Caldwell v. State
| Decision Date | 27 January 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 10S00-9806-CR-346.,10S00-9806-CR-346. |
| Citation | 722 N.E.2d 814 |
| Parties | Roger CALDWELL, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Jeffrey D. Stonebraker, Jeffersonville, Indiana, Attorney for Appellant.
Jeffrey A. Modisett, Attorney General of Indiana, Arthur Thaddeus Perry, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.
Roger Caldwell was found guilty but mentally ill of murder and resisting law enforcement and was also convicted on two counts of carrying a handgun without a license. He was sentenced to seventy years imprisonment. In this direct appeal, he contends that the trial court erred by refusing his tendered instructions on the consequences of the verdicts guilty but mentally ill and not responsible by reason of insanity. Caldwell also argues that the trial court failed to give adequate consideration to his mental illness as a mitigating circumstance in sentencing. We agree that the refusal to instruct was error and reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
On November 6, 1996, the Clark County Sheriff's Department received a report of a trespasser firing shots in the Tunnel Mill Boy Scout Camp. Captain Ronald Ross responded to the call. When he arrived at the camp, Ross heard a shout from a shed and found Andy Campbell, the caretaker of the Camp, inside. Campbell had been shot in the stomach, but had managed to call 911 and write down that his assailant had driven a Chevy station wagon with Ohio license plate ABV 7156. Campbell was also able to describe the man who shot him as a white male, with long gray sideburns, forty to fifty years old, wearing a brown coat and blue pants. Ross gave this description to the police dispatch.
Lieutenant James Ennis was on patrol when he heard the dispatch and soon saw a station wagon with Ohio license plates near the Camp. Ennis turned on his siren and lights but the station wagon proceeded at or below the speed limit and refused to stop. Ennis followed until two other officers joined the low-speed chase and attempted to halt the station wagon with a "rolling stop" by placing police cars at the front, side, and rear of the station wagon and slowing down to force the station wagon to a halt. The station wagon struck the car in front of it and swerved into the side of Ennis' car, forcing Ennis off the road. Ennis was able to regain control of his vehicle and eventually the station wagon was brought to a stop. Ennis approached the station wagon, drew his gun, and demanded that the driver exit the vehicle. When the driver, who turned out to be Caldwell, refused to respond, Ennis reached into the car, grabbed him, and pulled him out of the car.
Police officers found a .357 caliber revolver in a holster on Caldwell's person and a nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol with four live rounds and two empty casings on the floor of the car. A nine millimeter shell casing that was conclusively determined to be from Caldwell's gun was also recovered at the Camp.
Campbell died as a result of a gunshot wound to the torso. Caldwell was charged with murder, resisting law enforcement, and two counts of carrying a handgun without a license. In January and February of 1997 Caldwell was examined by two court-appointed psychiatrists, diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic,1 found incompetent to stand trial, and committed to the Department of Mental Health. After six months of treatment, Caldwell "attained the ability to understand the proceedings and assist in the preparation of his defense," but was required to take daily medication. On February 2, 1998, after a three-day trial, a jury found Caldwell guilty but mentally ill of murder and resisting law enforcement and guilty of two counts of carrying a handgun without a license.
At trial, Caldwell tendered the following instructions detailing the consequences of the verdicts guilty but mentally ill and not responsible by reason of insanity:
The trial court refused the instructions and Caldwell objected.
In the State's rebuttal to Caldwell's closing argument, the prosecutor made the following comment:
Don't by your verdict and [sic] tell us that he's not responsible, don't tell us that he has a license to kill. Don't let him walk out of this courtroom with the rest of us when this case is over with, don't let him get away with murder. Don't let him get away with murder.
Caldwell again objected and requested that the rejected instructions or an admonishment be given to the jury to eliminate any confusion that the prosecutor's comments may have engendered in the jury. The trial court overruled Caldwell's objection and again refused to give the requested instructions or an admonishment.
On appeal, Caldwell claims that the trial court's refusal to give the two requested instructions after inappropriate and misleading comments by the State in its closing argument was reversible error. As a general proposition, it is not proper to instruct the jury on the statutory procedures to be followed after a verdict of guilty but mentally ill or not responsible by reason of insanity. See Palmer v. State, 486 N.E.2d 477, 480 (Ind.1985)
; see also Smith v. State, 502 N.E.2d 485, 488 (Ind.1987). However, a defendant is entitled to an instruction on the post-trial procedures if "an erroneous view of the law on this subject has been planted in [the jurors'] minds."2
Dipert v. State, 259 Ind. 260, 262, 286 N.E.2d 405, 407 (1972).
In Dipert, the prosecutor told the jury that the defendant would go ...
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