Rondon v. State

• Decision Date: 25 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. 45S00-9403-PD-229.,45S00-9403-PD-229.
• Citation: 711 N.E.2d 506
• Parties: Reynaldo C. RONDON, Defendant (Petitioner below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Respondent below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

711 N.E.2d 506

Reynaldo C. RONDON, Defendant (Petitioner below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Respondent below).

No. 45S00-9403-PD-229.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

May 25, 1999.

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Judith C. Menadue, Elkhart, Indiana, Thomas M. Carusillo, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellant.

Richard A. Waples, Indiana Civil Liberties Union, Indianapolis, Indiana, Lawrence A. Vanore, Sommer & Barnard, P.C., Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Amicus Curiae.

Pamela Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Arthur T. Perry, Deputy Attorney General, Office of Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.

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ON APPEAL FROM THE DENIAL OF POST-CONVICTION RELIEF

SELBY, J.

In 1985, Appellant Reynaldo C. Rondon was convicted of murder¹ and felony murder² and was sentenced to death. On direct appeal, we affirmed the felony murder conviction³ and, over the dissents of two justices, the death sentence. Rondon v. State, 534 N.E.2d 719 (Ind.1989). Pursuant to Indiana Post-Conviction Rule 1(1), Rondon filed a Verified Petition for Post-Conviction Relief in June, 1990. He filed a Second Amended Petition in February, 1995. Post-conviction relief was denied after an evidentiary hearing. Rondon appeals this negative post-conviction judgment pursuant to Indiana Post-Conviction Rule 1(7).

Rondon raises several issues on appeal which we consolidate and restate as follows: whether the mental retardation exemption⁴ from the death penalty applies in this case; whether Rondon received ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel; whether Rondon was denied a fair post-conviction forum; and whether the cumulation of alleged errors warrants relief. We conclude that Rondon received ineffective assistance of trial counsel at the penalty phase. We reverse Rondon's death sentence and remand for a new penalty phase and sentencing hearing.

FACTS

The following is a brief summary of the facts published on direct appeal in Rondon v. State, 534 N.E.2d 719, 722-23 (Ind.1989). On October 10, 1984, Frank Alarcon's neighbor heard several loud noises coming from outside Alarcon's home late at night. The next day the neighbor went to Alarcon's house and noticed that several things seemed out of place. When he called through the open back door and received no answer, he called the police. The police arrived to find that eighty-two-year-old Alarcon had been stabbed to death. An autopsy report revealed that Alarcon was stabbed fifteen times.

One witness identified Rondon in a line-up and in court as the driver of Alarcon's stolen car on the night of the murder. Further, when the police questioned Rondon's live-in girlfriend, she became upset and told the police that Rondon recently had given her two knives. She also testified to a conversation she overheard between Rondon and his co-defendant in which the two men planned to rob the victim. When she asked what they would do if they were caught, Rondon stated that he would kill Alarcon. The police searched Rondon's house after his arrest and found a shopping bag in the attic which contained an identification bracelet and dog tags bearing Alarcon's name, along with $8,000.00 and a key to Alarcon's lock box.

DISCUSSION

I. Statutory Mental Retardation Exemption From The Death Penalty Does Not Apply

Rondon first challenges the propriety of his death sentence. He argues that the statutory exemption which precludes mentally retarded individuals from receiving the death penalty must be applied retroactively to comport with his federal and state constitutional rights. Rondon next argues that he is a mentally retarded individual within the meaning of the statute and is therefore ineligible to receive a death sentence. We find that Rondon is not a mentally retarded individual within the meaning of the statute, and even if we found otherwise, we do not find that his death sentence violated his constitutional rights.

A. Retroactive Application of Mental Retardation Exemption

As a threshold issue, Rondon argues that Indiana Code sections 35-50-2-9 and 35-36-9-6 (1998),⁵ exempting mentally retarded individuals from the death penalty, should apply to him retroactively in order to comport with his constitutional rights including equal protection, protection from cruel and unusual punishment, and due process. We previously addressed whether Indiana Code sections 35-50-2-9 and 35-36-9-1 to -7 (1998) should be applied retroactively in Allen v. State, 686 N.E.2d 760 (Ind.1997). In Allen, we stated that "absent a constitutional mandate for the rule exempting mentally retarded individuals, this Court is neither expected nor required to engage in retroactivity analysis. Rather, the extent of our writ is to enforce the law as it was at the time he committed his crimes." Id. at 786. The language of the public law amending the statute underscores this point. As we observed in Allen, "the General Assembly specifically legislated and the Governor signed into law a statute of repose for claims of mental retardation in capital cases tried before July 1, 1994, rather than amending the Constitution or leaving the act open-ended for judicial interpretation." Id. (citing Pub.L. 158-1994, § 8, 1994 Ind. Acts 1857). Thus, even if the post-conviction court found Rondon to be mentally retarded, which it did not, the statute simply does not apply to him. Nonetheless, Rondon asserts that he is mentally retarded and if the statute is not applied retroactively, the Equal Protection, Due Process, and Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clauses of the United States and Indiana Constitutions will be violated. We will briefly address each issue in turn.

i. Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause

Rondon argues that the statutory exemption for mentally retarded individuals must apply retroactively to comport with the Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause. The Indiana Constitution provides that the "General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens." IND. CONST. art. I, § 23. Since Rondon did not develop a cogent Fourteenth Amendment argument as required by Indiana Appellate Rule 8.3(A)(7), we will discuss only his equal privileges and immunities claim under the Indiana Constitution.

Rondon argues that in amending the death penalty statute, the legislature created two classes of mentally retarded individuals: those who were convicted before the July 1, 1994, effective date, and those who were convicted after that date. Rondon claims that the date draws an arbitrary and discriminatory distinction between two similarly situated classes in violation of the equal privileges and immunities clause. When analyzing an equal privileges claim under Article 1, Section 23, this Court applies a two step analysis as established in Collins v. Day, 644 N.E.2d 72, 80 (Ind.1994).

First, the disparate treatment accorded by the legislation must be reasonably related to inherent characteristics which distinguish the unequally treated classes. Second, the preferential treatment must be uniformly applicable and equally available to all persons similarly situated.

Id. In other words, Rondon argues that the statute distinguishing between mentally retarded individuals convicted prior to and after July 1, 1994, must be reasonably related to inherent characteristics which distinguish the two groups of mentally retarded defendants. However, we do not agree with Rondon's characterization of the distinguished classes. The unequally treated classes here are mentally retarded and non-mentally retarded defendants convicted after July 1, 1994. Thus, the issue is whether the statutory exemption of mentally retarded defendants from the death penalty is reasonably related to inherent characteristics which distinguish mentally retarded and non-mentally retarded defendants. The General Assembly enacted this legislation to exempt from the death penalty mentally retarded defendants whose "cognitive, volitional, and moral capacity to act with the degree of culpability associated with the death penalty" is now questioned. Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 338, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 2957, 106 L.Ed.2d 256, 291 (1989). The exemption for mentally retarded defendants is reasonably related to their inability to act with the requisite culpability sufficient to warrant the death penalty and reasonably justifies the distinction between mentally retarded and non-mentally retarded defendants. We find that Rondon's claim with respect to the first prong of the test in Collins must fail.

Even if Rondon prevailed under the first prong of the Collins test, we nonetheless find that Rondon's claim that he is similarly situated to those mentally retarded defendants convicted after July 1, 1994, fails under the second prong. Amendments to a law that are coupled with a savings clause⁶ do not create two similarly situated groups of people. Rivera v. State, 179 Ind.App. 295, 385 N.E.2d 455, 457 (1979). "Criminal statutes apply exclusively to one class of people, those who violate the law, and they relate to the specific point in time that a violation occurs. Upon alteration of the criminal law, individuals subsequently convicted are not similarly situated and cannot be equated to those previously convicted."⁷ Id. at 457. Also, as we noted in State v. Alcorn, "the time of a crime is selected as an act of free will by the offender." 638 N.E.2d 1242, 1245 (Ind.1994). The criminal, not the State, chooses which statute applies. Rondon is bound by the laws in effect at the time he committed the crime. In 1984, the time of this crime, mentally retarded individuals were included within the group of persons eligible to receive the death penalty. We find that Rondon is not similarly situated to mentally...