Benefiel v. State

Decision Date29 September 1999
Docket NumberNo. 84S00-9207-PD-590.,84S00-9207-PD-590.
Citation716 N.E.2d 906
PartiesBill J. BENEFIEL, Appellant (Petitioner Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Respondent Below).
CourtIndiana Supreme Court

Susan K. Carpenter, Public Defender of Indiana, Joanna Green, Deputy Public Defender, Marie F. Donnelly, Special Assistant to the State Public Defender, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellant.

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

A jury found Bill Benefiel guilty of criminal confinement, rape, criminal deviate conduct, and murder. The trial court sentenced Benefiel to death. We affirmed the convictions and sentence on direct appeal. Benefiel v. State, 578 N.E.2d 338 (Ind. 1991), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 987, 112 S.Ct. 2971, 119 L.Ed.2d 591 (1992). Benefiel filed a petition for post conviction relief, which was denied. He now appeals that denial.

Facts

The facts of this case are available in our opinion on direct appeal. Benefiel, 578 N.E.2d at 339-43. We summarize the facts as follows:

On October 10, 1986, at about 7:30 p.m., seventeen year-old Alicia Elmore walked two blocks away from her home to run an errand for her mother and brother. As she returned, a man wearing a mask and carrying a gun grabbed her, pushed her into a garage, stripped her, covered her head, and bound her with her own clothes and electrical wire. He put her in his van, and took her to a house, where he took photographs of her and then raped her. He chained her neck and handcuffed her wrists to the bed; he tied her ankles together with rope. He gagged her and put glue in her eyes. He raped her multiple times. When she tried to escape, he cut her back and cut off a fingernail and part of her hair; he said they were for his scrapbook with samples from his other victims. Later, he cut her neck and chest, put his gun in her vagina, and forced her to have anal intercourse.

He held Alicia captive for four months, raping her daily at gunpoint. She lost count after sixty-four rapes. For the first few months, Benefiel kept her eyelids glued together and pried them open only when he wanted to see her eyes. At those times, he wore a mask so she could not see his face. Alicia could only go to the bathroom or bathe when Benefiel allowed her. He fed her a baked potato and a glass of water once a day.

Two months later, when Alicia was bleeding vaginally, Benefiel took off his mask and pried her eyes open. He took her to a distant hospital where they would not be recognized. He did not give her a chance to tell the doctors that she was a captive. When they returned, he moved her to another house, where he again chained her to the bed. Her eyes could now open, and she could see her attacker.

A month and a half later, Alicia heard someone else in the house. She then saw Delores Wells, naked, gagged, with her wrists and ankles handcuffed. Delores' eyes were taped shut. Benefiel beat Delores in front of Alicia with his fists and an electrical cord. Alicia saw the injuries to Delores: welts on her arms and legs and black bruises on her face. On another occasion, Benefiel cut off all of Delores' hair and cut into her finger.

A few days later, Benefiel left the house and returned dirty, with blisters on his hands. He told Alicia that he had been digging a grave big enough for two people. He used it only for Delores, however. He forced Alicia to watch as he put super glue up Delores' nose and pinched it shut. He taped her mouth closed so she could not breathe. He took Delores from the house, and returned two hours later, informing Alicia that he had killed Delores. He said he tied Delores' arms and legs to separate trees, and wrapped duct tape around her head. When he thought she was dead, he "popped" her neck, just to be sure. Then he buried her.

After another few days had passed, the police came to Benefiel's house to search for Alicia. Benefiel hid her in a crawl space in the ceiling, where the police eventually found her. A search of the woods surrounding Terre Haute also revealed Delores' grave site and her body. The police found in Benefiel's houses and van: a mask, a post-hole digger, a rake, a shovel, a knife, .22 caliber rifle shells, rope, and Delores' eyelash, eyebrow, and head hairs stuck to some duct tape.

Post-Conviction Proceedings

Post-conviction proceedings do not afford a petitioner with a "super-appeal," Coleman v. State, 703 N.E.2d 1022, 1027 (Ind.1998), nor are they a substitute for direct appeal, Ind.Post-Conviction Rule 1(1)(b). Instead, our post-conviction rules create a narrow remedy for subsequent collateral challenges to convictions. Coleman, 703 N.E.2d at 1027. With the exception of ineffective assistance of counsel, which may be raised either on direct appeal or in post-conviction proceedings, Woods v. State, 701 N.E.2d 1208, 1220 (Ind.1998), "[i]f an issue was known and available but not raised on appeal, it is waived." Rouster v. State, 705 N.E.2d 999, 1003 (Ind.1999).

Some of the claims Benefiel presents in this appeal are unavailable or res judicata. We address the merits of those that remain.

I. Trial Court Instruction on Mitigating Evidence

Benefiel challenges an instruction given during the penalty phase of his jury trial. The instruction at issue is Number Two, one of several by which the court informed the jury about various aspects of assessing aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Such a challenge is not available as a free-standing claim under P-C.R. 1, although it may reflect on the performance of counsel.

II. The Trial Court's Sentencing Order

Benefiel claims the sentencing court failed adequately to consider certain mitigating circumstances he contends are supported by evidence in the trial record. He also contends the court inappropriately considered non-statutory aggravators. The contentions were both available on direct appeal.1 They may not be raised as free-standing matters on collateral review, though they might reflect on the performance of counsel.2

III. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Benefiel contends he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel. We address his multiple claims:

1. Whether counsel wrongly chose to focus on an insanity defense to the detriment of a better case on mental impairment and abuse as a mitigating circumstance;

2. Whether counsel were ineffective for not objecting to the trial court's definition of mitigating;

3. Whether counsel were ineffective for not objecting to the identification procedures of two prior uncharged rapes that were admitted into evidence at Benefiel's trial;

4. Whether counsel were ineffective for the cumulative effect of not objecting to:

a. the trial court's definition of "mitigating" evidence,

b. the State's comments about the defense's only expert,

c. the admission of evidence of two prior uncharged rapes, and

d. the comments of the prosecutor and the trial judge in combination with the final instructions that Benefiel alleges depreciated the jury's role in sentencing.

We analyze ineffective assistance of counsel claims under the two-part test announced in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Lowery v. State, 640 N.E.2d 1031 (Ind.1994), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 992, 116 S.Ct. 525, 133 L.Ed.2d 432 (1995). To succeed, the petitioner must demonstrate both deficient performance and resulting prejudice. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052; see also Douglas v. State, 663 N.E.2d 1153 (Ind.1996)

. A deficient performance is that which falls below an objective standard of reasonableness. Douglas, 663 N.E.2d at 1154. Prejudice exists when "there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different." Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694,

104 S.Ct. 2052; see also Cook v. State, 675 N.E.2d 687, 692 (Ind.1996). Of course, "a different outcome will not constitute prejudice if the ultimate result reached was fair and reliable." Smith v. State, 689 N.E.2d 1238, 1245 (Ind.1997).

Moreover, counsel's performance is presumed effective. Douglas, 663 N.E.2d at 1154. A petitioner "must offer strong and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption that counsel prepared and executed an effective defense." Burris v. State, 558 N.E.2d 1067, 1072 (Ind.1990), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 922, 116 S.Ct. 319, 133 L.Ed.2d 221 (1995).

A petitioner appealing the denial of post-conviction relief faces a rigorous standard of review. Here, the post-conviction court found that Benefiel's lawyers had "extensive backgrounds as criminal defense attorneys" and undertook "extensive efforts to prepare themselves for this case." (P-C.R. at 369.) Judge Nardi said they presented an "aggressive and extensive defense of the petitioner in the face of overwhelming evidence." (Id.) The challenger of the denial must demonstrate that the evidence, taken as a whole, is without conflict and that it "leads unerringly and unmistakably to a conclusion opposite to that reached by the trial court." Weatherford v. State, 619 N.E.2d 915, 917 (Ind. 1993). In other words, Benefiel must prove that the evidence, viewed in its entirety, leads unerringly and unmistakably to the conclusion that his counsel were ineffective.

A. Insanity and Mitigation. Benefiel argues that his trial counsel were ineffective for their limited presentation of Benefiel's mental illness and background of abuse and neglect. (Petitioner-Appellant's Br. at 51-52.) Specifically, he argues that counsel improperly focused almost exclusively on a weak insanity defense during the guilt phase of the trial and failed to introduce enough evidence of mental illness and abuse to serve as mitigation at the penalty phase. This bears resemblance to a claim we rejected in Matheney v. State, 688 N.E.2d 883, 898 (Ind.1997), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 119 S.Ct. 1046, 143 L.Ed.2d...

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