Blanchard v. State
| Decision Date | 13 January 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 49A02-0302-CR-104.,49A02-0302-CR-104. |
| Parties | William BLANCHARD, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Loren J. Comstock, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Cynthia L. Ploughe, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
Appellant-Defendant, William Blanchard (Blanchard), appeals his conviction for Count I, murder, a felony, Ind.Code § 35-42-1-1, Count III, neglect, a Class B felony, I.C. § 35-46-1-4, and his adjudication as a habitual offender.
We affirm.
Blanchard raises seven issues on appeal, which we restate as follows:
1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying Blanchard's Motion to Sever Counts involving each of his twin sons;
2. Whether the loss of photographs, portraying the twin boys as happy and healthy, warrants a reversal of Blanchard's conviction for Count III, neglect;
3. Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it admitted Blanchard's videotaped statement into evidence;
4. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by giving Final Jury Instruction No. 10 in its original form;
5. Whether Blanchard's trial counsel's performance was so defective as to result in ineffective assistance of counsel;
6. Whether the State presented sufficient evidence to sustain Blanchard's conviction for Count I, murder; and
7. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the State to file a belated habitual offender enhancement on the day of trial.
Blanchard and Yvette Hughes (Hughes) first met through a telephone dating service in Louisville, Kentucky, in June of 2000. Shortly after their meeting, Hughes became pregnant with twin boys. They decided to move to Indianapolis where Blanchard worked for a courier service. On February 14, 2001, Hughes delivered twin sons, Willon and Willeek, at Wishard Hospital. After their initial stay with Blanchard's mother in Indianapolis, the family periodically lived in motels and their car. In April 2001, Blanchard, Hughes, and the twins lived at the Red Roof Inn on the north side of Indianapolis. Occasionally, in order to stop the boys from crying, Blanchard would tie a twice-folded washcloth over the mouths of the infants. On April 26, 2001, the family was in the car near 56th Street and Georgetown Road. After having just been fed and changed, Willon started to cry excessively. Blanchard became upset since he saw no reason as to why the infant would be crying. Again, in order to cease the crying, Blanchard placed a twice-folded washcloth over Willon's mouth and tied it with an Ace Bandage around the back of the child's neck. Willon was placed back in his car seat and ignored for a couple of hours. Upon returning to the hotel that night, Blanchard took the twins up to the room. Noticing that Willon was no longer breathing, Blanchard administered CPR. Attempts to revive the infant failed.
Blanchard decided to dispose of Willon's body which he wrapped and placed inside two garbage bags. Together with Hughes and Willeek, Blanchard drove to a wooded location in Boone County, Indiana. Along the way Blanchard stopped at a store to acquire a shovel and a pair of gloves. Finding a remote spot in a drainage ditch, he exited the car, taking Willon's body with him, leaving Hughes and Willeek in the vehicle. After digging, Blanchard placed the garbage bag with the infant's body inside the shallow grave, and covered it with dirt and leaves. Blanchard, Hughes, and Willeek returned to Indianapolis. From May through July, the family continued to alternatively live in motels and their car.
In the early morning hours of July 7, 2001, an altercation ensued between Blanchard and another man at the Country Hearth Inn. Sergeant Robert Campbell of the Marion County Sheriff's Department (Sergeant Campbell) received a dispatch call to investigate the disturbance. After speaking with Blanchard, who was very upset, Sergeant Campbell approached Blanchard's car to talk to Hughes. When Hughes opened the passenger side door of the car, Sergeant Campbell observed a small child in a car seat located behind the driver's seat of the vehicle. Because he found Willeek's physical condition to be very disturbing, Sergeant Campbell summoned emergency personnel. Although Blanchard proclaimed his son to be perfectly healthy, the paramedics nevertheless determined the infant to be emaciated and in need of medical care. Willeek was transported to Wishard Hospital by ambulance.
Dr. Heather Slaven (Dr. Slaven) examined Willeek in the emergency room. Although Willeek's birth weight was approximately five pounds and nine ounces, nearly five months later, his weight had remained the same. Subsequent tests revealed that due to chronic malnutrition, dehydration, and iron deficiency, Willeek was anemic. He was unable to roll over, reach out, and grab objects because of his absence of muscle mass.
Later that morning on July 7, 2001, while Willeek was in emergency care, Blanchard called the hospital and identified himself as Willeek's father. Blanchard informed Dr. Slaven that Willeek's eating habits and health were good. He further explained that since the formula gave the infant diarrhea, he had been feeding Willeek three to four jars of baby food a day. Upon Dr. Slaven's questioning about the pregnancy and delivery, Blanchard responded that the arrival of twins was a surprise. Dr. Slaven immediately inquired as to the other twin—Blanchard refused to answer any questions regarding Willon. When Dr. Slaven received Blanchard's phone call, Michael Duke, an off-duty police officer with the Indianapolis Police Department (Officer Duke), was working as a part-time security guard at Wishard's emergency room. Using the Indianapolis Police Department's (IPD) communication system, Officer Duke learned that Blanchard was phoning from a pay phone located on a public parking lot at 10th Street and Indiana Avenue. Officer Duke dispatched a police officer to the pay phone in an attempt to locate Willeek's twin brother.
IPD Officer Emanuel Toliver (Officer Toliver) received the radio run to the pay phone. Upon his arrival, he noticed an individual using the pay phone fitting Blanchard's description provided by Officer Duke. Officer Toliver approached the pay phone and asked the man if he was Blanchard. Receiving a negative answer, Officer Toliver contacted Officer Duke informing him of the denial. The individual's identity as Blanchard was eventually confirmed via the license plate of the nearby vehicle. After Blanchard's identity was conclusively established, Officer Duke asked Officer Toliver over the open microphone on Officer Toliver's uniform to inquire on the whereabouts of Willeek's twin brother. Immediately Blanchard became very agitated and denied the existence of another child.
Based on Blanchard's responses, Officer Duke decided to join Officer Toliver in the parking lot. Focusing their attention on Blanchard's vehicle, they noticed Hughes asleep on the passenger seat of the locked vehicle. Hughes, feigning sleep, failed to be aroused even after an officer pushed up and down the car's bumper several times. Finally, the officers unlocked the car door with a lock-out tool. As Officer Toliver was helping Hughes out of the car, she whispered that she would talk if the officers moved her away from Blanchard. Hughes was then transported to Wishard Hospital.
IPD Detective Kimberly McGivern (Detective McGivern) immediately met with Hughes in a private room at Wishard Hospital. Hughes held her hands in her lap, rocked back and forth, and stared. After she provided an oral statement to Detective McGivern in which she denied any knowledge about what had happened to Willon, Hughes was taken to a safe, undisclosed location. Later that day on July 7, 2001, Detective Scott Scheid (Detective Scheid) of the Marion County Sheriff's Department, obtained and executed a search warrant for Blanchard's car.
On July 8, 2001, between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., Marie Commiskey (Commiskey), a registered nurse at Wishard Hospital, received a phone call from Blanchard seeking information about Willeek and Hughes. When Commiskey refused to divulge any detailed information, Blanchard became argumentative and threatened to kill her.
On July 9, Detective Scheid received a phone call from Blanchard inquiring about Hughes' location and the release of his car. On July 12, 2001, after the investigation stalled, Detective Sergeant Douglas Scheffel (Detective Scheffel) of the Marion County Sheriff's Department met with Hughes and asked her to write out her statement. Hughes complied and provided Detective Scheffel with the version she had given to Detective McGivern. As Detective Scheffel reviewed this statement with Hughes, she broke down and began to cry. Hughes then told Detective Scheffel what had actually happened to Willon. However, Hughes was unable to locate the exact area of Willon's grave in Boone County.
Based upon this new development, Detective Scheffel obtained a second search warrant for Blanchard's car. During the execution of the warrant, Detective Scheffel opened the trunk of the car. In the trunk, he found a muddy pair of boots, a spade with dirt on it, trash bags, a washcloth, and an Ace Bandage.
On July 18, 2001, the State filed an information in the Marion County Superior Court, charging Blanchard with Count I, murder, a felony, I.C. § 35-42-1-1, Count II, battery, a Class A felony, I.C. § 35-42-2-1, Count III, neglect, a Class B felony, I.C. § 35-46-1-4, Count IV, intimidation, a Class D felony, I.C. § 35-45-2-1, Count V, domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor, I.C. § 35-42-2-1.3, and Count VI, battery, a Class A misdemeanor, I.C. § 35-42-2-1.
On July 31, 2001, Detective Scheffel received information that Blanchard was detained at the county jail in Cincinnati,...
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