Griffith v. State

• Court: Indiana Appellate Court
• Writing for the Court: CRONE, JUDGE.
• Decision Date: 18 April 2022
• Docket Number: 21A-CR-1673
• Citation: Griffith v. State, 21A-CR-1673 (Ind. App. Apr 18, 2022)
• Parties: Katrina Griffith, Appellant-Defendant, v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff

Katrina Griffith, Appellant-Defendant, v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff

No. 21A-CR-1673

Court of Appeals of Indiana

April 18, 2022

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any court except for the purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

Appeal from the Marion Superior Court The Honorable Sheila A Carlisle, Judge Trial Court Cause No. 49D29-1910-MR-40051

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT Joshua Vincent Marion County Public Defender Agency Appellate Division Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Theodore E. Rokita Attorney General Ian McLean Supervising Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

MEMORANDUM DECISION

CRONE, JUDGE.

Case Summary

[¶1] Katrina Griffith appeals her conviction for level 2 felony burglary while armed with a deadly weapon, arguing that the trial court committed fundamental error by failing to properly instruct the jury that the State was required to prove the deadly weapon element. She also appeals her aggregate sixty-five-year sentence for her felony murder and level 2 felony burglary convictions, contending that the trial court abused its discretion during sentencing by failing to recognize mitigating circumstances and that her sentence is inappropriate based on the nature of the offenses and her character. We conclude that the jury instructions did not result in fundamental error, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion during sentencing, and that Griffith has not met her burden to demonstrate that her sentence is inappropriate. Therefore, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[¶2] In October 2019, thirty-one-year-old Griffith and her four young children were living with William Chin, with whom Griffith had a prior romantic relationship, on Edgemont Avenue in Indianapolis. Chin had asked Griffith to move out sometime in mid-September. Chin lived next door to and was friends with Mike and Mildred Zdenek. Mike and Mildred had been married since 1987. Their house had been built by Habitat for Humanity in 2000 with special attention to Mildred's needs, as she had been born with cerebral palsy. For example, the house was equipped with a ramp, security cameras, a DVR recording system, and several voice-automated devices. Mildred used a wheelchair and needed assistance getting in and out of bed. Mike worked as an auto mechanic, repairing cars at his home and at a neighborhood church.

[¶3] On the afternoon of October 4, Griffith was at Chin's home with her children, and Chin was at work. Griffith told Rashaan Lewis, a friend of Chin's, Griffith's, and Mike's, that he could come over to Chin's to wash his work clothes. Lewis came to the house with Daequan "Dae Dae" Adams and Brian Reeves, Jr., and the men sat on the front porch playing various games while Lewis's clothes were being washed. Griffith occasionally came out to the porch to smoke a cigarette. At one point when Griffith was present on the porch, Mike stopped by. He said that he had sold an SUV for $20, 000 and had put some of the proceeds in the bank and had the rest of the money in his pocket. Mike returned home around 7:00 p.m. and put $12, 000 under a cabinet in his bedroom.

[¶4] When Chin arrived home from work around 7:00 p.m., Lewis, Adams, and Reeves were still on the porch. Chin did not join them but went inside to go to sleep because he worked very early shifts as a security guard. Sometime after that, Griffith told Lewis that she was leaving and asked the men to leave. Lewis retrieved his clean clothes and drove to his apartment with Adams and Reeves. Lewis then went to work, and Adams and Reeves remained in the stairwell of his apartment complex.

[¶5] Meanwhile, Mike and Mildred watched television and prepared to go to bed. At about 11:21 p.m., Griffith knocked on the Zdeneks' front door. Mildred was already in bed, and Mike told her that he was going to see who was at the door. Subsequently, he came back into the bedroom to get a T-shirt and said that Griffith wanted him to look at her truck and that he would be right back. Mike left through the front door. Within minutes, Mildred heard four gunshots.

[¶6] Mike received multiple gunshot wounds. He was shot in the head, with the bullet entering his skull and extruding brain matter. Another bullet entered his body and traveled through his lungs, aorta, and vena cava. A third bullet grazed the outside of his left foot. Mike died as a result of his gunshot wounds. He was shot in the street, but his body was dragged and left next to some bushes between the Zdeneks' house and Chin's.

[¶7] Mildred called to Mike about ten times without answer. A heavyset man, wearing a "black sweat outfit," a black mask with a design on it, and black gloves came into the bedroom. Tr. Vol. 2 at 235. He pointed a small handgun at Mildred and asked her repeatedly where the money was. She refused to answer, and he eventually left the bedroom and began rummaging around the house. Mildred heard doors open in the kitchen and pots and pans being moved around. At one point, she heard him talking to another person. They tried to go up in the attic. After about forty minutes, whoever was in her house left. They had taken the voice-automated devices, the security camera recording unit, a DVD player, and Mike's gun. Id. at 238.

[¶8] At 12:05 a.m. on October 5, Griffith called 911 and told dispatch that Mike had been shot. When the police arrived, they found Griffith outside. Griffith gave an account of what had occurred on multiple occasions: at the scene, later that day at the police station, and again on October 8. Her stories varied, but basically, she said that she and Mike were outside to talk about her vehicle when they were approached by a man wearing a mask who aimed a handgun at Mike and demanded that Mike go back inside his house with him. When Mike refused, the man shot him. In her various accounts, Griffith claimed that the gunman threatened to hurt her, she ran into Chin's house, and called 911; that she ran into Chin's house, threw her phone on the couch, and hid in the bathroom for about ten minutes; and that the gunman ordered her back into Chin's house, and she went inside to the bedroom. In other conversations with Lewis, Griffith claimed that the gunman had put a gun to her head. Eventually, Griffith told police that she felt that she had been used as a pawn and mentioned that "Dae Dae" had been on the porch that afternoon. Id. at 190; Tr. Vol. 3 at 96. Griffith claimed that if Adams was the gunman, he had acted on his own, seizing the opportunity when she went to the Zdeneks' house. Griffith also told the police that she had driven to a B.P. gas station around 10:30 p.m. on October 4, but she did not appear on the station's surveillance video.

[¶9] Police learned that Griffith had been trying to purchase a vehicle in the days before the shooting. They also retrieved partial data from Griffith's cell phone. One text sent out from her phone on October 3 stated that she was trying to come up with money for a vehicle. Another text sent from her phone offered to sell stamps for money. Her phone showed an outgoing call to Adams at 1:48 p.m. on October 4. Also on October 4, at 11:52 p.m., Griffith's phone sent a text to "Anthony" to say "Hi." Id. at 249. At 12:02 a.m. on October 5, Griffith's phone received a call from Anthony that lasted one minute and fifteen seconds. Her phone showed an outgoing call to 911 at 12:04 a.m.

[¶10] The State charged Griffith with Count 1, felony murder; Count 2, level 2 felony robbery while armed with a deadly weapon resulting in serious bodily injury; and Count 3, level 1 felony burglary of a dwelling while armed with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury. A jury trial was held. The State sought to convict Griffith based on the theory of accomplice liability, arguing that she set up the robbery. The jury found Griffith guilty as charged. Following the jury's verdict, Griffith decided to cooperate with the police regarding the shooter's identity.

[¶11] At sentencing, the trial court found, and the parties agreed, that the robbery and burglary charges should be reduced due to the felony murder conviction because they alleged serious bodily injury. The prosecutor stated that the robbery charge should be reduced to a level 3 felony and the burglary charge should be reduced to a level 4 felony, and defense counsel agreed. The trial court then said that burglary with a deadly weapon is a level 2 felony, and the prosecutor agreed. The court then said, "It is a 2, okay." Tr. Vol. 4 at 53. Defense counsel said, "Yes, I agree." Id. The court stated that it would merge the robbery with the burglary and enter judgment of conviction for level 2 felony burglary and felony murder. The court found that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors and sentenced Griffith to consecutive terms of fifty years for the felony murder conviction and fifteen years for the burglary conviction, for an aggregate sentence of sixty-five years. This appeal ensued. Additional facts will be provided as necessary.

Discussion and Decision

Section 1 - The jury instructions did not result in fundamental error.

[¶12] Griffith asserts that the trial court erred by entering judgment of conviction for level 2 felony burglary and sentencing her accordingly because the jury instructions improperly omitted an element of that offense. She requests that we vacate her level 2 felony conviction and sentence and remand with instructions to enter judgment of conviction for level 4 felony burglary and resentence for that conviction. Recognizing that she failed to preserve any error because she failed to object to the...