Johnson v. State
| Decision Date | 22 December 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 1084S386,1084S386 |
| Citation | 501 N.E.2d 442 |
| Parties | James Timothy JOHNSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Susan K. Carpenter, Public Defender, M.E. Tuke, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Louis E. Ransdell, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
A bench trial resulted in a conviction of Murder. Appellant received a fifty (50) year sentence.
The facts are: At approximately noon on August 18, 1978, two swimmers found a body lying face down in the shallow water of the Elkhart River in Studebaker Park. At about 2:30 p.m., the parents of the victim identified the body. Aided by information supplied by the victim's mother, police officers were able to locate appellant later that afternoon.
Appellant subsequently gave four different statements. While being transported to the police station, he stated to the officers that although he knew the victim and had seen her the previous evening, he had left her alive at a downtown restaurant. At the station, however, he admitted that he had killed the victim. Initially, he told the officers that she had attacked him with a broken bottle and that in the ensuing struggle her throat was cut, causing her to fall into the river.
Upon being informed that the autopsy findings indicated that the wound had been caused by a knife or a razor, appellant gave a written statement in which he admitted that after taking a closed knife from the victim, he opened the knife and cut her throat. Appellant also stated that he and the victim had argued when he told her he was not going to see her again, that they had consumed a quantity of alcohol and marijuana and had had intercourse and that the victim had said derogatory things about him and his girl friend and had attacked him physically. He later gave an additional statement in which he admitted that he choked the victim with a braided belt before cutting her and also admitted that he held her face down in the river until she ceased struggling.
Dr. Fred Busse, a pathologist who assisted in the autopsy, testified that the cause of death was asphyxiation resulting from the inhalation of gravel and sand. Dr. Busse further testified that the cut had virtually severed the victim's left jugular vein and would have been a lethal injury absent the aspiration of the sand and gravel into the victim's pulmonary system.
Appellant first contends that he presented evidence of the mitigating factor of sudden heat which the State failed to rebut and therefore there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction for murder. He argues that the trial court should be ordered to enter a verdict of guilty of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter.
Upon appellate review, this Court will look only to the evidence most favorable to the State and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom. We will neither weigh conflicting evidence nor judge the credibility of the witnesses. Loyd v. State (1980), 272 Ind. 404, 398 N.E.2d 1260, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 881, 101 S.Ct. 231, 66 L.Ed.2d 105. Sudden heat is a mitigating factor in conduct which would otherwise constitute murder. Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-1-3; Ronk v. State (1984), Ind., 470 N.E.2d 1337. Whether or not a defendant acted in sudden heat is a question for the trier of fact to resolve. Ronk, supra. In reviewing the resolution of that question, we look to the surrounding circumstances and the method of killing in order to determine the state of mind of the defendant. Johnson v. State (1980), 274 Ind. 193, 409 N.E.2d 621.
The sole evidence adduced at trial concerning the events which led to the death of the victim was provided by the statements given to the police by appellant. The other direct evidence concerning the crime itself was derived from the testimony of the pathologist.
Appellant points out that his statements indicate that the victim verbally and physically attacked him and consequently her words and actions caused him to lose control. He also points to the testimony of a psychologist who concluded, on the basis of interviews and testing, that appellant was "a rather impulsive, acting out, aggressive individual". In sum, appellant argues that his ingestion of drugs and alcohol, his immaturity and violent tendencies and the volatility of the situation combined to create the sudden heat contemplated by the statute.
Appellant's argument notwithstanding, we find that the trial court was justified in concluding that appellant did not act in sudden heat and that the evidence supported a...
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