Oatts v. State

• Decision Date: 15 July 1982
• Docket Number: No. 681S152,681S152
• Citation: 437 N.E.2d 463
• Parties: Arthur OATTS, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 463

437 N.E.2d 463

Arthur OATTS, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 681S152.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

July 15, 1982.

Sandy L. Bryant, Indianapolis, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Michael Gene Worden, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

HUNTER, Justice.

The defendant, Arthur Oatts, was convicted by a jury of murder. Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-1-1 (Burns 1979 Repl.). He was sentenced to the Indiana Department of Correction for a period of thirty-five years. In his direct appeal, he presents the following issue for our review: whether the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction.

When this Court is confronted with a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, it is not our prerogative as an appellate tribunal to weigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses. Rather, we must examine the evidence most favorable to the fact-finder's conclusion, together with the reasonable inferences which can be drawn therefrom. If, from that viewpoint, there is substantial evidence to support the jury's conclusion that defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it will not be disturbed. Moon v. State, (1981) Ind., 419 N.E.2d 740; Spears v. State, (1980) Ind., 401 N.E.2d 331.

Defendant relies on Glover v. State, (1970) 253 Ind. 536, 255 N.E.2d 657, and Manlove v. State, (1968) 250 Ind. 70, 232 N.E.2d 874, for the proposition that a verdict may not be sustained if it is based on mere suspicion, conjecture, or speculation that the defendant committed the crime. As this Court has previously explained, the standard employed in Glover and Manlove governs the fact-finder's assessment of the evidence at the trial court level. Easley v. State, (1981) Ind., 427 N.E.2d 435; Ruetz v. State, (1978) 268 Ind. 42, 373 N.E.2d 152.

Here, the evidence most favorable to the verdict of the jury raises more than mere suspicion, conjecture, or speculation that defendant killed the victim, Eddie Simmons. The record reveals that on August 6, 1980, Simmons was shot three times on North Olney Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. Simmons died at the scene from what forensic pathologist James Benz, M.D., determined was a gunshot wound to the chest.

Four eyewitnesses to the shooting testified at trial. They agreed that Simmons's assailant had used a sawed-off shotgun or rifle. Two of the witnesses, Glenn Journey and Lonnie Grant, unequivocally identified defendant in court as the man who shot Simmons. Gil Journey stated on direct examination that he did not know if defendant was the man who shot Simmons; on cross-examination, however, he concluded without equivocation that defendant had not done the shooting. A fourth eyewitness, Shirley George, did not make an in-court identification.

Robert Nunn, a North Olney Street resident who did not witness the shooting, testified that about the time of the murder he had watched a man carrying a sawed-off rifle climb into a van, dark blue in color with a yellow and orange stripe on its side. Nunn did not make an in-court identification. He described the man as a black male approximately six feet, two inches in height.

Both Journeys, as well as George, described the man who shot Simmons as "tall"; George specified the height of the man was about six feet five to six feet seven inches. The record reveals defendant's height is approximately six feet four inches.

Both Glenn and Gil Journey testified that Simmons's assailant had curly hair, as well as sideburns. Gil Journey also indicated the man had a mustache. A long-standing acquaintance of defendant named Dennis Chislom testified that on August 6, 1980, the date of the shooting, defendant had a beard and mustache. Chislom agreed with eyewitness Lonnie Grant that defendant, who appeared clean-shaven at trial, was wearing more facial hair on the date of the shooting. They disagreed, however, as to whether defendant had changed his hair style.

The witnesses' testimony concerning the clothing worn by Simmon's assailant was generally corroborative in nature. Glenn Journey testified that the man wore a red shirt and dark pants. George stated that the assailant wore a red short-sleeved t-shirt with a blue jeans vest and pants. Lonnie Grant testified that the man wore a blue jeans vest and pants. Gil Journey could not remember what the assailant had worn. Dennis Chislom testified that on the day of the shooting, defendant was wearing a blue jeans vest and shirt.

Nunn's testimony regarding the assailant's use of a van was complemented. The eyewitnesses related that earlier in the day, Simmons and a man driving a dark blue van had scuffled outside a residence in the vicinity of 26th and North Olney Streets. Glenn Journey testified the van was blue with a gold stripe down the side, with gold carpeting inside. Gil Journey described the van as blue with a yellow stripe on its side. Lonnie Grant's testimony differed only in that he characterized the color of the stripe as "yellowish-orange." George stated the van was blue, had a stripe, but that she did not know its color. Chislom stated that on August 6, 1980, he had witnessed the scuffle and that defendant owned and was driving a blue van with a red stripe on that date.

This testimony was supplemented by Robert Hoke, a homicide detective for the Indianapolis Police Department assigned to the Simmons investigation. He testified that on August 7,...