Baxter v. State, 22A01–1210–CR–447.
| Decision Date | 19 June 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 22A01–1210–CR–447.,22A01–1210–CR–447. |
| Citation | 989 N.E.2d 845 |
| Parties | Christopher BAXTER, Appellant–Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee–Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from the Floyd Superior Court; The Honorable Maria D. Granger, Judge; Cause No. 22D03–1202–MR–223.
Matthew J. McGovern, Anderson, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Joseph Y. Ho, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
Christopher Baxter appeals his Murder 1 conviction, as well as the sentence imposed by the trial court. Baxter presents the following restated issues for our review:
1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in admitting hearsay evidence?
2. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in admitting as demonstrative evidence a replica of an aluminum bar alleged to be the murder weapon?
3. Did the trial court's failure to preserve the aluminum bar alleged to be the murder weapon violate Baxter's due process rights?
4. Did the trial court's imposition of a fifty-five-year sentence violate state and federal constitutional protections against ex post facto laws?
We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
In 1990, Baxter and his wife, Robin Baxter (Robin), lived together in a house on Troy Street in New Albany, which was located in close proximity to the Ohio River. Baxter kept a solid aluminum bar, which was approximately one and three-quarter inches in diameter and thirty-six inches in length, in the residence for protection. Baxter kept the bar propped up against a wall near a closet and nicknamed it “the Enforcer” or “the Equalizer.” Transcript at 304, 358.
On the evening of June 19, 1990, a Tuesday, Baxter and Robin were drinking together and got into an argument, during which Baxter broke out the glass in the back door. At around 10:00 p.m., Robin called her friend Tanita Edelen from her home. Robin was very upset, sounded as if she had been crying, and spoke to Edelen in a whisper. Robin told Edelen that Baxter “had been acting worse than she'[d] ever seen him” and that he was going to kill her. Id. at 446. Based on what Robin told her, Edelen feared that Robin's life was in danger.
Sometime between 10:00 p.m. and midnight that same night, the Baxters' neighbor, Joseph Perry, heard Robin shouting for someone to stop. Robin then walked up the street and stopped to talk to Perry. Perry saw that Robin was wearing a tank top, cut-off denim shorts, and flip flops. Perry also noticed than Robin had blood on her eye, lip, and shirt, and that she was visibly shaking. Robin told Perry that she was going to try to call her mother because she was scared, and then walked away toward a nearby store. At that time, Baxter, who had been sitting in a lawn chair outside his house, got up and went inside. From the way that Baxter walked, Perry believed he might have been drinking. Shortly thereafter, Perry went inside for the night and did not see Robin again.
The next morning, Robin's friend, Wilma Carlisle, stopped by the Baxter residence to pick up some cupcakes that Robin had offered to bake for Carlisle's children. Robin was not present, but Baxter let Carlisle into the house. Carlisle noticed a hole in the wall, which had not been there when Carlisle had visited the previous Monday. Carlisle asked Baxter what happened to the wall, and he responded that “he'd rather punch the wall than punch [Robin].” Id. at 487.
Some time that same morning, Baxter called one of Robin's close friends, Suzanne “Spring” Monroe, and told her that Robin was missing. Spring and her then-boyfriend, Charlie Lance,2 went to the Baxter residence to look for Robin. Upon arrival at the Baxter residence, Spring noticed that Robin's jean shorts were on the floor in the corner and that there were knick knacks on the floor, which Spring found odd because Robin usually cleaned her home every day. Spring and Charlie both saw that the glass in the back door had been broken out and covered with a piece of plywood. Baxter told them he had knocked out the window because he was upset that Robin was gone. Spring and Charlie both also saw that a hole in the drywall near a closet had recently been repaired, and the paint was still wet. The hole had not been there when Spring had last visited the Baxter residence the previous Sunday.
Spring and Charlie then began to look for Robin with Baxter. Spring was looking in a brushy area near a set of railroad tracks when Baxter came “running and screaming” at her in a very harsh tone and told her not to look there because he had already done so. Id. at 295. Spring felt threatened by Baxter's reaction, so she complied. Baxter had a similar reaction when Charlie began looking near the railroad tracks; Baxter told Charlie that he did not need to look there because Baxter had already done so. Charlie found Baxter's behavior “suspicious.” Id. at 348. When Spring and Charlie returned to the Baxter residence the next day, Spring saw that Baxter had scratches all over his shoulders, arms, and back. When Spring asked Baxter what had happened to him, he stated that he had been crawling around on the ground looking for Robin.
Edelen went to the Baxter residence at around 4:00 p.m. on the Friday after Robin's disappearance. Edelen observed that Baxter had placed all of Robin's things in the middle of the floor and rearranged everything in the house. Edelen was surprised to see Robin's shoes among her things, because Edelen had only known Robin to wear one pair of shoes and believed that Robin would not have gone anywhere without her shoes. Some time that weekend, Carlisle returned to the Baxter residence and saw that the hole in the wall she had seen on Wednesday had been repaired and that the metal bar Baxter had nicknamed “the Enforcer” or “the Equalizer” was missing from its usual spot.
The Louisville Police Department found Robin's body in the Ohio River on Saturday, June 23, 1990. Robin was wearing a black t-shirt and was naked from the waist down. Autopsy reports revealed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Robin also suffered multiple lacerations to her face and head sustained before her death. Robin's death was ruled a homicide.
Detectives from the New Albany Police Department interviewed Baxter twice shortly after the discovery of Robin's body. During the first interview, Baxter admitted that he and Robin had argued over a spaghetti dinner Robin had cooked. Baxter stated that he smashed the window out of the back door during that argument. Baxter claimed he went to sleep, woke up and saw that Robin was not there, and then went back to sleep. During the second interview, Baxter claimed he had blacked out the evening Robin went missing and had problems remembering what happened. When a detective asked Baxter if he had anything to do with Robin's murder, he responded, Id. at 125. Baxter also said, “If I did do it, I want the electric chair.” Id.
In July of 1990, Baxter's half-brother, Robert Hardesty, reported to police that a man at a nearby bar claimed to have been involved in Robin's death. Upon questioning by the police, Hardesty admitted that he had made the story up so that Baxter “would have some hope[ .]” Id. at 182.
Shortly after the murder, Baxter moved out of the Troy Street residence he had shared with Robin, and Charles McMillian moved into the residence in August 1990. Shortly after moving in, McMillian was attempting to place a chair in a closet when he accidentally dented the wallboard inside the closet. When he did so, he was able to see inside the wall, and he discovered an aluminum bar hidden between the wall joists. McMillian removed the bar and gave it to his friend, Robert Waldridge, who was a machinist, so Waldridge could use it to make a tool for him. Additionally, one night in early September 1990, a man McMillian later identified as Baxter came to the Troy Street house and asked for help starting his stalled car. McMillian went with the man, expecting to help jumpstart the car, but when they pushed the car, it started right up. When McMillian returned to the house, he learned from his girlfriend that someone had tried to break in while he was gone.
On October 16, 1990, Robin's mother, June Eurton, approached the police with a photograph of Baxter in the Troy Street residence. The photograph depicted the aluminum bar Baxter had nicknamed “the Enforcer” or “the Equalizer” leaning against a wall in the background. The next day, Major Keith Whitlow went to the former Baxter residence to look for the bar. Major Whitlow showed McMillian the photograph, and McMillian told him that he had found the bar and given it to Waldridge. Later that day, Major Whitlow met with Waldridge and recovered the bar, which Waldridge had not yet altered in any way. Major Whitlow also recovered a small towel and a glove from inside the wall where McMillian had found the bar. The bar, towel, and glove were all submitted to the Indiana State Police Laboratory for testing. The laboratory report described the bar as a “solid aluminum rod” with a diameter of one and three-quarter inches and a length of thirty-six inches. Id. at 64. No blood or hair was found on the bar. Baxter's DNA was found on the glove.
In November of 1990, Robin's body was exhumed and a second autopsy was performed to further study the injuries to her skull. The police reported the results of their investigation to the Floyd County Prosecutor's office 1990, but no charges were filed at that time and the case went cold.
Sometime after Robin's death, Baxter gave Robin's friend, Robin Payton, a ride home from work. Baxter had been drinking and was driving erratically, and he began crying and said Id. at 375. Payton believed that Baxter was...
To continue reading
Request your trial