Leners v. State
| Decision Date | 14 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | S-20-0001,S-20-0208 |
| Citation | 2021 WY 67 |
| Parties | TIMOTHY DEAN LENERS, Appellant (Defendant), v. THE STATE OF WYOMING, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County
The Honorable Steven K. Sharpe, Judge
Representing Appellant:
Office of the State Public Defender: Diane Lozano, Wyoming State Public Defender; Kirk A. Morgan, Chief Appellate Counsel. Argument by Mr. Morgan.
Representing Appellee:
Bridget Hill, Wyoming Attorney General; Jenny L. Craig, Deputy Attorney General; Joshua C. Eames, Senior Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Mr. Eames.
Before DAVIS, C.J., and FOX, KAUTZ, BOOMGAARDEN, and GRAY, JJ.
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in Pacific Reporter Third. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Building, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, of any typographical or other formal errors so that correction may be made before final publication in the permanent volume.
[¶1] A jury found Timothy Leners guilty of attempted second-degree murder after shooting Christopher Trout, despite Mr. Leners' claim he shot in self-defense. He appeals, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct. We affirm because the overwhelming evidence of guilt presented at trial precludes the conclusion that the alleged errors were prejudicial.
[¶2] The issues1 are:
We combine these issues in our discussion because Mr. Leners' failure to demonstrate prejudice is dispositive of both claims.
[¶3] On December 23, 2017, Timothy Leners packed his belongings in Walmart bags, left his wife and four children, and drove from Fremont, Nebraska, to Cheyenne, Wyoming. In the early morning hours that day, his "soulmate," Joyce Trout, invited him to the apartment where she lived with her husband, Chris Trout, and her nine-year-old daughter.2
[¶4] Mr. Leners arrived in Cheyenne in the late afternoon. He planned to oust Mr. Trout from the apartment, move in, and begin life anew with Mrs. Trout. The reunion did not go as planned. By the end of the day, Mr. Leners had shot Mr. Trout in the center of his chest. Mr. Leners, charged with attempted second-degree murder, claimed he shot in self-defense. Additional facts are set forth in the discussion of the issues.
[¶5] Mr. Leners' four-day trial began on May 7, 2019. The State presented the testimony of ten witnesses and an abundance of physical evidence. The evidence included the complete videotaped interview of Mr. Leners, conducted by Detectives Hickerson and Peterson, and the complete audio recording from Mr. Leners' cell phone which he had set to record shortly after he arrived at the Trouts' apartment. It continued to record through the shooting and the arrival of the police.
[¶6] The evidence leading up to the shooting was largely uncontroverted. Mr. Leners showed up on the doorstep of the Trouts' apartment around 5:00 p.m. He knew that Mr. Trout was not receptive to his arrival because he had spoken with Mr. Trout by cell phone on his way to Cheyenne. Mr. Leners, Mrs. Trout, and Mr. Trout sat down at the kitchen table to talk over the situation. After lengthy discussion, Mr. Trout left the apartment to run some errands. While he was gone, Mr. Leners began to move his belongings into the apartment. About this time, Mr. Trout's adult daughter, Kyla, who lived across a driveway, came to the apartment. Kyla confronted Mr. Leners about his moving into the apartment occupied by her father and Mrs. Trout, who were still married. After Kyla left, Mr. Leners complained to Mrs. Trout about what he perceived to be Kyla's disrespect. When Mrs. Trout defended Kyla, the two of them engaged in a heated argument. In the meantime, Kyla returned to her apartment and called Mr. Trout. She told him that Mr. Leners was moving in and he needed to come home right away. Then, she called the police to report that a suspicious person was in the Trouts' apartment.
[¶7] At this point, Mr. Trout's testimony and Mr. Leners' version of events (as given to the police) diverge. According to Mr. Trout, he immediately returned home to find the doors locked. As he inserted his key, he could hear Mr. Leners and Mrs. Trout yelling at each other. As he entered the apartment, Mr. Trout joined the argument, repeatedly commanding Mr. Leners to leave. Mr. Trout recounted:
[¶8] In the police interview, Mr. Leners told Detective Hickerson that while he was arguing with Mrs. Trout, suddenly "the [front] door flew open and [Mr. Trout] was ON me like THAT." Mr. Trout was "hitting," "jabbing," and "picked this big chair up" to throw it at Mr. Leners' head. (Later in the interview, Mr. Leners said Mr. Trout picked up his duffel bag to throw at him.) Mr. Leners said he tried to get out the door, but Mr. Trout would not let him out. During this time, Mr. Trout was "pounding" on him and "beating the crap out" of him. The front door was open and "somehow" Mr. Trout and Mr. Leners ended up outside. (Later in the interview, he said they fell out the door when Mr. Trout jumped him.) Mr. Leners said he hit the ground face down and they began "rolling around" while Mr. Trout hit and punched him.
[¶9] Mr. Leners said that Mrs. Trout had told him that Mr. Trout always carried at least three firearms. Given that knowledge and Mr. Trout's threats during the earlier conversation between Mr. Leners, Mr. Trout, and Mrs. Trout,3 Mr. Leners said he believed that his life was in danger and pulled out his gun. According to Mr. Leners, Mr. Trout grabbed for the gun and as the two men struggled for the weapon, Mr. Leners saw the gun was pointed at Mr. Trout's shoulder and he pulled the trigger. Mr. Leners said, "When I got him in the shoulder," we were "on the pavement" and his shoulder "was against the wall." He said, "I couldn't get the gun away from him." "I never got on top of him." (Emphasis added.) (At this point in the interview, Mr. Leners had not been told that both Mr. Trout and Mrs. Trout had independently told the police that Mr. Leners was on top of Mr. Trout when he shot down, hitting Mr. Trout in the chest.)
[¶10] Other evidence presented to the jury revealed that Mrs. Trout, who had witnessed the shooting,4 called 911 before going into the apartment and returning with her gun. She pointed the gun at Mr. Leners, who had remained at the front of the apartment to retrieve his things. She ordered him to get away. Mr. Leners went to his truck and placed his gun on the rail. In Mr. Leners' cell phone recording, Mr. Leners can be heard working his breathing from calm to labored as he called 911. Breathlessly, Mr. Leners reported, "I had to use my handgun to get a guy to quit beating the shit out of me."
[¶11] After the police arrived, Mr. Leners was taken to the Cheyenne Police Department where the videotaped interview was conducted. Supra ¶ 5. At the end of the interview, Mr. Leners was placed in custody and was later charged with attempted second-degree murder.
[¶12] On the third day of trial, the State produced Exhibit 50—an audio recording with excerpts of several calls Mr. Leners had recorded on his cell phone prior to arriving in Cheyenne. The calls comprising the exhibit were contained in a late-received supplemental report prepared by Detective Hickerson. The exhibit itself was created by Detective Hickerson the night before it was introduced at trial. The excerpts included recordings where Mr. Leners called Mr. Trout a troll, rapist, and pig. In two of the calls, he expressed a desire to kill Mr. Trout and a willingness to kill anyone who got in the way of his happiness with Mrs. Trout. The phone calls were detailed and graphic.
[¶13] The jury rejected Mr. Leners' claim of self-defense and convicted him of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to between twenty-five and thirty-five years in prison. This appeal followed.
[¶14] Mr. Leners filed a motion for a new trial pursuant to Wyoming Rule of Appellate Procedure 21, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. The motion was based on defense counsel's failure to properly object to discovery violations and the submission of Exhibit 50 at trial.
[¶15] On February 21, 2018, the district court entered its Criminal Case Management Order. The order, in part, required both parties to file and serve on the opposing party, "No later than fifteen (15) days prior to trial . . . b) A list, with description, of all exhibits the party intends to offer at trial."
[¶16] During discovery, on May 23, 2018, the State provided a Subsequent Certificate of Discovery which contained one hundred pages of information that defense counsel could download from the district attorney's office server. These pages included Detective Hickerson's initial...
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