Chambers v. State
| Citation | 734 N.E.2d 578 |
| Decision Date | 06 September 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 49S00-9905-CR-306.,49S00-9905-CR-306. |
| Parties | Robert CHAMBERS, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). |
| Court | Supreme Court of Indiana |
J. Richard Kiefer, James J. Bell, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellant.
Karen M. Freeman-Wilson, Attorney General of Indiana, Thomas D. Perkins, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.
Robert Chambers was convicted of the murder of John Christopher Madden and sentenced to sixty-five years imprisonment. On appeal, Chambers presents one issue for review: whether he is entitled to a new trial based on the trial court's refusal to give a proposed instruction regarding the impeachment of a witness by prior inconsistent statements. We affirm the trial court.
In the early morning hours of April 25, 1998, after consuming a large number of beers and shots of whiskey at two Indianapolis bars, Chambers and a friend, Eric Cruz, were invited to Madden's home where the three consumed more beer. Ultimately, Cruz, who later testified that he was "pretty smashed," passed out in the dining room. At that point, Madden invited Chambers to join him in his hot tub. Both men stripped to their underwear and soaked for some period of time. Madden and Chambers went to the basement to put their wet underwear in the dryer. Chambers then put on his pants without underwear and Madden donned a long t-shirt. Chambers and Madden were still in the basement when a bullet from Chambers' Glock nine millimeter handgun penetrated Madden's skull and killed him.
After the shooting, Chambers and Cruz left Madden's house without reporting the incident. The next day, realizing that Chambers' wallet was missing, the two men returned to Madden's house and retrieved the wallet from the basement. They also took two beer bottles and an ashtray. That day or soon thereafter, Chambers and Cruz disposed of the bottles and ashtray, along with the gun that killed Madden.
The police discovered Madden's body several days after his death and quickly determined that Cruz and Chambers were the last two to see him alive. Both men were interviewed by the police and each initially gave a statement that he later admitted contained inaccuracies and outright lies. Both Chambers and Cruz were arrested and charged with one count of murder and one count of burglary as a Class B felony. In exchange for his testimony at Chambers' trial, Cruz pleaded guilty to burglary and assisting a criminal with the State's recommendation for an executed sentence of no more than twelve years.
Both Chambers and Cruz testified at trial. Although their versions agreed on some points, they recounted very different stories as to the substance of a conversation that occurred immediately after Madden's death. Most importantly, Chambers claimed that he immediately told Cruz that the gun went off accidentally and that he was not sure whether he or Madden was holding the gun at the time it discharged. In contrast, Cruz testified that Chambers told him that Madden had made unwanted sexual advances and that after repeated warnings, Chambers "lost it" and shot Madden. The central issue at trial was whether Chambers "knowingly" killed Madden. Because the only witness to the shooting was Chambers himself, the State's case regarding Chambers' mens rea was built on the testimony of Cruz.
At trial, Cruz's testimony was impeached by earlier statements that he had made under oath as well as statements that he had made to police. For example, in the first two statements Cruz made to the police, he denied having seen Madden in the three or four weeks prior to his death. In his third statement, Cruz finally admitted that he and Chambers were involved in Madden's death, but omitted the visit to Madden's home the next day and the fact that Cruz had searched the dresser drawers in Madden's bedroom. Finally, Brian Fouts was an acquaintance of both Chambers and Cruz and testified to a conversation with the men while all three were incarcerated in the Marion County Jail. On cross-examination, Cruz was asked if he had ever spoken to the prosecutor about Fouts' testimony. Cruz replied that the prosecutor asked him if he knew Fouts, but Cruz denied discussing Fouts' deposition or any facts related to his testimony. In fact, just three days before Cruz took the stand, the prosecutor and Cruz had spoken by telephone and discussed Fouts and his statement. Commendably, the prosecutor recalled Cruz to the stand to correct the record on that point. Cruz acknowledged that he had not told the truth about his recent conversation with the prosecutor but blamed his lapse of memory on cold medication.
All of these inconsistencies in Cruz's evolving account were presented to the jury, which found Chambers guilty of murder but not guilty of burglary.
The trial court considered an instruction that would have informed the jury that it had the right to reject the uncorroborated testimony of witnesses whose credibility had been impeached by prior inconsistent statements.1 The proposed instruction read:
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