Davis v. State

• Decision Date: 25 February 1998
• Docket Number: No. 49A05-9611-CR-467,49A05-9611-CR-467
• Citation: 691 N.E.2d 1285
• Parties: Johnny DAVIS, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 1285

691 N.E.2d 1285

Johnny DAVIS, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 49A05-9611-CR-467.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

Feb. 25, 1998.

David M. Henn, Indianapolis, for appellant-defendant.

Jeffrey A. Modisett, Attorney General of Indiana, Suzann Weber Lupton, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for appellee-plaintiff.

OPINION

BAILEY, Judge.

Case Summary

Appellant-Defendant, Johnny Davis ("Davis"), appeals his conviction of Murder. ¹ We affirm.

Issues

Davis raises two issues on appeal which we restate as:

I. Whether the doctrines of double jeopardy and collateral estoppel bar Davis's retrial for murder of Kenneth Anderson.

II. Whether the trial court properly denied Davis's proffered jury instruction.

Facts

The facts most favorable to the judgment indicate that on August 20, 1995, an argument arose between the Davis children and the Anderson children, whose families lived in the same neighborhood. Vallie Davis, the Defendant's wife, went out into the yard where the children were fighting and began quarrelling with Brenda Anderson, the mother, and Christine Love ("Love"), the aunt, of the Anderson children. From a few houses away, Kenneth Anderson ("Anderson"), the father of the Anderson children, saw the commotion and came to the scene carrying a .22 caliber rifle. Upon arriving at the Davis's yard, Anderson handed the rifle to Love.

At some point during the altercation between the children and adults, Davis, who had been asleep in his living room, awoke and saw approximately twenty-five people standing in or around his yard arguing. Davis picked up his phone and dialed 911 to summon the police when he noticed Anderson dashing toward his yard with the gun. Davis threw the phone down, retrieved his own .22 caliber rifle and went outside. The next time Davis looked up, he saw Love pointing the gun at his son. Davis fired his gun at Love and hit her. He then lowered the gun and scanned the crowd for Anderson. A few seconds passed before he saw Anderson. At that time, Davis did not see anything in Anderson's hands. Davis then observed Anderson move towards the gun that lay at Love's feet and he shot Anderson. Both Love and Anderson died as a result of the gunshot wounds.

Procedural History

Davis was charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of Love and Anderson. A jury acquitted Davis for the murder of Love but was unable to reach a verdict on the murder charge regarding Anderson and a mistrial was declared. The State subsequently retried Davis for the murder of Anderson and a jury found Davis guilty.

Discussion and Decision

I. Double Jeopardy and Collateral Estoppel

A. Double Jeopardy

Davis asserts that his subsequent prosecution for the murder of Anderson was barred by the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States and Indiana Constitutions. Specifically, Davis argues that while two people were killed by his gunfire, only one criminal episode occurred. Thus, Davis asserts that the jury's acquittal on the charge of murdering Love should have precluded retrial for the murder of Anderson. We disagree.

A defendant's right to not be put twice in jeopardy for the same offense arises from the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution. Newman v. State, 677 N.E.2d 590, 592 (Ind.Ct.App.1997). Article I, section 14 of the Indiana Constitution provides that "[n]o person shall be put in jeopardy twice for the same offense." The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides that "nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." These protections stem from the underlying premise that a defendant should not be twice tried or punished for the same offense. Schiro v. Farley, 510 U.S. 222, 229-31, 114 S.Ct. 783, 789, 127 L.Ed.2d 47 (1994).

Legislative intent in enacting a statute is the key consideration when determining whether double jeopardy protects against multiple punishments for the same offense under a particular statute. Nield v. State, 677 N.E.2d 79, 81 (Ind.Ct.App.1997). "The whole point of whether multiple offenses of the same statute are committed during a single transaction focuses on the definition of the crime involved. Thus, the touchstone of whether the double jeopardy clause is violated is the legislature's articulated intent." Id. With regard to murder, the gravamen of the offense is causing the death of another person. Id. Thus, the offense prohibited by Ind.Code § 35-42-1-1 is violated each time a death occurs, even if more than one death occurs in the course of a single incident.

The record reveals that Davis admitted firing his gun at least twice and shooting and killing both Love and Anderson. Thus, he committed two offenses and was correctly charged with two counts of murder. Additionally, because the first jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of murder regarding Anderson, there was no double jeopardy violation in retrying Davis.

Our inquiry does not end there, however. Even though two offenses may not constitute the "same offense" for double jeopardy purposes, the State may still be collaterally estopped from prosecuting the second charge.

B. Collateral Estoppel

Collateral estoppel, or in modern usage, issue preclusion, "means simply that when an ultimate issue of fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit." Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 443, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 1194, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). "Collateral estoppel in criminal trials is an integral part of the protection against double jeopardy guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments." Townsend v. State, 632 N.E.2d 727, 731 (Ind.1994). Collateral estoppel is not the same as double jeopardy, but rather it is embodied within the protection against double jeopardy. Segovia v. State, 666 N.E.2d 105, 107 (Ind.Ct.App.1996). "The traditional bar of jeopardy prohibits the prosecution of the crime itself, whereas collateral estoppel, in a more modest fashion, simply forbids the government from relitigating certain facts in order to establish the fact of the crime." Id. (internal quotation omitted). Thus, collateral estoppel "requires that when the State has received an adverse decision of a critical issue of fact in a trial, that adverse decision prevents later relitigation of the same issue in a later prosecution." Townsend, 632 N.E.2d at 731 (emphasis added).

During the first trial, the jury determined that Davis acted in self-defense when he shot Love. This acquittal relating to Love did not amount to an acquittal for Davis regarding the murder of Anderson. The jury was unable to make that same determination with regard to the shooting of Anderson, resulting in a hung jury. Thus, in retrying Davis for the murder of Anderson, the State did not attempt to relitigate an ultimate fact which was previously disposed of by a jury in violation of the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Instead, the jury was asked to make the legal determination of whether Davis acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Anderson. This issue was not decided during the first trial. Thus, collateral estoppel did not bar relitigation. ²

Davis further asserts that the United States Supreme Court's holding in Ashe, prohibits a subsequent trial. Davis's reliance on Ashe is misplaced. There, the State brought Ashe to trial for the robbery of one of six men who were robbed while playing poker. At trial, Ashe conceded that all the elements of robbery had occurred, but contested his identity as the perpetrator of the crime. The jury found Ashe not guilty. Ashe, 397 U.S. at 439-40, 90 S.Ct. at 1192. In a subsequent trial, Ashe was later convicted of robbing a different man at the poker game. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that the second trial constituted a double jeopardy violation because the previous jury had conclusively determined that Ashe was not the perpetrator of the crimes that occurred during the single criminal episode, thereby barring further litigation of that fact under the doctrine of collateral estoppel. In so doing, the Supreme Court stated: "[c]ollateral estoppel ... stands for an extremely important principle in our adversary system of justice. It means simply that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit." Id. at 443, 90 S.Ct. at 1194 (emphasis added). As we stated previously, the fact that Davis shot Anderson was undisputed. The ultimate issue to be decided in the second trial was whether Davis acted in self-defense in doing so. Thus, the holding in Ashe did not...