Lloyd v. State
| Citation | 448 N.E.2d 1062 |
| Decision Date | 17 May 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 1281S338,1281S338 |
| Parties | Steve L. LLOYD, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
John W. Mead, Salem, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., John D. Shuman, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
Defendant-appellant, Steve L. Lloyd, was found guilty of murder, Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-1-1(1) (Burns 1979 Repl.), by a jury and was sentenced to a forty-year term of imprisonment. In this direct appeal, he presents these issues for review:
(1) Whether he was denied his right to a speedy trial pursuant to Ind.R.Crim.P. 4(B).
(2) Whether the trial court erred by refusing to impose certain sanctions upon the State for its alleged failure to comply with the trial court's discovery order.
(3) Whether the admission of the rifle used in the crime and testimony concerning its recovery denied defendant due process because of a violation of his privilege against self-incrimination.
(4) Whether the defendant was denied his right to trial by a fair and impartial jury because the jury panel was improperly selected.
(5) Whether the rifle used in the crime and the bullet removed from the victim's body were improperly admitted because of a failure to establish an adequate chain of custody.
(6) Whether the trial court erred in admitting photographs of the crime scene.
(7) Whether the trial court erred by refusing to give one of defendant's tendered instructions on the issue of self-defense.
(8) Whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion for a directed verdict and whether the jury's verdict was contrary to the law and the evidence.
On June 13, 1980, the defendant shot and killed Terry Hayes in front of several witnesses. The evidence at the trial focused on the events and circumstances surrounding the shooting and defendant's claim that he acted in self-defense. The facts most favorable to the verdict show that the victim Hayes and his wife Connie went to the home of his sister, Patricia Sue Caves, and his brother-in-law, Gary Douglas Combs, for dinner on this Friday evening. After dinner, Hayes and Combs drove to the residence of Steve and Diane Lloyd to invite them to visit at Caves' home. The Lloyds were not at home, but Hayes and Combs eventually found them visiting other friends and spoke there with defendant.
Hayes and Combs returned to Caves' residence, and a short time later defendant arrived there alone in his car. He entered the house, made an obscene gesture and remark to Combs and motioned for Combs to join him outside. Combs did so and attempted to determine what was causing defendant's hostile behavior, but the defendant remained silent and finally ran away, leaving his car behind. Defendant walked several blocks where he was picked up by his seventeen-year-old brother, Jimmy Lloyd. Accompanying Jimmy were Jimmy's thirteen-year-old friend, LaVonna Napier, and Napier's five-year-old brother, George.
At defendant's direction, Jimmy drove him to the apartment of his brother-in-law, Randy Hinton, where defendant borrowed an Ithaca .22 caliber lever-action single shot rifle and some shells. Jimmy then drove defendant, again at his request, back to Caves' house. As Jimmy's car pulled in the alley adjacent to the home's driveway, Hayes and Combs came out of the house. Defendant got out of the passenger side of the car, laid the rifle over the top of the car and fired one shot, striking Hayes. Hayes fell to his knees, then managed to get inside where an ambulance was called. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. After taunting Combs to come out of hiding and get the same treatment, defendant fled from the scene. He was arrested at his home early the next morning and later led the police to the location of the rifle used in the shooting.
Defendant and several witnesses called by him at the trial gave a different version of the events leading up to and attending the shooting. They testified about sexual slurs and comments made by Hayes and Combs to Steve and Diane Lloyd and others about Diane Lloyd both on the night of the shooting and during the previous weeks. Defendant testified that his first visit to the Caves' home on the evening of June 13 was to tell Hayes and Combs to stop this harassment and to leave him and his wife alone. He related that an altercation there was provoked by Combs, and when he attempted to retreat, he found that the keys had been removed from his car and he was forced to leave without it. He claimed he borrowed the rifle from Hinton solely for the purpose of scaring Hayes and Combs into letting him retrieve his car.
He testified that upon pulling into the alley on the second visit, Hayes and Combs came running out of the house. Jimmy Lloyd and LaVonna Napier both testified Hayes had something in his hand and that they were frightened for their safety when Hayes began pounding on the car window with his fist and telling them to get out of the car. Defendant got out of the car with the rifle and when Hayes began approaching him around the front end of the car and Combs from the rear, said to Hayes, "Stop, please man, get back," several times. When Hayes continued to advance, defendant shot him once.
Defendant asserts that he was denied his right to a speedy trial pursuant to Ind.R.Crim.P. 4(B). That rule provides in part:
"If any defendant held in jail on an indictment or an affidavit shall move for an early trial, he shall be discharged if not brought to trial within seventy (70) calendar days from the date of such motion, except where a continuance within said period is had on his motion, or the delay is otherwise caused by his act, or where there was not sufficient time to try him during such seventy (70) calendar days because of the congestion of the court calendar."
On July 21, 1980, the trial court granted defendant's "Motion for Discovery and Inspection" and ordered the State to furnish the material requested within thirty days (by August 20). Also on July 21, defendant made a motion for an early trial. The cause had previously been set for trial on September 15, which was within the seventy day period from July 21. On September 9, defendant moved for a continuance of the September 15 trial date, alleging that the State had failed to comply fully with the discovery order. Also on September 9, defendant made another motion for a speedy trial. On October 29, the trial court set the cause for trial on December 8, noting that this was the first available time on the court's calendar. On December 5, defendant filed a motion for sanctions based on his July 21 motion asking that the court dismiss the case against the defendant with prejudice because of the State's failure to afford him a speedy trial. This motion for sanctions was denied on December 8 after argument.
Defendant asserts that the denial of his motion to dismiss included within his motion for sanctions was error and he was thus denied his right to a speedy trial. Defendant has not presented for review any issue of a failure to afford him a speedy trial with regard to his speedy trial motion of September 9 since he made no motion for dismissal or discharge based on that September 9 motion. Such a request provides an enforcement mechanism for Criminal Rule 4(B) and defendant's failure to attempt to enforce his request for a speedy trial waives any issue thereon. Failure to make a timely motion for discharge prior to trial constitutes a waiver of that right to discharge. Mayes v. State, (1974) 162 Ind.App. 186, 318 N.E.2d 811. Here, defendant never made any such motion with respect to his September 9 early trial motion. Furthermore, defendant never objected to the October 29 setting of the trial beyond the seventy day period from September 9. Defendant's failure to object when the trial date was set beyond the seventy day limit permitted by the rule "must be regarded as acquiescence and a waiver." Utterback v. State, (1974) 261 Ind. 685, 686, 310 N.E.2d 552, 553; see also, Rutledge v. State, (1981) Ind., 426 N.E.2d 638.
Defendant argues that with respect to his July 21 motion for early trial, the trial court erred in refusing to discharge him because, while he did request a continuance of the original trial date of September 15, that continuance must be charged to the State. He alleges that he had received no discovery from the State prior to his motion for a continuance and contends that the State's failure to make timely discovery as ordered by the trial court forced him to request that continuance so as not to proceed to trial unprepared. However, defendant knew of the State's default in compliance on August 20--only thirty days into the seventy day period triggered by defendant's July 21 motion for an early trial. He took no action to obtain enforcement of the discovery order. He requested no sanctions against the State for failure to comply with the order prior to either the original date set for trial or the expiration of the seventy day period prescribed by the rule. As Judge Miller noted in Perdue v. State, (1979) Ind.App., 398 N.E.2d 1290, 1295:
Thus, the delay caused by his motion for continuance must be charged to the defendant as due, at least in substantial part, to his inaction in seeking enforcement of the court's discovery order. Defendant was not entitled to discharge for failure to bring him to trial within seventy days of his July 21 motion for an early trial.
Defendant also argues that he was denied a fair trial because of the State's failure to comply with the trial court's discovery order. In his December 5 motion for sanctions, h...
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