellant come out of his apartment and walk over to the car. Guzman testified that appellant looked over at her, then charged at the truck door, jerked it open, grabbed her, and pulled her out of the truck. She testified further that appellant put a gun to her back and started shoving her toward her apartment and that he then shot her. Guzman was shot first in the abdomen, from a two- to three-foot range. She testified that as she doubled over in pain, she heard four more consecutive shots. Guzman was hit three times in the shoulder and once in the neck. She suffered a lacerated liver and a punctured lung, and she was initially paralyzed completely from the neck down. By the time of sentencing, she had regained the use of her upper body but was still confined to a wheelchair and unable to walk. All five bullets are still lodged in her body.

Appellant interposed an insanity defense. Sanda Jefferson testified that appellant had been acting strangely for several days prior to the shooting. The previous Sunday night, appellant asked Jefferson to make a doctor's appointment for him because his legs were bothering him and said he would leave a letter in her mailbox, presumably with the doctor's name and phone number on it. She forgot to call, and on Monday appellant confronted her about it and demanded to know the whereabouts of his letter. Jefferson said she had never gotten it and suggested that Guzman might have it since she typically was the first in the building to get the mail delivered to the house. Appellant then went to Guzman and accused her of stealing the letter. He made similar accusations against other residents of the building. He returned to Jefferson's apartment and sat on her kitchen floor with his head in his hands, repeating, "Something's wrong." He also said that he was a woman and that "they were working him very hard and treating him real bad," and that someone was trying to trap him. Jefferson became frightened and asked him to leave. Jefferson also testified that both she and Guzman noticed that appellant was out walking around in his socks that snowy December night.

On Tuesday, appellant was sent home from work because he pushed his boss. Appellant called Jefferson and asked her to take him to her nephew's home down the block because "we have to sit in a circle and talk." He also came to her apartment and asked her to marry him and go to Mexico with him. When she declined, he grabbed her arm and told her that he was not going to give her a chance to call anybody, that he was going to take her somewhere where "they" would not find her.

Jefferson stated that appellant called her at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, complaining that he was hot and sick, saying that his legs and head hurt, and asking if she were his mother. Later that morning, appellant helped Jefferson load her clothes into her car to take to the laundromat, and at that time, he accused her of trying to do something to hurt him in connection with a Reader's Digest mailing they had both received. He asked where they were going, and Jefferson responded that she was going to the laundromat and he was to stay at the house. This exchange was repeated in the car, and appellant then pulled her keys out of the ignition and removed the car key from the ring. He said, "You staying, I'm leaving," and "Now you black and I'm white," and "Furthermore, I want my kids. I want you to give them to me now, or I kill you.... You going to give them to me." Jefferson ran into her apartment and called the police. Appellant stood on her porch and she heard him trying to pull her door open, calling for Patricia, who is appellant's ex-wife, to open the door and saying he wanted his children back. Jefferson told appellant that she had called the police, and by the time the police arrived, he had gone.

When Jefferson thought it was safe, she returned to her car, but it wouldn't start. She saw appellant drive up in his truck and, because she was afraid, lay down on the seat of her car until she heard the door to his apartment close. She then enlisted Guzman's aid in getting her car started. Jefferson testified that she saw appellant pull his gun when Guzman dropped the jumper...

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17 cases
  • Henderson v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • June 6, 2002
    ...of a mitigating factor rests within the court's discretion. Harris v. State, 659 N.E.2d 522, 528 (Ind.1995)(citing Aguirre v. State, 552 N.E.2d 473, 476 (Ind. 1990)). "A court does not err in failing to find mitigation when a mitigation claim is `highly disputable in nature, weight, or sign......
  • Allen v. State
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    ...(citation omitted). Although a trial court must consider evidence of mitigating factors presented by a defendant, Aguirre v. State, 552 N.E.2d 473, 476 (Ind.1990), it "is not obligated to explain why it has found that the factor does not exist." Fugate, 608 N.E.2d at 1374. See also Cooper v......
  • McCann v. State
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    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • June 20, 2001
    ...considered. Ind. Code § 35-38-1-7.1(b)(2) (1998). The serious nature of a victim's injuries is also a proper aggravator. Aguirre v. State, 552 N.E.2d 473, 476 (Ind.1990); Lang v. State, 461 N.E.2d 1110, 1113 The trial court also found "that prior attempts to rehabilitate the defendant have ......
  • Battles v. State
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    • November 24, 1997
    ...its statement, especially where mitigators are disputed, because the finding of mitigators is discretionary. Id. at 534; Aguirre v. State, 552 N.E.2d 473, 476 (Ind.1990). In addition, the sentencing statement must include only those mitigators the trial court found to be significant. Jones,......
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