Sherwood v. State
| Decision Date | 26 February 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 55A01-0110-CR-402.,55A01-0110-CR-402. |
| Citation | 784 N.E.2d 946 |
| Parties | Stephen K. SHERWOOD, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Timothy W. Oakes, Eric K. Koselke, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Arthur Thaddeus Perry, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
Stephen K. Sherwood appeals his conviction, after a jury trial, for the murder of four year-old Hope James and his sentence thereon.
We affirm.
1. Whether the trial court erred when it denied Sherwood's motion for a mistrial after five jurors had observed him in jail garb.
2. Whether sufficient evidence supports the conviction.
3. Whether Sherwood's sentence of sixty-five years imprisonment is inappropriate.
Sherwood met Alice Barrett in July of 1995 in Connersville, where they were both living at the time. Barrett had a daughter, Hope James—a normal, healthy four year-old who was not subject to unusual bruises or injuries. Within several weeks, Sherwood was living with Barrett and Hope. On September 18, 1995, Barrett left Hope in Sherwood's care, and he told her that he spanked Hope and left a handprint. A few days later, Barrett saw Hope's "whole buttocks was a bruise." (Tr. 248). Barrett confronted Sherwood, and he "said he didn't mean to do it" and "that he didn't know that he had hit her that hard." (Tr. 247). On September 20, Sherwood told Barrett that Hope "had been running and bumped her head" and vomited. (Tr. 249). Hope told her mother Sherwood had pushed her face in the vomit.
When Hope's grandmother saw her bruised buttocks on September 22, she took Hope to the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, where pictures were taken and a report was filed. Subsequently, Barrett called her brother to tell him she was pressing charges against Sherwood about the injuries to Hope. Then, Barrett went to sleep with Hope at her side in the bed. Barrett awoke to find Sherwood atop her with a knife. Sherwood said he had heard about the charges. Barrett screamed, and Sherwood told her to stop or he would kill her and Hope. Sherwood asked Hope whether he had whipped her with a belt; "she said, `Yes,' and ... he called her a f____ liar" and pointed the knife at her. (Tr. 255).
Barrett reported the incident to the Connersville police later that morning, September 23, 1995. After learning about this incident, the Sheriff's Department sought charges against Sherwood for two counts of criminal confinement with a deadly weapon and one count of criminal trespass, as well as for the earlier beating of Hope.
Barrett took Hope away from Connersville, but she later returned and reconciled with Sherwood. On October 6, the Sheriff's Department informed Barrett that an arrest warrant had been issued for Sherwood. Barrett said she did not know his whereabouts. Barrett then told Sherwood about the warrant and, taking Hope along, went with him to Martinsville, where they all stayed at the Hillview Motel.
On Friday, October 13, Barrett began work as a waitress at the Waffle House, leaving Hope in Sherwood's care. Several hours later, Sherwood came in the Waffle House carrying Hope—who had a cut lip. Sherwood said that a deer had run in front of his truck, and when he slammed on the brakes, Hope hit the dashboard and a box of tools fell on her. The next morning, Barrett saw bruises "all across" Hope's back "and on her legs," a black eye, and "a popped blood vessel in" one or both ears. (Tr. 268).
On Saturday, October 14, when Hope was again in Sherwood's care, Barrett came home from work and observed that Hope's lip "was swollen real, real bad." (Tr. 270). She asked Sherwood what happened; he said that Hope had been outside the bathroom door while he was inside, and when he "opened the door to come back out ... that the door hit her in the mouth." (Tr. 271).
Sherwood was hired at Matchless Machines and began working the day shift on Monday, October 16. That week, Hope's bruises faded, and she seemed to be fine. On Saturday, October 21, Barrett spent the day in the motel room with Hope. Hope said that her head hurt a little and her stomach was upset, but her mother didn't worry because "she wasn't acting sick." (Tr. 276). Sherwood worked from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Matchless. Sherwood said "several times" to coworkers that he "was wanting to go out and get drunk and really beat ... somebody up." (Tr. 439). That afternoon, Sherwood "got upset" because a check he was expecting had not arrived, and he insisted that Barrett go to work because they needed the money. (Tr. 277).
Barrett went to work about 6:00 p.m. About an hour later, Sherwood called to say that Hope "like passed out" and was hot. (Tr. 278). Barrett told him to check her temperature, to watch her, and to call back if she continued to be sick. Shortly thereafter, Sherwood called again and reported that Hope was feeling better. Later, when her work slowed, Barrett called Sherwood and asked that he put Hope "in bed with him so he could watch her."1 (Tr. 283-84).
Barrett arrived home at the motel a little after 1:00 a.m. When she turned on the light, only Hope's foot was visible outside the covers. She pulled the cover from over Hope's face, saw that Hope "was blue," and "started screaming." (Tr. 284). Sherwood "woke up," and said, "What's the matter?" and "She's okay." (Tr. 284). Sherwood told Barrett to "stop the yelling" or "he would slap [her]." (Tr. 285). Barrett called 911 and reported "that [Hope] was blue." (Tr. 285). Sherwood told Barrett to go outside.
The guest in the adjacent motel room heard Barrett repeatedly scream, (Tr. 337). She heard a male voice respond, "Shut up." (Tr. 337). Several guests emerged from their rooms into the parking lot, and upon hearing about Hope, three tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her using CPR. When the ambulance arrived sixteen minutes after the 911 call, the emergency personnel found Hope "cold, [a] little bit blue, not breathing, and she did not have a pulse." (Tr. 426). Their resuscitative efforts were also to no avail.
On October 22, 1995, forensic pathologist Dr. Dean Hawley performed an autopsy on Hope. She was thirty-eight inches tall and weighed twenty-eight pounds. She had suffered a number of blunt force injuries to her head, neck, abdomen, back, and lower legs. Eight injuries to her head "occurred at or about the time of death," inflicted "considerable internal damage" to her brain, and evidenced the application of "a significant amount of force." (Tr. 604). According to Dr. Hawley, any one of those injuries could have resulted in her death. Further, he found those injuries consistent with her head having been struck against a cinder block wall. Dr. Hawley found numerous other "older" injuries on Hope but determined that her head injuries were "fresh" and could not have been inflicted days before her death. (Tr. 606, 605). Dr. Hawley also found two "fresh" injuries on Hope's back, "created, like the head injuries, by an impact of the body with a surface that does not puncture skin" and bearing "stamped in" abrasions on her back. (Tr. 612, 611). The injuries went "deep into the muscles ... right down to the bone of the spine itself." (Tr. 612). Further, the "stamped in" abrasions were hexagonal in shape, with a 5/16 inch diameter. When compared to photographs of bolts in the cinder block wall of Sherwood's motel room, which bolts were of that shape and diameter, Dr. Hawley determined that the injuries were "consistent" with Hope's "back being slammed into the cinder block wall" of Sherwood's motel room. (Tr. 614).
Sherwood was charged with murder, and the State sought a sentence of life without parole. Trial took place in July of 2001.2 The foregoing facts were adduced. Further, the jury saw the pictures taken of Hope's horrendous bruise injuries of September 1995, as well as numerous photographs of the injuries on her body at the time of her death a month later. Dr. Hawley reviewed the pictures taken of Hope's buttocks area on September 22, 1995, and opined that those injuries had not been inflicted with an open hand but "by the application of an object," specifically, "an object that folds across the skin's surface creating an abrasion and a line that wraps around the body contours." (Tr. 617, 618). He further stated that the amount of force applied was "severe" and that Hope had suffered "a rather severe beating." (Tr. 618).
A guest at the motel testified that he had walked by Sherwood's room that evening and heard a child crying inside. Four different witnesses testified that Sherwood's demeanor after Barrett had called 911 about Hope was as follows: (1) "rather calm" and he "didn't seem quite upset," (2) "extremely calm," (3) "pretty calm," and (4) showed no concern, with his not wanting to assist with CPR. (Tr. 420, 422, 348, 454, 399, 400). Finally, the jury heard that the doorknob on the bathroom door in the motel room was positioned forty inches from the floor, which contradicted Sherwood's account of the doorknob accidentally striking Hope in the mouth when he opened it.
The jury heard Sherwood's taped statement to police shortly after Hope's death, as well as his testimony. According to Sherwood, after Barrett went to work, Hope lay down on her pallet on the floor and went to sleep; he heard her gasp twice, tried and was unable to wake her, put her in a cold shower, and then rubbed her with ice—after which she seemed to be alright and went to sleep.
The jury found that Sherwood was guilty of murder. In the second phase of the trial, the State argued that Sherwood should be sentenced to life without parole.3 The jury recommended that Sherwood not be sentenced to life without parole. At the subsequent sentencing hearing, the trial court ordered Sherwood to serve sixty-five years.
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