Fleming v. State
| Decision Date | 24 August 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 09A04-0406-CR-340.,09A04-0406-CR-340. |
| Citation | 833 N.E.2d 84 |
| Parties | Ryan FLEMING, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Jay T. Hirschauer, Cass County Public Defender, Logansport, for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, George P. Sherman, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for Appellee.
Ryan Fleming ("Fleming") appeals his conviction following a jury trial for Aggravated Battery,1 a class B felony.
We affirm.
1. Whether sufficient evidence supports Fleming's battery conviction.
2. Whether the trial court erred in denying Fleming's motion to dismiss in light of the defense's assertion that the State failed to provide timely discovery of medical records.
Evidence at trial established that on April 6, 2002, Terry Lawson ("Lawson") and his girlfriend Alaine Luckey ("Luckey") visited Lawson's family. They "stopped at the local tavern, [Lawson had] a few drinks, and [they] talked to a lot of people." (Tr. 45). Later that evening, the couple returned home and began preparing for a birthday party they would host there on the following day. While at their home, Lawson had a "few beers." (Tr. 46).
At around 10:30 p.m. that night, Luckey's daughter, Rebecca Wilson ("Rebecca"), arrived at the house accompanied by some visitors, namely: Jason Cart ("Cart"), Sara Chase ("Chase"), Adam Dart ("Dart"), and Ryan Fleming ("Fleming"). Conflicting testimony was presented to the jury regarding whether Rebecca and the visitors had been drinking alcohol during that night. The girls joined Luckey and Lawson in the kitchen to cut fruit for a punch. Later, Lawson moved to the living room with the boys and they listened to music. Shortly thereafter, Dart and Fleming played their rap music and a heated argument began. Dart testified that Lawson made racial slurs towards Fleming and him. In turn, Fleming screamed at Lawson, "I'm going to kick you[r] a* *, old man." (Tr. 145). After a brief scuffle, Fleming was removed from the house. Luckey locked the door and remained inside with Lawson, while Rebecca and the rest of the visitors got into her two-door car to leave.
With everyone in the car, Rebecca realized that some CDs were on top of it, and Chase opened the door to retrieve them. Instantly, Fleming jumped out of the backseat and rushed towards Lawson, who had come out of the house to smoke. "They started yelling at each other and then [Fleming] started hitting him." (Tr. 106). Fleming "punch[ed] [Lawson] in the face repeatedly" while Lawson had his back against the hood of another parked car. (Tr. 126). "Then [Fleming] got off of him and [Lawson]... rolled off the car onto the ground." (Tr. 107). While Lawson lay on the ground, Fleming "started kicking him in the face." Id. "[T]hen [Dart] went over and started kicking [Lawson] in the face, too." Id. Rebecca testified that she lost count of how many times Lawson was kicked.
"[Lawson] was knocked out." (Tr. 126). He was not "moving when he was on the ground[,] except for when [Fleming and Dart would] kick him." (Tr. 108). With each blow, Lawson's body would "move back a little bit." Id. Luckey came out of the house and saw Fleming and Dart beating Lawson. She testified that Lawson was "laying on the gravel, ... I thought he was dead, ... he wasn't conscious" and that Lawson's body only moved when "[Fleming] kept kicking him and kicking him." (Tr. 155). Luckey got in the way, and Fleming and Dart stopped beating Lawson. At Luckey's request, Rebecca gathered the visitors in the car and drove them into town. Luckey and Lawson stayed behind.
Lawson does not remember the actual beating but recalled, "[Fleming] having a hold of me and throwing me down ... just waking up in the driveway and my girlfriend bawling and telling me my nose was broke of[f] really bad." (Tr. 53). After being punched and kicked, Lawson's face was "bleeding, swollen... and his nose was crooked." (Tr. 129). "His nose was shoved to one side like it was just totally broke[n] of[f] his face." (Tr. 156). Lawson testified that he looked as if he had gotten hit "by a truck" and his "nose was completely shoved over here by this cheek." (Tr. 54). Lawson also experienced bruises to his head, arms, and back.
That night, Luckey took Lawson to St. Joseph Hospital in Kokomo, where he was x-rayed, given pain medication, and his nose was moved back into place. A few weeks later a surgical reconstruction of Lawson's nose was performed. Lawson told the jury that two years after the beating, he still had particular difficulty breathing out of the left side of his nose, his sense of smell was diminished, and he showed that his nose was still crooked. According to medical records, Lawson denied losing consciousness the night of the incident. The following day, Lawson and Luckey reported the events to the Cass County Sheriff. Officer Mike Day took their statements and photographs showing Lawson's injuries.
On April 19, 2002, the State charged Fleming with battery resulting in serious bodily injury,2 a class C felony, and battery resulting in bodily injury,3 a class A misdemeanor. One year and eight months later, on January 29, 2004, a third charge was added for aggravated battery, a class B felony. (Tr. 270). During the criminal proceedings, Fleming filed and was granted two pro se motions for a speedy trial. He withdrew the first motion under the advice of counsel. Following Fleming's second motion, the trial date was reset accordingly.
Ultimately, on February 4, 2004, following a two-day trial, a jury found Fleming guilty of both felony charges: battery resulting in serious bodily injury and aggravated battery. As requested by defense counsel, the trial court merged the convictions and entered judgment only on the aggravated battery conviction.
Fleming argues that sufficient evidence does not support his conviction of either felony battery charge. Specifically, he contends that the State did not present expert medical testimony to establish the severity or duration of Lawson's injuries to satisfy the statutory "protracted loss or impairment" element of the aggravated battery statute. Fleming also argues that sufficient evidence does not support the class C felony battery conviction because no serious bodily injury occurred. We disagree.
Our standard for reviewing questions of sufficiency of evidence is well known. Spears v. State, 412 N.E.2d 81, 82 (Ind.Ct.App.1980). Upon a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a conviction, a reviewing court will not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of the witnesses, and will respect the jury's "exclusive province to weigh conflicting evidence." McHenry v. State, 820 N.E.2d 124, 126 (Ind.2005). While considering only the evidence and reasonable inferences that support the verdict, we must decide whether there is evidence of probative value from which a reasonable trier of fact could infer guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Alexander v. State, 819 N.E.2d 533, 540 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). A mere reasonable inference from the evidence supporting a verdict is enough for us to find evidence to be sufficient. Herron v. State, 808 N.E.2d 172, 176 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), trans. denied.
To obtain a battery conviction, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Fleming knowingly or intentionally touched Lawson in a rude, insolent, or angry manner. I.C. § 35-42-2-1. If such contact resulted in "serious bodily injury," then the crime becomes a class C felony. Id. This crime is further elevated to aggravated battery if Fleming inflicted upon Lawson an injury that created a substantial risk of death or caused serious permanent disfigurement or the protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ. I.C. § 35-42-2-1.5.
Indiana does not have precedent specifically on point as to whether expert witness testimony is required to prove "protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ." However, this court has held that the "substantial risk of death" element of this aggravated battery statute does not require expert testimony. Wilcher v. State, 771 N.E.2d 113, 117 (Ind.Ct.App.2002), trans. denied.4 Therefore, consistent with the Wilcher precedent, we may interpret this part of the aggravated battery statute as not requiring expert testimony to satisfy the "protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ" element.
Recently in Neville v. State, 802 N.E.2d 516, 518 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), trans. denied, we recognized that "there is no statutory definition for the word `protracted.'" Consequently, we turned to the rules of statutory interpretation to determine and give effect to the intent of the legislature. Id. Ultimately, we decided to use the plain meaning of "protracted," that is "to draw out or lengthen in time; prolong." Id. Following the same logic, we understand the word "impairment" to mean, "[t]he fact or state of being damaged, weakened, or diminished." Black's Law Dictionary 754 (7th ed.1999).
In Neville, we held that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to convict a defendant of aggravated battery. There, the State alleged that the victim was shot in the leg, hospitalized for three days, experienced pain, and was discharged from the hospital on crutches. However, we observed that the victim's medical records did not show physicians "document[ed] the severity of [the victim's] injury or note[d] whether he would experience protracted loss or impairment of the function of his leg." Neville, 802 N.E.2d at 519. We also noted that the victim "did not testify at trial, so the jury heard no evidence from the victim as to how long he used his crutches, wore his brace, experienced pain, or otherwise suffered loss or impairment of the function of his leg." Id. Further, the State did...
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