Specht v. State
| Decision Date | 12 December 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 82A05-0501-PC-45.,82A05-0501-PC-45. |
| Citation | 838 N.E.2d 1081 |
| Parties | Ryan M. SPECHT, Appellant-Petitioner, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Respondent. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Katharine C. Liell, Stacy R. Uliana, Liell & McNeil, Bloomington, for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Kelly A. Miklos, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for Appellee.
Ryan Specht appeals the post-conviction court's partial denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. Specifically, Specht contends that the post-conviction court erred by finding that his counsel were not ineffective either at trial or on appeal in his prosecution on charges of murder, attempted murder, and robbery.1 Finding that Specht's counsel were ineffective at the trial level regarding the attempted murder charge, we reverse that conviction. Because his counsel were otherwise not ineffective, we affirm the post-conviction court in all other respects.
In the early part of 1998, Specht received marijuana from Brian Powers and promised to pay him $100.00. Specht then spoke with several different people about the possibility of robbing a gas station in order to pay his drug debt. In particular, Specht talked about stabbing a clerk with a broken glass bottle or hitting him with a hockey puck in a sock. One night, Specht went with his girlfriend, Michelle Evans, to the house where one of Evans' friends, Eric Schmitt, lived. While Specht and Evans were at the house, Schmitt showed them a handgun, and the three discussed robbing a convenience store. Evans and Schmitt specifically suggested robbing Motomart, a gas station/convenience store. The three eventually left the house; Specht had the handgun, and Schmitt had a shotgun. The group drove around in Evans' car for approximately twenty-five minutes before parking in a gravel lot one-half mile from Motomart.
Schmitt, Specht, and Evans walked to Motomart, and Specht walked in alone with the handgun in his pocket, planning to rob the store. Specht brought a drink to the cashier but then left the drink on the counter and walked out of the store. Outside, Schmitt took Specht's gloves and the handgun and handed the shotgun to Specht. Schmitt started talking about killing people, began jumping around, and then went into the store alone. While Specht was outside, he heard a gunshot from inside and went back into the store with the shotgun. Once inside the store, Specht saw Schmitt shoot Charlie Simpson, the store clerk. Schmitt shot Simpson three times before running across the store and shooting a customer, Brent Tracy. After Schmitt shot Tracy, he ran to one of the cash registers and began taking money. Specht attempted to open the other cash register but could not. Specht then grabbed two packs of cigarettes, and he and Schmitt ran to the car, where Evans was waiting, and sped off. After Specht and Schmitt left, Tracy called the police. Tracy survived a gunshot wound to the side of the head and a fractured jawbone, but Simpson was pronounced dead at the scene.
After leaving Motomart, Specht, Schmitt, and Evans drove to Eugene Barker's house. Schmitt and Evans eventually left, and Specht remained at the house with Barker. Specht tried to sell the handgun to Barker, and he told Barker that three or four shots had been fired from it earlier that night. In the early morning hours of the next day, Specht went to Powers' house and paid him $97.00 or $98.00 of the robbery money for the marijuana.
Later the next day, police questioned Specht about the incident, and Specht admitted his participation in the robbery. The State charged Specht with murder, felony murder, robbery as a Class A felony, and attempted murder. On August 5, 1998, a jury found Specht guilty of all four charges, and the trial court entered judgment against Specht for murder, robbery, and attempted murder.2 The court sentenced Specht to sixty years on the murder charge, thirty-five years on the robbery charge, and thirty-five years on the attempted murder charge, and it ordered all three sentences to run concurrently, for a total executed sentence of sixty years. On direct appeal, Specht's counsel raised two issues, namely, that the trial court erred in denying Specht's motion for a change of venue and in allowing the State to impeach Specht with evidence of his guilty plea in another matter. On August 17, 2000, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed Specht's convictions and sentence. Specht v. State, 734 N.E.2d 239 (Ind.2000).
Then, on October 17, 2002, Specht filed his Amended Petition for Post-Conviction Relief. Specht alleged that his counsel had performed deficiently at trial by: (1) failing to object to "multiple improper jury instructions" and to tender "proper" jury instructions; (2) failing to object to "the State's misstatement of law" during closing arguments; (3) failing to move to dismiss the charging information; and (4) failing to assert "proper grounds" to support counsel's motion for judgment on the evidence. Appellant's App. p. 108. According to Specht, there is a reasonable probability that the result of his trial would have been different had his counsel done so.
In addition, Specht alleged that his counsel had performed deficiently on appeal by: (1) failing to argue that counsel had been ineffective at trial; (2) failing to raise the double jeopardy violation created by the entry of judgments of conviction and the imposition of sentences on both the Class A felony robbery and the Murder; (3) failing to raise the trial court's failure to grant a mistrial as reversible error; and (4) failing to include all possible grounds for review on direct appeal. Id. at 109. Specht contends that there is a reasonable probability that the result of his appeal would have been different had his counsel done so.
After the State filed a brief answer to Specht's amended petition, each party then submitted a supporting memorandum and proposed findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment. On December 16, 2004, the post-conviction court entered findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment. The court granted relief on one of the issues raised by Specht in his petition, finding that if Specht's counsel had argued on appeal that Specht's convictions and sentences for both murder and robbery as a Class A felony violate principles of double jeopardy, the Class A felony would have been reduced or the murder conviction would have been vacated. As such, the court ordered that Specht's conviction for robbery as a Class A felony be vacated, that judgment of conviction be entered for robbery as a Class C felony, and that Specht be re-sentenced appropriately. In all other respects the court denied Specht's petition for post-conviction relief. It is from this partial denial of post-conviction relief that Specht now appeals.
A defendant who has exhausted the direct appeal process may challenge the correctness of his convictions and sentence by filing a post-conviction petition. Carew v. State, 817 N.E.2d 281, 285 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), trans. denied. Post-conviction procedures do not provide an opportunity for a "super-appeal"; rather, they create a narrow remedy for subsequent collateral challenges to convictions that must be based on grounds enumerated in the post-conviction rules. Id. Generally, "complaints that something went awry at trial are generally cognizable only when they show deprivation of the right to effective assistance of counsel or issues demonstrably unavailable at the time of trial or direct appeal." Sanders v. State, 765 N.E.2d 591, 592 (Ind.2002). Post-conviction proceedings are civil proceedings, so a defendant must establish his claims by a preponderance of the evidence. Carew, 817 N.E.2d at 285.
A petitioner who appeals the denial of post-conviction relief faces a rigorous standard of review. Benefiel v. State, 716 N.E.2d 906, 911 (Ind.1999), reh'g denied. The reviewing court may consider only the evidence and the reasonable inferences supporting the judgment of the post-conviction court. Blunt-Keene v. State, 708 N.E.2d 17, 19 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). Furthermore, while we do not defer to the post-conviction court's legal conclusions, we accept its factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous. Carew, 817 N.E.2d at 285. To prevail on appeal, the petitioner must establish that the evidence is uncontradicted and leads unerringly and unmistakably to a decision opposite that reached by the post-conviction court. Prowell v. State, 741 N.E.2d 704, 708 (Ind.2001).
In this appeal, Specht argues that the post-conviction court erred by failing to find that his counsel were ineffective on all of the issues that he raised in his petition. As with his petition for post-conviction relief, the claimed errors fall into two categories: ineffective assistance of trial counsel and ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.
Specht contends that his counsel were ineffective at trial. We review claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel under the two-prong test set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), reh'g denied. Carew, 817 N.E.2d at 285-86. First, the petitioner must demonstrate that counsel's performance was deficient because it fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and denied the petitioner the right to counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Smith v. State, 765 N.E.2d 578, 585 (Ind.2002), reh'g denied.
Second, the petitioner must demonstrate that he was prejudiced by his counsel's deficient performance. Wentz v. State, 766 N.E.2d 351, 360 (Ind.2002), reh'g denied. To demonstrate prejudice, a petitioner must demonstrate a reasonable probability that the result of the proceeding would have been different if his counsel had not...
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State v. Bennett
... ... In the lone case cited in which the defendant was an accessory, there was considerable evidence that the defendant shared the principal's intent to kill in the course of a robbery beyond the mere fact that the defendant carried a loaded gun. See Specht v. State, 838 N.E.2d 1081, 1084-85 (Ind. App. 2005) (evidence presented included: prior to robbery, defendant spoke of stabbing store clerk with broken glass bottle to rob gas station in order to pay off drug debt; after forming plan with others to rob convenience store/gas station and arriving ... ...
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