Thompson v. State
| Decision Date | 02 October 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. 45A03–1201–CR–5.,45A03–1201–CR–5. |
| Citation | 976 N.E.2d 145 |
| Parties | Douglas THOMPSON, Appellant–Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee–Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from the Lake Superior Court; The Honorable Clarence D. Murray, Judge; Cause No. 45G02–1004–MR–7.
Mark A. Bates, Office of the Lake County Public Defender, Appellate Division, Crown Point, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Justin F. Roebel, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
Douglas Thompson (“Thompson”) appeals his conviction of and sentence for murder, a felony, contending that the trial court erred by admitting his recorded statement to police officers and evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant, and that his sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and character of the offender.
We affirm.
The facts most favorable to the verdict and relevant to this appeal reveal that on the evening of April 9, 2010, Beverly Thompson (“Beverly”) was found dead in a pool of blood in her home at 632 Hillside Street in Dyer, Indiana, by her daughter, Cheryl Majchrowicz (“Cheryl”). Beverly's son-in-law, Mark Majchrowicz (“Mark”), attempted resuscitation, but noted that her body felt lukewarm or cold. It was later determined that her death was caused by multiple blunt force traumas to her head, likely inflicted by use of a hammer or something similar. The traumas to her head resulted in extensive skull fracturing, extensive lacerations, and multiple hemorrhages in her brain. A coroner determined that the extensive bleeding indicated that Beverly did not die immediately, but survived and bled for a period of time after the wounds were inflicted.
Officers who responded to the scene observed that the house appeared as if it had been staged to look like a burglary had occurred. Most of the house was organized with only a few items of jewelry missing. Some drawers were open, but in a stair-stepped manner with many of the contents undisturbed. Items of observable value were left untouched, including rings, watches, necklaces, televisions, and computers. A purse and a bank bag containing $1,100 in cash were left in plain sight. Two officers testified that the door to the garage, the apparent point of entry, was damaged in a way suggesting the damage occurred while the door was already open.
The investigation began with an interview of Beverly's family members. Beverly's daughter told the officer that Beverly had worked at her beauty shop until approximately 3:30 p.m. and then drove home, calling Cheryl and Cheryl's sister, Amy Bensema (“Amy”), while driving. Officers also spoke with Thompson, who had been married to Beverly for forty-one years. On the first occasion, Thompson was interviewed at St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Hospital, where he was being treated for anxiety. Thompson told the officers that he had only stopped by his residence that afternoon to retrieve some boxes, and did not mention seeing his wife. He stated that he was accompanied by his employee, Reginald Coleman (“Coleman”). When the officers told Thompson that Beverly had been killed, he insisted that she had died of a heart attack.
The officers interviewed Coleman that same evening. Coleman told them that he and Thompson had been working together at Thompson's liquor store and left work together in Thompson's truck at approximately 2:45 p.m. The two went to Thompson's house where Coleman waited in the garage while Thompson spent approximately twenty to twenty-five minutes in the house. Coleman stated that he did not know the reason why they were stopping at the house, but had been told that they would not be doing any work there. The two had brought boxes from the store to give to Thompson's daughter, Cheryl, for her to use while moving. When Thompson returned to the truck, he was carrying a black garbage bag, which he tossed in the back of his truck. Thompson told Coleman that Beverly would be arriving soon and went back into the house.
Beverly arrived and parked her car in the garage. Thompson met Beverly and they went into the house together. When Thompson returned approximately thirty minutes later, Coleman noticed that Thompson was wheezing as if he had done some heavy lifting or moving. Thompson put another black garbage bag in the bed of the truck, and the two left Thompson's house. Police officers later confirmed Coleman's timeline with a neighbor's surveillance video.
Coleman and Thompson went to Cheryl's house for about forty-five minutes before Thompson left to take Coleman to his apartment. The apartment was half of a duplex owned by Thompson, which Coleman shared with Thompson's sister. Thompson, Cheryl, Amy, and Thompson's sons-in-law had decided to go to a restaurant for dinner. Thompson and Cheryl placed calls to Beverly to no avail. Cheryl and Mark drove to her parents' house because they were going to give Thompson a ride to the restaurant. They discovered Beverly's body at that time, and Thompson arrived shortly thereafter. Officers arrived almost immediately in response to the 911 call, and it was then that Thompson inquired if Beverly had suffered a heart attack. Thompson began to hyperventilate and was later taken to the hospital.
On the afternoon of April 10, 2010, officers brought Thompson to the police station for a second statement. Thompson was met by attorney Joseph Bombagetti (“Bombagetti”), who happened to be a family member. Bombagetti told the officers at the outset, “Before this gets going, I don't do criminal law for a living, so I am kinda trying to understand why we need a recorded statement.” Ex. 112 at 15:35:00–07. One of the officers told Bombagetti that they were making it a practice to record all statements, and noted that it would be a requirement as of January 1, 2011. Bombagetti replied that they would be willing to cooperate if the officers insisted on recording Thompson's statement, but that he wanted to have Thompson speak with an attorney who practiced criminal law and reschedule the statement for later in the week.
One of the officers told the two that they wanted an “open discussion” about the recording issue and told Thompson that everyone involved in the investigation would want the matter to be resolved quickly. Bombagetti agreed that it was important to act swiftly and asked the officers what topics they wanted to clarify in the second statement. The officers told the two that they wanted to revisit Thompson's timeline. Bombagetti told the officers that Thompson had already provided that information, and that if they were going to ask the same questions, only recording them this time, he was going to have to request that they reschedule the meeting. The officers explained that they were not trying to ask the same questions, but were trying to go over the timeline after Thompson had a chance to calm down and understand what had occurred. Immediately following that explanation, Thompson began to repeat his account of what had occurred without making further requests that his statement not be recorded or asking that the meeting be rescheduled.
During the interview, Thompson told the officers that he was only home long enough to urinate before Beverly arrived and that he left only a few minutes later. While Thompson was in the interview room, the officers examined Thompson's cell phone, which showed that Beverly had called Thompson's cell phone at 3:22 p.m. Thompson, however, denied that the phone call occurred. Thompson further denied Coleman's claim that Thompson picked up a garbage bag at the house. Thompson said, “there was no fucking garbage bag in the back of my truck.” Ex. 112 at 17:14:20–24. The recorded statement also included two segments where Thompson was alone speaking with Bombagetti.
After the interview, Thompson went to his daughter Amy's house. When he returned there he told Beverly's brother, Robert Tortolano, Sr. (“Tortolano”), that Coleman had “changed the fucking story.” Tr. at 238. Amy, and her husband, Scott Bensema (“Scott”), heard Thompson say that Coleman was “changing his story.” Id. at 119, 164. Thompson explained that he and Coleman were “at the house for five minutes,” and Coleman claimed they were there for “an hour and a half.” Id. at 239. Thompson also claimed that Coleman “don't know the difference between a bag and a box.” Id .
After obtaining the statements from Coleman and Thompson, officers obtained a search warrant for Coleman's apartment and “all buildings, barns, garages, sheds, or other structures located upon such real estate.” Search Ex. 1 at 1. Officer Dan Foley (“Officer Foley”) stated in his supporting affidavit that Beverly had been found dead in a pool of blood at her residence, that there was evidence the garage entrance door had been damaged, and the back sliding door was open. Id. at 3–4. He also stated that a glove was on the ground in front of the sliding glass door. Id. Officer Foley further stated that both Thompson and Coleman admitted to being present at the residence a few hours before the body was discovered, their accounts differed. Those discrepancies were highlighted in the affidavit, which also included the fact that Thompson was the owner of the duplex where Coleman lived.
During the course of the search, officers recovered a black garbage bag of clothing in the carport, which was inside a paper lawn refuse bag along with lawn debris. The clothing included a pair of pants, a shirt, and socks. Testing showed the clothing was spattered with Beverly's blood and also contained Thompson's DNA in the collar of the shirt and the waistband of the pants. While there, the officers saw a pickup truck, which was registered to Thompson's business, in the carport. An air conditioning unit was in the bed of the truck. From that unit, the officers were able to recover a department store bag with...
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