Stanley v. State
| Decision Date | 09 December 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 57S00-8610-CR-940,57S00-8610-CR-940 |
| Citation | 515 N.E.2d 1117 |
| Parties | Jack STANLEY, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Dennis D. Graft, Kendallville, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Joseph N. Stevenson, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
A jury trial resulted in a conviction for Involuntary Manslaughter While Committing a Battery, a Class C felony. Appellant was also determined to be an habitual offender. Appellant received a sentence of eight (8) years which was enhanced by thirty (30) years by reason of the habitual offender status.
The facts are: On June 11, 1985, appellant and his former wife, Irene Stanley, travelled from their home in Brimfield, Indiana, to Ligonier to speak with their daughter, Donita Stanley, concerning her children. When they arrived in Ligonier, the Stanleys saw Police Chief Robert Durham patrolling the street. Since the Stanleys were acquainted with Durham, they flagged him down and asked him to intercede in their behalf and talk with their daughter. This Durham did. When Durham ascended the stairs to Donita's apartment, the Stanleys stayed at the bottom of the stairs.
As the situation developed, Denzil Roberts, the decedent in this case, was in Donita's apartment. He exited the apartment and engaged appellant in an argument. In an attempt to quiet things down, Durham escorted appellant across the street and appellant seated himself on the passenger side of the pickup truck. Irene Stanley got into the driver's seat of the truck. Durham was standing by the driver's door of the truck. Roberts, who appeared to be intoxicated, also crossed the street to the truck. As Roberts approached, Irene Stanley exited the truck and was talking to Durham. Durham's back was to Roberts. Irene was facing him.
At that moment, a semi driven by Lester L. Key, Jr., was travelling south on the street at approximately twenty-four miles per hour. Key noticed the Stanley pickup truck and the person standing beside it. For that reason, he pulled to the middle of the street in order to allow maximum clearance between the vehicles and the persons. The testimony of Key was that he was watching the persons as he passed and that as the rear of his truck approached Roberts, appellant struck Roberts in the face with his fist, knocking him backwards under the rear wheels of the semi.
Durham testified that he did not see appellant strike Roberts, but that Irene screamed and he turned in time to see Roberts fall under the truck. At the time, Durham believed that Roberts had simply stumbled and fallen beneath the truck. Irene testified that Jack Stanley had exited the truck but was standing near the front right side and could not have struck Roberts.
Appellant claims the trial court erred in denying his motion for continuance based upon the failure of the State to produce the tractor and trailer involved in the accident. As early as November 12, 1985, almost three months before the trial commenced appellant began obtaining continuances in order to prepare for trial including the inspection of the truck involved. The State informed the court and appellant that the truck had broken down and that it was at Key's home in Wisconsin and it was not practical to transport it to Indiana. The type of truck and the manner in which it was equipped with mirrors was furnished to appellant, and in fact appellant was able to examine similar trucks with similar equipment and called witnesses, who were experienced in the operation of this type of vehicle, to testify concerning the visibility from the truck.
It was within the discretion of the trial court to determine the degree of compliance with appellant's motion to produce evidence. Given the facts of this case, we cannot say that the trial judge abused his discretion in determining that there had been a substantial compliance and that appellant did in fact have the information available to cross-examine Key concerning his ability to observe the victim falling under the wheels of the truck. Witnesses for appellant testified that in their opinion Key could not have seen what he testified to concerning the accident. However, Key testified emphatically as to what he did see. Thus, a question was raised for the determination of the jury as to the credibility of the witnesses. There is nothing in this record to indicate the trial court erred in requiring appellant to go to trial on February 5, 1986.
Appellant claims the trial court erred in sustaining the State's objection concerning the insurance premiums paid by Key. Appellant claims this information would demonstrate to the jury a possible motive for Key to fabricate his testimony. Appellant reasons that Key wanted to blame the accident on appellant in order to free himself from the possibility of an increase in his insurance premiums due to the accident. However, there is absolutely no evidence in this record to demonstrate that Key was at fault in any event. The only dispute is whether the victim fell under the wheels of the truck accidentally or whether he was struck by appellant which caused him to fall under the wheels.
The uncontradicted evidence shows that Key was proceeding at a slow rate of speed and that he pulled over as far as practical to place a maximum distance between his vehicle and the parties at the side of the road. We see no evidence in this record from which the jury could deduce that Key was in any danger of being blamed for the accident. We would further point out that the amount of insurance premiums being paid by Key would have very little significance as to the believability of Key's testimony. There is no showing in this record that Key was questioned as to whether or not his premiums had been raised due to this or any other accident.
If we would assume for the sake of argument that appellant's question might have led to such information, we observe that when such evidence is so marginally relevant, it is within the discretion of the trial court to determine its admissibility. Bieghler v. State (1985), Ind., 481 N.E.2d 78, cert. denied (1986), 475 U.S. 1031, 106 S.Ct. 1241, 89 L.Ed.2d 349. The trial court did not err in sustaining the State's objection.
Appellant claims there is insufficient evidence to support the verdict of the jury. Here appellant concedes that this Court will not reweigh the evidence but claims that because the only witness who testified that appellant struck the...
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