Standifer v. State

• Decision Date: 10 November 1999
• Docket Number: No. 67S00-9804-CR-240.,67S00-9804-CR-240.
• Citation: 718 N.E.2d 1107
• Parties: Daniel STANDIFER, Jr., Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

718 N.E.2d 1107

Daniel STANDIFER, Jr., Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).

No. 67S00-9804-CR-240.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

November 10, 1999.

Susan K. Carpenter, Public Defender of Indiana, Lorraine L. Rodts, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellant.

Jeffrey A. Modisett, Attorney General of Indiana, Randi E. Froug, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.

BOEHM, Justice.

Daniel Standifer, Jr., was convicted of the murder, aggravated battery, criminal confinement, robbery and theft of Rick Boehm and of being a habitual offender. The trial court sentenced Standifer to an aggregate term of ninety years imprisonment. He raises one issue on appeal: whether the trial court violated his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation when it precluded him from cross-examining two of the State's witnesses about their bias based on the fact that one was a confidential informant and the other was on parole. We agree that the trial court erred in constraining cross-examination on these points, but we affirm the trial court because the errors were harmless in light of the other evidence.

Factual and Procedural Background

On January 11, 1997, Standifer, Chuck Worman, Larry Farley and Gloria Farley, Larry's wife and Standifer's sister, visited Toppers bar in Greencastle. Boehm approached the group and made it clear that he was looking for drugs. Standifer apparently agreed to a sale and the two went outside where they snorted crystal methamphetamine.

After Standifer and Boehm returned from the parking lot, all of the group except Boehm left Toppers. The Farleys went home and Worman and Standifer went to another bar and then returned to Toppers after a few minutes. When Worman and Standifer prepared to leave Toppers for the second time, Standifer asked Worman to give Boehm a ride home. On the way to Boehm's house, Worman's truck ran out of gas and Standifer decided to walk with Boehm to Boehm's house to call the Farleys for help while Worman waited in the truck. Worman eventually followed on foot to Boehm's house where Standifer told him that he had called the Farleys and they were bringing fuel for the truck. Worman testified that, as he was leaving the house, he saw Standifer hit Boehm twice in the face with a liquor bottle. The second time, the bottle broke. Worman testified that Boehm had no reaction after being hit and Worman witnessed no fight between Boehm and Standifer. Worman left Boehm's house, thinking that Standifer would follow him.

Worman returned to his truck alone where he encountered a DePauw police officer but did not report what he had witnessed at Boehm's house. When the Farleys arrived at the truck, Worman told them that he thought Standifer may have killed a man. The Farleys and Worman returned to the Farleys' house where Standifer soon called seeking a ride. Standifer spoke on the phone to both Farleys and also to Worman. Worman testified that Standifer told him to bring his truck to Boehm's house to pick up Boehm's television and VCR. Gloria testified that Standifer told her that he had tied up a man and she heard him threaten to cut the man's jugular if he did not "shut up." She also testified that she heard the sound of someone being hit and a gurgling sound "like the man was trying to scream out but he couldn't exactly do it." After Standifer hung up, the Farleys and Worman decided to call the police. When the police arrived at Boehm's house they found Boehm lying on the floor in a pool of blood, gasping for air. No one else was in the ransacked house.

Standifer was found hiding behind the Farleys' house. He admitted to police that after he hit Boehm in the face with a bottle, he continued to beat Boehm with his fist and kick him in the ribs, but he claimed it was in self-defense. He also beat Boehm with a fireplace iron or shovel, hit him with a plate, tied Boehm's wrists with an extension cord and put a blindfold on him. Standifer admitted that he went "above what was necessary" in beating Boehm. He then ransacked Boehm's house and took several items including jewelry and a VCR.

Boehm died two days later as a result of multiple blunt force injuries to his head that resulted in a blood clot that covered eighty percent of his brain's surface area. The pathologist testified that Boehm had suffered twenty to twenty-five blows to the head, none of which could have been caused with a fist. Many of the bones in Boehm's face and skull were broken.

Standifer was charged with five counts: attempted murder, aggravated battery, confinement, robbery and theft. After Boehm died, the information was amended to include murder and a habitual offender charge. At trial, the court prevented Standifer from asking Worman whether he was an informant for the police. During the cross-examination of Larry Farley, Standifer was permitted to reveal that Larry was on parole but was not permitted to question him about the amount of time remaining on his sentence that he would have to serve if he violated his parole. The jury convicted Standifer on all counts. The trial court merged the aggravated battery conviction with the murder conviction and sentenced Standifer to sixty years for the murder and thirty years for the habitual offender adjudication, to be served consecutively, and three years for confinement, eight years for robbery, and three years for theft, each to be served concurrently with the murder sentence, for a total sentence of ninety years.

Sixth Amendment Right to Cross-Examine to Establish Bias

"[A] primary interest" secured by the Confrontation Clause is the right of cross-examination. Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 315, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). A criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses is nevertheless subject to reasonable limitations placed at the discretion of the trial court to address concerns about harassment, prejudice, confusion or interrogation on issues only marginally relevant. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986). Standifer argues that his constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him was violated when the trial court limited his ability to cross-examine Worman and Larry on matters that established their bias in favor of the State and would have impaired their credibility. Standifer correctly points out that "[t]he partiality of a witness is subject to exploration at trial, and is always relevant as discrediting the witness and affecting the weight of his testimony." Davis, 415 U.S. at 316,94 S.Ct. 1105 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); accord Thornton v. State, 712 N.E.2d 960, 963-64 (Ind.1999)

(defendant must be afforded opportunity to conduct cross-examination of the State's witnesses to test their believability).

The trial court did not permit Standifer to cross-examine Worman about becoming an informant for the police sometime after Boehm died. Standifer argues that Worman's status as an informant and his resulting...