Morrison v. State

• Decision Date: 24 April 1984
• Docket Number: No. 682S220,682S220
• Citation: 462 N.E.2d 72
• Parties: Chester MORRISON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 72

462 N.E.2d 72

Chester MORRISON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 682S220.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

April 24, 1984.

Nancy L. Broyles, McClure, McClure & Kammen, Indianapolis, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Theodore E. Hansen, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

PIVARNIK, Justice.

Defendant-Appellant Chester Lynn Morrison was convicted by a jury in the Marion Superior Court of class B felony voluntary manslaughter. He subsequently was found by the same jury to be a habitual offender. The trial court accordingly sentenced Appellant to consecutive imprisonment terms of fifteen years and thirty years. Appellant now directly appeals and raises the following four issues:

1. sufficiency of the evidence supporting Appellant's manslaughter conviction;

2. whether rejection of Appellant's tendered instructions on voluntary intoxication was error;

3. whether admission of certain photographs was error; and,

4. whether the trial court erred by giving final instruction 28.

The facts adduced during trial show that at approximately 7:00 p.m. on January 2, 1981, Appellant engaged in a fight with his estranged wife, Kathleen, in front of the house at 3109 St. Joseph Street in Indianapolis. Appellant held his wife with one hand while using his other hand to hold a shotgun which he fired once into the air. Appellant grabbed Kathleen by her hair and pushed her to the ground as she cried and begged Appellant not to shoot her. Appellant continued to scream at her and to beat her. He grabbed Kathleen in a headlock and dragged her down St. Joseph Street to its intersection with Gray Street where he threw her to the ground and called her a "bitch." Appellant then stood over Kathleen, pointed his shotgun at her, pumped it and shot her in her chest. Kathleen died as a result of the shotgun wound.

Robert Wilson was one of several persons living in the vicinity of the shooting who witnessed the shooting and who testified at trial about it. He specifically testified that after Appellant shot Kathleen, Appellant said "My God, I shot her." Wilson also testified that Appellant pointed his shotgun at Wilson and told him to get off the street or else Appellant would "blow him away." Appellant's brother, Gary, testified that he arrived with his car just after the shooting and helped Appellant put Kathleen onto the back seat before driving Appellant and Kathleen to Community Hospital.

I

Appellant first contends that there was insufficient evidence at trial from which the jury could find that he "knowingly or intentionally" killed as required to sustain a voluntary manslaughter conviction. Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-1-3 (Burns 1979). Appellant specifically contends that the jury could not have found the requisite intent because his intoxication at the time of the offense prevented him from being capable of having a conscious objective to kill or of being aware of the high probability that his action would result in a killing. See Ind.Code Sec. 35-41-2-2 (Burns 1979). When the sufficiency of evidence is raised on review, this Court will consider only the evidence most favorable to the State together with all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom. We will neither reweigh the evidence nor determine the credibility of witnesses. When there is substantial evidence of probative value from which the trier of fact could reasonably infer guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the conviction will not be overturned. Napier v. State, (1983) Ind., 445 N.E.2d 1361, reh. denied. In the instant case, Indianapolis Patrolman Kenneth Rynard testified that he saw Appellant at Community Hospital shortly after this shooting and found Appellant not intoxicated at that time. Sergeant Stephen Watts also testified that Appellant did not appear intoxicated at Community Hospital. Officer Floyd Harber testified that he saw Appellant at police headquarters during the evening of the shooting and found Appellant not intoxicated. There was no dispute that Appellant shot his wife. Accordingly, we find ample evidence of probative value to support the jury's verdict in spite of Appellant's voluntary intoxication defense.

II

Appellant next contends that the trial court erred by refusing to give Appellant's two tendered final instructions on intoxication defenses. In determining whether the evidence was such as to require an instruction upon a defense of intoxication, this court considers whether the evidence relevant to the defense, if believed, was such that it could have created a reasonable doubt in the jury's mind that the accused had acted with the requisite mental state or specific intent. Stoner v. State, (1982) Ind., 442 N.E.2d 983; Williams v. State, (1980) Ind., 402 N.E.2d 954. To create a reasonable doubt, an accused must do more than simply indicate that he consumed an intoxicant since mere intoxication does not necessarily render a person incapable of thinking deliberately or of possessing a guilty intent. Norris v. State, (1981) Ind., 419 N.E.2d 129; See Ives v. State, (1981) Ind., 418 N.E.2d 220, reh. denied. In the instant case, the only evidence suggesting Appellant's intoxication was the testimony by Appellant's brother, Gary, that he and Appellant had been drinking whiskey all day before the shooting. In contrast, three trained police officers testified that Appellant did not appear intoxicated to them when they each saw him shortly after the shooting. Moreover, Appellant's actions at the time of the shooting further indicate that he was thinking and acting deliberately when he shot his wife. Appellant argued with her and dragged her down a street. After he shot her, he acknowledged his deed. He also pointed his gun at Robert Wilson and told him to get away or be shot. We find that there was not a sufficient evidentiary basis to support the giving of any instructions on intoxication defenses. There is no error on this issue.

III

Appellant also contends that the trial...