Myers v. State
| Decision Date | 08 April 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 76S03–1407–CR–493.,76S03–1407–CR–493. |
| Citation | 27 N.E.3d 1069 |
| Parties | Donald W. MYERS, III, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Kimberly A. Jackson, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Ian A.T. McLean, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.
, Justice.
Donald W. Myers, III, has a history of mental illness, and has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia
. Unprovoked, Myers fired a shotgun several times at multiple vehicles, including a police cruiser. Myers was ultimately convicted on four counts of attempted murder. The jury found Myers guilty but mentally ill. Myers claims that no reasonable jury could have reached this conclusion and that he should have been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Myers also asserts that any reference during trial to his request for an attorney and refusal to speak to the police after the incident violated his constitutional right to due process.
We hold that there was no due process violation. Additionally, we seek to emphasize the great adherence our judicial system affords to the right of a trial by jury and the verdicts reached by those juries. Patrick Henry pronounced that “[t]rial by jury is the best appendage of freedom.” The United States Supreme Court has declared that “[t]he basic purpose of a trial is the determination of truth ... and it is the jury to whom we have entrusted the responsibility....” Brown v. Louisiana, 447 U.S. 323, 334, 100 S.Ct. 2214, 65 L.Ed.2d 159 (1980)
(internal quotation omitted). This Court has also acknowledged that the jury trial is a “fundamental right in our democratic judicial system that must be scrupulously guarded against encroachment.” Sims v. United States Fid. & Guar. Co., 782 N.E.2d 345, 352 (Ind.2003) (internal quotations omitted). Having completed our review, we affirm the jury's verdict finding Myers guilty but mentally ill.
In 2000, Donald W. Myers, III, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia
. Starting in young adulthood, Myers was treated at hospitals in Indiana and Alabama for his mental health issues and was prescribed various anti-psychotic medications. In 2004, Myers was living with his mother at the Silver Lake Trailer Court off of U.S. 20. Towards the end of April of 2004, Myers' mother, Judy Wininger, noticed that Myers was no longer taking his anti-psychotic medications, and she contacted Northeastern Center, a counseling center where Myers had previously been treated. The hospital prepared a bed for Myers to be admitted upon Wininger's request on April 28, 2004. However, Myers refused to go.
On the evening of April 29, 2004, David Brown was driving in the Silver Lake Trailer Court with his wife, Vicki Brown, and young grandson in the car. Brown heard a loud boom, and when he looked into the rearview mirror, there was a man running towards the vehicle pointing a long gun in the direction of their vehicle. Then, another gunshot was fired in the direction of Brown's vehicle. Brown drove the vehicle out of Silver Lake onto U.S. 20, and saw the man who fired the weapon running alongside the road. Brown called 911 and gave a description of the man. The man firing the weapon was later identified as Myers.
Shortly thereafter, Desmond Augenstein was driving westbound on U.S. 20 when he saw Myers walking down the middle of the road heading eastbound. Augenstein saw a vehicle coming the opposite direction and turned around to check on Myers' well-being. Augenstein then saw that Myers was holding a gun, and he quickly turned the vehicle back around. Myers raised the gun and shot twice in Augenstein's direction. Augenstein was driving with the windows down and heard bullets flying by the window. He also called 911 to notify police.
Several police officers were dispatched to the area to investigate. Indiana State Police Trooper Lionel Smith located Myers standing partially submerged in a ditch along U.S. 20 on the opposite side of the road from where Trooper Smith was driving. As Trooper Smith got closer, he saw Myers approach the white fog line of the road and begin tracking his vehicle with a gun. Once Myers was parallel to the police cruiser, he fired the gun directly at the driver's side window. Trooper Smith turned his vehicle around, and once he stopped his police cruiser behind Myers, he got out of the vehicle and ordered Myers to stop. However, Myers ignored this order and kept walking at a normal pace. During this time, Steuben County Deputy Sheriff Phillip Knott joined Trooper Smith, and the two together continued to follow behind Myers, ordering him to stop.
Indiana State Police Trooper Kerry Ghent was approaching the area from the opposite direction, and after hearing over dispatch that shots had been fired at Trooper Smith, he pulled his vehicle across the westbound lanes of U.S. 20 to block traffic. He got out of his vehicle and saw Myers with a long gun walking towards him. Trooper Ghent yelled for Myers to stop, but Myers appeared to merely look through him and continue walking. After Myers refused to stop and drop his weapon, Trooper Ghent fired at Myers and knew that Myers was hit near his shoulder when he saw Myers react and turn away. Trooper Smith and Deputy Knott heard the gunshots and did not know whether Myers or Trooper Ghent had fired. Both officers fired upon Myers when he turned and started approaching them, at which time Myers retreated into a wooded area along the roadside.
The officers immediately established a perimeter around Myers' location to prevent him from exiting out the opposite side. The police vehicles were repositioned to shine spotlights in the direction where Myers was hiding to get better visibility. As other law enforcement officials arrived, a visual was kept on Myers while a negotiator attempted to convince him to surrender. Gas was eventually fired into Myers' location in an attempt to force him out into an open space, but Myers remained in the brush. An armored vehicle was finally utilized to approach Myers, and two members of the tactical team apprehended him. Myers was immediately taken to the hospital due to gunshot wounds
to his left shoulder and groin area.
At the hospital, a police officer was stationed outside Myers' hospital room. Myers did not want to talk to police, and made some statements to his mother indicating that he wanted an attorney. Specifically, Myers told his mother that he wanted to sue the police for shooting at him.
The next day, Myers was charged with multiple counts of attempted murder and criminal recklessness. Shortly thereafter, defense counsel filed a notice of defense of mental disease or defect. After psychological evaluations were conducted, Myers was determined to lack the capacity to understand the nature of his criminal charges or to assist in his defense. Myers was placed in the custody of the Division of Mental Health & Addiction Services and was assigned to be institutionalized at the Logansport State Hospital to receive further treatment and evaluation.
In July 2009, the Logansport State Hospital indicated that Myers had regained competency enough to stand trial. However, after two designated medical experts conducted another competency evaluation of Myers, he was again found to be incompetent to stand trial. It was not until April 16, 2013, that Myers' jury trial finally commenced. Counts I, V, and VI, which included charges for Class D felony criminal recklessness and two counts of Class A felony attempted murder, were dismissed.
The jury returned verdicts of guilty but mentally ill on the remaining four counts of Class A felony attempted murder. Myers was sentenced to thirty (30) years on each count to be served consecutively, for an aggregate sentence of one hundred and twenty (120) years. Myers appealed his convictions and sentence, arguing that: 1) the trial court committed fundamental error in admitting evidence of and allowing the State to argue that Myers' post-arrest silence and request for an attorney were evidence of sanity; 2) there was insufficient evidence to prove Myers was guilty but mentally ill, and he had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that he was not guilty by reason of insanity; and 3) the trial court abused its discretion in ordering consecutive sentences, and his sentence was inappropriate given the nature of the offense and his character.
The Court of Appeals held that the jury clearly erred in rejecting Myers' insanity defense by determining that the evidence was without conflict that Myers was insane at the time of his offense. Myers v. State, No. 76A03–1305–CR–173, Slip Op. at *13–14, 20, 2014 WL 1478844 (Ind. Ct.App. April 14, 2014)
. The Court of Appeals also determined that the admission of evidence regarding Myers' post-arrest silence and request for counsel and the prosecutions' closing arguments relying on those instances as evidence of sanity violated Myers' constitutional due process rights. Id. at *18. Furthermore, the Court of Appeals determined that those arguments were not harmless error. Id. Since the Court of Appeals determined that the jury clearly erred in rejecting Myers' insanity defense, Myers' four Class A felony attempted murder convictions were reversed. Id. at *20.
This Court granted the State's petition to transfer and thereby vacated the Court of Appeals opinion. Myers v. State, 12 N.E.3d 877 (table) (Ind.2014)
When reviewing a jury's verdict, which rejected the defense of insanity, this Court “will not reweigh evidence, reassess witness credibility, or disturb reasonable inferences made by the trier of fact.” Galloway v. State, 938 N.E.2d 699, 709 (Ind.2010)
(citing Thompson v. State, 804 N.E.2d 1146, 1149–50 (Ind.2004) ). “[A] finding that a defendant was not insane at the time...
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