Hobson v. State

• Decision Date: 05 December 1984
• Docket Number: No. 483S147,483S147
• Citation: 471 N.E.2d 281
• Parties: Charles Lee HOBSON, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 281

471 N.E.2d 281

Charles Lee HOBSON, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).

No. 483S147.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Dec. 5, 1984.

Kenneth L. Anderson, Highland, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Latriealle Wheat, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

PRENTICE, Justice.

Following a trial by jury, Defendant (Appellant) was convicted of Attempted Murder, a class A felony, Ind.Code Secs. 35-41-5-1 and 35-42-1-1 (Burns 1979), and was sentenced to twenty (20) years imprisonment. His direct appeal raises seven (7) issues for our review, as follows:

(1) Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the conviction;

(2) Whether the trial court erred when it denied Defendant's motion for a directed verdict;

(3) Whether the trial court erred in denying Defendant's motion for mistrial predicated upon an allegation that the State improperly challenged all blacks on the jury;

(4) Whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence a tape recording;

(5) Whether the trial court erred in denying Defendant's motion for a change of judge;

(6) Whether the trial court improperly influenced the State to try the case for the third time after juries in the first two trials had been unable to reach a verdict;

(7) Whether the trial court erred when it sustained the State's objection to evidence of the victim's reputation for peace and quietude.

The record disclosed that on March 14, 1981, Defendant and his girlfriend (subsequently, his wife) had a domestic quarrel, and the police were called. Officer Anthony Trojnar was dispatched to Defendant's home where he encountered Lorraine Grady, Defendant's girlfriend and the mother of his four children. According to Trojnar's testimony, Grady told him that the Defendant was inside the home and that she feared for the safety of their children. Her testimony was that she wanted to get the children and leave the house. Defendant answered the front door. While Grady prepared the children to leave the house, Trojnar talked to the Defendant. Both the Defendant and Grady testified that Trojnar hit the Defendant with his night stick and choked him, but Trojnar denied carrying a night stick and testified that he merely placed his hand on Defendant's chest and guided him to a sofa. Subsequently, Trojnar took Grady and the four children to Grady's mother's home.

Shortly thereafter, Defendant called the police station to complain that an officer had assaulted him. He did not, however Later in the day, Defendant again called the station and said that the officer who had assaulted him was at his front door. He wanted to know if the officer in car number 88 was supposed to be there. Trojnar, the driver of car number 88, had not been dispatched to Defendant's home, and he denied having gone there on the day following the domestic quarrel. The officer who took the call testified that Defendant threatened to kill Trojnar.

wish to file charges. The next day, Defendant went to the police station and complained about his treatment at the hands of Officer Trojnar. The officer with whom Defendant spoke noticed that Defendant had a bruise or blood on the left side of his head.

Still later that evening, Trojnar and the Defendant encountered each other at a service station in Gary, Indiana. A scuffle ensued, and Defendant stabbed Trojnar. The two men's versions of the events leading to the stabbing are quite disparate. The Defendant testified that, as he was driving to his mother-in-law's home, he saw Officer Trojnar at the service station and Trojnar motioned for him to come over. Defendant did so, and Trojnar pulled him out of his car, verbally abused him, said he was going to kill him, and drew his gun. Defendant then attempted to free himself from Trojnar's grasp by stabbing him. Trojnar testified that while he was talking to police headquarters, Defendant came up to his car, complained about the events of the previous night, slapped the side of the patrol car, and was told that if he did not desist he would be arrested. Trojnar then handcuffed one of Defendant's hands and a struggle began. Only after Defendant had stabbed him did Trojnar draw his gun and fire several shots at the departing Defendant, none of which hit their target. The Defendant subsequently surrendered to police.

ISSUE I

Defendant first argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the conviction because it failed to prove one of the essential elements of the crime, i.e. that he intended to murder Trojnar. Our standard of review upon such claim is as follows:

"Upon a review for sufficient evidence, this Court will look only to the evidence most favorable to the State and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. If the existence of each element of the crime charged may be found therefrom, beyond a reasonable doubt, the verdict will not be disturbed. In such a review, we will not weigh conflicting evidence nor will we judge the credibility of the witnesses." (citations omitted).

Loyd v. State, (1980) 272 Ind. 404, 407, 398 N.E.2d 1260, 1264, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 881, 101 S.Ct. 231, 66 L.Ed.2d 105.

The Defendant admits stabbing Trojnar, but claims that the evidence shows that he did so in self-defense. When there is sufficient evidence to interject the issue of self-defense into the case, the burden is on the prosecution to negate the defense beyond a reasonable doubt by affirmatively rebutting the defendant's evidence, if any, or by showing within its case-in-chief that the defendant was not acting in self-defense when the crime occurred. McCann v. State, (1984) Ind., 466 N.E.2d 421, 422; Palmer v. State, (1981) Ind., 425 N.E.2d 640, 643-644. If substantial evidence of probative value exists from which the trier of fact could conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant was not acting in self-defense, the verdict may not be altered. Id.; Palmer v. State, 425 N.E.2d at 643.

Although Defendant's version of the circumstances surrounding the stabbing include a coincidental encounter with Trojnar at the service station and an initiation of the conflict by Trojnar, as well as a necessity to defend himself, there was evidence that Defendant had threatened to kill Trojnar and that it was he who initiated the fight. Moreover, Defendant used a knife to inflict five stab wounds, one of which nicked the pericardium lining overlying the heart. From these circumstances a jury could reasonably infer that Defendant intended to kill Trojnar.

Although the evidence was conflicting, there was substantial evidence of probative value consistent with an intentional attempt by Defendant upon Trojnar's life at a time when he was not in fear for his own life or physical well-being.

ISSUE II

Following the State's presentation of its case, Defendant moved for a directed verdict, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to establish a prima facie showing that Defendant knowingly or intentionally attempted to kill Trojnar. The motion was denied, and Defendant assigns such ruling as reversible error. Defendant, however, has failed to preserve error for appeal on this issue, inasmuch as he did not stand upon his motion but introduced evidence in his defense. Havens v. State, (1981) Ind., 429 N.E.2d 618, 621.

ISSUE III

Defendant argues that he was denied a fair trial by an impartial jury when the State, in exercising its peremptory challenges, excused all blacks from the jury; hence, he contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial predicated on that ground. Defendant relies primarily upon Commonwealth v. Soares, (1979) 377 Mass. 461, 387 N.E.2d 499, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 881, 100 S.Ct. 170, 62 L.Ed.2d 110, in which the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, basing its decision on the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, ordered new trials for three black men convicted of first degree murder of a white man, holding that the defendants had shown a prima facie case that the prosecutor's use of his peremptory challenges was designed to exclude persons from the jury on the basis of race and that the trial court's failure to allow a hearing on the issue deprived defendants of their constitutionally protected right to trial by a jury fairly drawn from the community.

Indiana cases, ¹ however, have followed the holding in Swain v. Alabama, (1965) 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759, when confronted with this issue. In Swain, the United States Supreme Court held that using peremptory challenges to strike black persons from the jury in a particular case did not constitute a violation of equal protection guarantees. The Court noted that an equal protection challenge might be sustained when in case after case the prosecutor "is responsible for the removal of Negroes who have been selected as qualified jurors by the jury commissioners and who have survived challenges for cause, with the result that no Negroes ever serve on petit juries." Id. at 223, 85 S.Ct. at 837, 13 L.Ed.2d at 774.

Although the Swain analysis was directed to an equal protection challenge, we find it equally applicable to Defendant's Sixth Amendment challenge, and, in addition, we do not believe that Swain's precedential value is altered by the Supreme Court's holding in Taylor v. Louisiana, (1975) 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690, upon which Defendant further relies. In Taylor, the United States Supreme Court held that "the selection of a petit jury from a representative cross section of the community is an essential component of the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial." 419 U.S. at 528, 95 S.Ct. at 697, 42 L.Ed.2d at 697. Defendant has not claimed that the jury was selected from a non-representative cross section of the community. Furthermore, Taylor does not stand for the proposition that the jury ultimately selected must mirror the distinctive groups of the community.

Finally, we note that there is no need for the prosecution to explain its reasons for...