Laux v. State

Decision Date02 February 2005
Docket NumberNo. 27S00-0303-CR-104.,27S00-0303-CR-104.
Citation821 N.E.2d 816
PartiesFrederick A. LAUX, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
CourtIndiana Supreme Court

C. Robert Rittman, Marion, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Nicole M. Schuster, Deputy Attorney General, Office of Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

A jury found appellant Frederick A. Laux guilty of murder, felony murder and burglary resulting in bodily injury. The court sentenced him to life without parole, plus twenty additional years for the burglary count. On appeal, Laux makes one claim warranting relief: that a no-contact order was improperly incorporated into his sentence. We otherwise affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

In June 2001, Heidi Laux separated from her husband Fred Laux, moved with her two daughters from Anderson to Marion, and began divorce proceedings. Soon thereafter, Laux also relocated to Marion, and moved into a house situated less than one mile from Heidi. On November 19, 2001, the divorce became final. On the following Valentine's Day, February 14, 2002, Laux personally delivered a rose and card to Heidi at her place of work. Heidi gave the rose to a friend, disposed of the card, and told Laux what she did with his offerings.

The next day, Heidi and Laux agreed to attend a dance sponsored by Heidi's employer. Laux had the daughters for weekend visitation and brought them with him to the dance. During the dance, Laux became increasingly suspicious that Heidi was involved with a co-worker. Laux left the dance around 8:00, went home, and played cards with his daughters before going to bed. Around 3 a.m. the following morning, Laux awoke and decided to "fix" Heidi. He dressed in two pairs of sweatpants, a sweatshirt, gloves, a hat, and a ski mask. He collected a flashlight and a crowbar and ran to Heidi's house. Upon arrival, Laux used the crowbar to pry open a coal chute and gain entrance to Heidi's house. He entered the basement through the chute and made his way upstairs. Laux proceeded to Heidi's bedroom, struck her three times with the crowbar, strangled her, and left. She died from her injuries within twenty minutes.

The State charged Laux with murder,1 felony murder,2 and burglary resulting in bodily injury.3 It later requested a sentence of life in prison without parole. After a three-day trial, the jury found Laux guilty on all counts and recommended life in prison without parole. The trial court merged Laux's murder and felony murder convictions and sentenced him to life in prison without parole for the murder and a consecutive term of twenty years for the burglary. It also ordered that Laux was to have no contact with Heidi's family.

I. Constitutional Questions

In an assortment of arguments, Laux contends that Indiana's death penalty statute is unconstitutional because the jury need not find all elements of the alleged crime. More specifically, he contends that Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), and the Sixth Amendment require the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating factor(s) outweigh any mitigating factors before death or life without parole (LWOP) may be imposed. Recently, we directly addressed his contention in Ritchie v. State, 809 N.E.2d 258, 268 (Ind.2004):

[T]he Indiana Death Penalty Statute does not violate the Sixth Amendment as interpreted by Apprendi and Ring. Once a statutory aggravator is found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, the Sixth Amendment as interpreted in Ring and Apprendi is satisfied. Indiana now places the weighing process in the hands of the jury, but this does not convert the weighing process into an eligibility factor. The outcome of weighing does not increase eligibility. Rather, it fixes the punishment within the eligible range. It is therefore not required to be found by a jury under a reasonable doubt standard. And as a matter of Indiana state law, under the Indiana death penalty statute the weighing process is not subject to a reasonable doubt standard. That second step, consistent with the view we expressed in Bivins, is in part a determination whether to impose the maximum sentence allowed. That is an exercise in judgment that is not capable of evaluation beyond a reasonable doubt, and our statute properly omits any standard by which it is to be measured.

Laux's constitutional arguments failed on these grounds.

II. Appropriate Procedures for No-Contact Order

As a part of Laux's sentence, the trial court ordered him to cease contact with Heidi's family, including Heidi's parents and Heidi and Laux's children. Laux contends that the inclusion of the order was improper and contravenes Indiana statutory law. We agree.

Indiana's statutory sentencing scheme specifies the penalties for various classes of offenses and grants trial judges some discretion. "While the judge is vested with broad discretion in sentencing, he must act within statutorily prescribed limits." Douglas v. State, 464 N.E.2d 318, 320 (Ind.1984). The trial court sentenced Laux in accordance with the statutes governing the crimes he committed. The general penalty for murder is "a fixed term at fifty-five (55) years, with not more than ten (10) years added for aggravating circumstances or not more than ten (10) years subtracted for mitigating circumstances; in addition, the person may be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000)." Ind.Code Ann. § 35-50-2-3(a) (West 1998). Indiana's death penalty statute, Indiana Code § 35-50-2-9, authorizes either a sentence of death or life in prison without parole upon satisfying the requirements of the statute. Similarly, the code declares that the penalty for burglary as: "a fixed term of ten (10) years, with not more than ten (10) years added for aggravating circumstances or not more than four (4) years subtracted for mitigating circumstances; in addition, he may be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000)." Ind.Code. Ann § 35-50-2-5 (West 1998). By their own terms, these statutes do not authorize imposition of a no-contact order as part of an executed sentence. Had the court suspended part of the sentence for either crime, of course, it could certainly have conditioned that suspension on no contact.

To be sure, the trial court was hardly without the power to grant protection for Heidi's family and the children. Indiana's statutes provide a mechanism by which a victim may obtain a no-contact order. The legislature has created a variety of protective arrangements, recently revised to meet the various circumstances where a court order may be useful. See Ind.Code Ann. § 5-2-9-5 (West 1998) (listing various forms of protection, along with statutory cites.)

III. Double Jeopardy

After the jury returned guilty verdicts on all three counts, the trial court merged the murder and felony murder counts and sentenced Laux to life without parole for murder. It imposed a consecutive term of twenty years for burglary as a class B felony. Laux contends that this sentence violates double jeopardy principles.

The Double Jeopardy Clause states that no person shall be "subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." U.S. Const. amend. V. This clause "yields three protections: (1) protection from reprosecution for the same offense after an acquittal; (2) protection from reprosecution for the same offense after conviction; and (3) protection from multiple punishments for the same offense." Kennedy v. State, 674 N.E.2d 966, 967 (Ind.1996) (citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969) (overruled on other grounds)).

Laux makes what we understand to be two separate arguments under the rubric of double jeopardy.

First, Laux argues that his conviction for both felony murder and the underlying felony violates double jeopardy because it effectively punishes him twice for the same conduct. (Appellant's Br. at 28-30). Quoting from Kennedy, Laux argues that "a conviction and sentence for both felony murder and the accompanying felony violates double jeopardy because the conviction for murder while in the commission of a felony could not occur without proof of the accompanying felony." Id. at 967.

Had Laux in fact been convicted and sentenced for felony murder, he would be entitled to relief. This is not what occurred. The trial court merged the felony murder conviction and the intentional murder conviction and entered judgment only for the latter. Under these circumstances, there is no double jeopardy violation. Carter v. State, 750 N.E.2d 778, 781 (Ind.2001) (stating that "a jury verdict on which the court did not enter judgment for one reason or another (merger, double jeopardy, etc.) is unproblematic."); Kennedy v. State, 674 N.E.2d 966, 967 (Ind.1996) (citing to six other cases reaching the same conclusion); Moore v. State, 652 N.E.2d 53, 59-60 (Ind.1995).4

Second, Laux argues that his sentence violates double jeopardy because the burglary was considered as an aggravating circumstance in the sentencing under Ind.Code § 35-50-2-9 (West 1998). (Appellant's App. 28-30). We disagree.

In Overstreet v. State, 783 N.E.2d 1140 (Ind.2003), we observed that the "facts necessary to establish the (b)(1) aggravating circumstance serve to narrow the eligibility for the penalty and are not identical to the elements of the crime." Id. at 1165 (citing West v. State, 755 N.E.2d 173, 186 (Ind.2001)). Because the felonies listed in Ind.Code § 35-50-2-9(b)(1) are not elements of the crime, but rather a list of permissible aggravators, they essentially serve a function analogous to sentencing enhancements. The statute thus indicates only what felonies are permissible to consider in imposing life without parole.

We have already implicitly accepted that sentencing aggravators do not constitute double jeopardy violations. In Bivins v. State, 642...

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