Jones v. State

• Decision Date: 09 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 42A05-0005-CR-181.,42A05-0005-CR-181.
• Parties: DeJong JONES, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

749 N.E.2d 575

DeJong JONES, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 42A05-0005-CR-181.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

May 9, 2001.

Transfer Denied August 9, 2001.

Susan K. Carpenter, Public Defender of Indiana, Lorraine L. Rodts, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.

Karen Freeman-Wilson, Attorney General of Indiana, Monika Prekopa Talbot, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

SULLIVAN, Judge.

Following a jury trial, appellant DeJong Jones was convicted of two counts of Robbery¹ as a Class B felony. Jones raises three issues upon appeal, which we restate as follows:

(1) whether the trial court erred by limiting Jones's cross-examination of his accomplice regarding his plea agreement with the State;

(2) whether the trial court erred by allowing in-court identifications of Jones; and

(3) whether the trial court erred by refusing to give Jones's tendered jury instruction regarding eyewitness identification testimony.

We affirm in part and reverse in part.

The record reveals that on August 4, 1999, Sherdil Khan was working at the Best Western Motel in Vincennes, Indiana. At approximately one o'clock in the morning, Jones entered the motel and inquired about the cost to rent a room. Khan informed Jones that the motel had no vacant rooms and suggested he look for a room at another nearby motel. Jones, however, remained in the motel lobby. Khan then noticed another man standing by the entrance door. This other man, later identified as Roy Winters, asked Khan if he could use the motel's telephone directory. As Khan bent down to retrieve the directory, one of the men hit him in the head with a rock. Although he could not see anything immediately after being struck, Khan regained his composure. Both Jones and Winters then began to hit Khan, who escaped the lobby and ran to the motel manager's room. The police were called to the motel, and discovered that approximately $160 had been taken from the motel's cash drawer. As a result of being struck in the head with the rock, Khan was taken to the hospital and required stitches.

Three days later, on August 7, 1999, between three and four o'clock in the morning, Harry Patel, the manager of the same Best Western Motel, heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the lobby. When Patel went to see what had caused the sound, he saw Jones attempting to take money from the cash drawer. Patel attempted to stop Jones, but Jones punched him in the eye and fled with anywhere from $30 to $40 in cash. Patel too required hospital treatment for his injuries.

On August 8, 1999, the owner of Doll's Motel asked Knox County Police Officer Steve Luce to assist in removing the property of certain individuals who had been "removed" from the motel. While in the room, Luce seized three photographs. One of the photographs was of two black males and two white females, the other of a black male, and the last of a black male and a black female. These photographs were shown to Chief Deputy Michael Morris of the Knox County Police Department. After discussing the situation with the prosecutor, Deputy Morris presented the three photographs to Patel, who identified the photograph of the lone black male as the robber. Further investigation by the police revealed that this photograph was of DeJong Jones.

The police arrested Jones in Sullivan County and immediately transported him back to the Best Western Motel, where both Khan and Patel identified Jones as the robber. Before identifying Jones at the motel, Khan also identified Jones as the robber from the photograph of Jones taken from Doll's Motel.²

According to Deputy Morris, on August 9, 1999, both Khan and Patel identified Jones by viewing a six-photo lineup. However, in his deposition, Khan testified that he only identified Winters from the sixperson photo lineup, and Patel testified that he could not remember viewing the photo lineup at all.

Before trial, Jones moved to suppress any evidence of the out-of-court identifications and any in-court identifications, claiming the witnesses were tainted by improperly suggestive police procedures. The trial court granted Jones's motion to suppress the pre-trial identifications, but denied the motion to suppress any in-court identifications.

At trial, the State asked both Khan and Patel if the man who robbed them was in the courtroom. Over Jones's objection, both witnesses identified Jones. Roy Winters, Jones's accomplice in the first robbery, also testified against Jones.

I. Cross-Examination Regarding Plea Agreement

Jones first claims that the trial court erred by not allowing him to fully cross-examine his accomplice, Roy Winters, regarding the plea agreement between Winters and the State whereby Winters received a six-year sentence in a work-release program. Trial courts have wide discretion to determine the scope of cross-examination, and we will reverse only for a clear abuse of that discretion. Nasser v. State, 646 N.E.2d 673, 681 (Ind. Ct.App.1995). A trial court abuses its discretion in controlling the scope of cross-examination when the restriction relates to a matter which substantially affects the defendant's rights. Id.

At trial, Jones asked Winters if he knew the possible sentence for a Class B felony. The State immediately objected, and the trial court sustained the objection. Thereafter, Jones asked Winters if he remembered being informed of the possible penalty for a Class B felony during plea negotiations. Again, the State objected. The trial court did not make an immediate ruling on this objection. However, as Jones inquired further about this subject, the trial court asked Jones's counsel to approach the bench. Although the content of any discussion between Jones's counsel and the trial court was not transcribed, after this, Jones's counsel changed his line of questioning. The jury was never informed of the penalty Winters could have received.

Upon appeal, Jones claims that because he was unable to present to the jury the full extent of the benefit Winters received as a result of the plea bargain, he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him. See Standifer v. State, 718 N.E.2d 1107, 1109-10 (Ind. 1999)

; Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 315, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). This right is secured for defendants in state criminal proceedings through the Fourteenth Amendment. Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965).

The Indiana Supreme Court has held that any beneficial agreement between an accomplice and the State must be revealed to the jury. Morrison v. State, 686 N.E.2d 817, 818 (Ind.1997); Morgan v. State, 275 Ind. 666, 419 N.E.2d 964 (1981); Newman v. State, 263 Ind. 569, 334 N.E.2d 684 (1975). "This rule serves to help the jury better assess the reliability and honesty of the felon-witness." Morrison, 686 N.E.2d at 819. It is insufficient that the mere existence of a beneficial plea agreement be revealed to the jury; the extent of the benefit offered to a witness is relevant to the jury's determination of the weight and credibility of that witness's testimony. Standifer, 718 N.E.2d at 1110.

Here, the State maintains that the trial court's limitation of the cross-examination of Winters was entirely proper. Winters and Jones were both charged with robbery. Therefore, the State claims that had the jury been informed of the penalty Winters would have faced had he not pleaded guilty, it would also have been informed about the potential sentence Jones faced—a matter not properly before the jury. See Coy v. State, 720 N.E.2d 370, 374 (Ind. 1999)

.

This same argument was presented to our Supreme Court in Jarrett v. State, 498 N.E.2d 967 (Ind.1986). In Jarrett, two of the defendant's accomplices agreed to testify against him in exchange for being allowed to plea to a lesser offense. When the defendant in Jarrett questioned the accomplice witnesses regarding the potential penalties they would have faced had they not agreed to testify, the trial court sustained the State's objections. The Jarrett court stated:

While sentencing information may not be relevant to the jury's duty in a criminal case, we do not perceive it to present a substantial risk of prejudice to the State. To the contrary, however, significant harm results when the jury is prevented from learning the extent of benefit received by a witness in exchange for his testimony. It would be obviously relevant and proper for a jury to consider the amount of compensation a witness expects to receive for his testimony. It is equally proper for this jury to know the quantity of benefit to accusing witnesses. It is quite relevant whether they are thereby avoiding imprisonment of ten days, ten weeks, or ten years.

Id. at 968. The Jarrett court further stated, "Against the crucial role of full and proper cross-examination, the State's desire to censor sentencing information is clearly subordinate." Id. at 968-69 (emphasis supplied).

The extensive nature of a defendant's right to fully cross-examine a witness who has received the benefit of a plea agreement was further explored in Sigler v. State, 733 N.E.2d 509 (Ind.Ct.App.2000), reh'g denied, trans. denied. In Sigler, the trial court sustained the State's objections to the defendant questioning his accomplices regarding the precise terms of their plea agreement with the State, including the specific number of years of imprisonment that they could have received had they not agreed to testify. Faced with this situation, the defense counsel in Sigler agreed to refer to the sentence reductions in terms of percentages rather than specific years. The Sigler court held that this was insufficient to preserve the defendant's right to fully cross-examine the accomplice witnesses. Id. at 511-12.

Here, the trial court abused its discretion when it sustained the State's objections to Jones questioning Winters regarding his potential...