Thompson v. State

Decision Date02 October 1996
Docket NumberNo. 33S00-9309-CR-1026,33S00-9309-CR-1026
Citation671 N.E.2d 1165
PartiesJerry K. THOMPSON, Defendant-Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Plaintiff-Appellee.
CourtIndiana Supreme Court

Eugene C. Hollander, Special Assistant to the Office of the State Public Defender, Indianapolis, for defendant-appellant.

Pamela Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Lisa M. Paunicka, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for plaintiff-appellee.

DICKSON, Justice.

Defendant Jerry Thompson was convicted of the murder of Wesley Crandall, Jr., in Crandall's New Castle home, on February 14, 1991. After being found to be a habitual offender, the defendant was sentenced to a term of ninety years. In this direct appeal, 1 the defendant raises two issues: (1) sufficiency of the evidence and (2) effectiveness of his trial counsel. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The defendant contends that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support his conviction because it almost entirely either consisted of, or derived from, the assertions of his alleged accomplice, Douglas Percy. The defendant claims Percy committed the murder and lied about the defendant's participation. He alternatively argues that the statements of two other persons originally charged in the murder reveal a knowledge of the crime and the murder scene that necessarily implicates either them or the detective who took their statements, thus exonerating the defendant.

An appellate claim of insufficient evidence will prevail if, considering the evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom that support the judgment, and without weighing evidence or assessing witness credibility, we conclude that no reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Case v. State, 458 N.E.2d 223, 226 (Ind.1984); Loyd v. State 272 Ind. 404, 407, 398 N.E.2d 1260, 1264, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 881, 101 S.Ct. 231, 66 L.Ed.2d 105 (1980). A murder conviction may rest solely on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. Lowery v. State, 547 N.E.2d 1046, 1053 (Ind.1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 881, 111 S.Ct. 217, 112 L.Ed.2d 176 (1990).

The evidence favorable to the verdict reveals that, several weeks prior to the murder, Thompson and Percy drove to New Castle, Indiana, where Percy introduced the defendant to Crandall, a marijuana dealer. On February 12, 1991, two days prior to the murder, Thompson instructed his girlfriend to purchase a twelve-gauge shotgun and ammunition. After she had purchased the shotgun, Thompson and Percy altered the shotgun by shortening the barrel and fashioned a sling to carry the weapon. On the morning of the murders, Thompson asked Percy to accompany him to New Castle to purchase marijuana from Crandall and requested that Percy bring along the sawed-off shotgun. After they entered Crandall's home, Thompson requested the shotgun from Percy and went into the kitchen. Percy then heard a thud, and Thompson told him, "I think I broke his neck." When Percy entered the kitchen, he saw Crandall's body on the floor. Thompson told Percy to take the marijuana that Crandall stored in his refrigerator. Percy then saw Thompson attempt to shoot the decedent with two different small handguns. After these guns misfired, Thompson exited the kitchen, returned with a pillow and the sawed-off shotgun, and shot Crandall through the pillow in the head. Thompson and Percy then took the bag of marijuana along with a trash bag filled with various ammunition and handguns and left Crandall's home. During their return trip to Indianapolis, Thompson and Percy discussed their alibis. Thompson later destroyed some of the weapons that he had taken from Crandall's house and sold the others. Soon after the murder occurred, two other men, Ralph Jacobs and Christopher Smith, were arrested, confessed, and pleaded guilty to the crime. The ensuing convictions of Jacobs and Smith, however, were overturned when the trial court granted their petitions for post-conviction relief, which in part alleged that their confessions resulted from improper police interrogation.

Notwithstanding the defendant's assertion that Percy was the exclusive source of essentially all of the evidence against him, the weight and credibility of Percy's testimony were matters to be evaluated and determined by the jury. See Lowery, 547 N.E.2d at 1053. Likewise, because the jury was not bound to credit the statements of Jacobs and Smith, we reject the defendant's claim that the evidence is insufficient because of the allegedly self-incriminatory nature of the particularized information reflected within these statements. We find that a reasonable jury could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The defendant also seeks discharge or a new trial on the grounds that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. 2 In support of this contention, he specifies thirty-three instances of alleged ineffectiveness, which he groups into the following categories:

a. failure to request a change of venue,

b. failure to request a change of judge,

c. failure to seek appointment of a special prosecutor,

d. failure to limit scope of prejudicial factual information,

e. ineffective representation during voir dire proceedings,

f. failure to object to repetitious hearsay testimony,

g. failure to present witness testimony,

h. failure to object to testimony regarding guns and gun parts, and

i. miscellaneous other allegations of deficient representation.

The resolution of the defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is guided by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the United States Supreme Court's decisions interpreting that provision, specifically Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and its progeny. As explained in Spranger v. State, 650 N.E.2d 1117 (Ind.1995):

Strickland embodies the following principles. Reversal for ineffective assistance of counsel may be appropriate in cases where a defendant shows both (a) that counsel's performance failed to meet an objective standard of reasonableness as measured by predominate professional norms, and (b) that such deficient performance so prejudiced the defendant as to deprive him of a fair trial. It shall be strongly presumed that counsel assisted the defendant adequately and exercised reasonable professional judgment in making all significant decisions. Judicial scrutiny of counsel's performance is highly deferential and should not be exercised through the distortions of hindsight. Inexperience or isolated instances of poor tactics or strategy do not necessarily amount to ineffectiveness of counsel. To prove resulting prejudice amounting to the deprivation of a fair trial, the defendant must demonstrate a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's deficient performance, the result would have been different.

Id. at 1121 (citations omitted).

When evaluating ineffectiveness claims, courts must be cognizant of the fact that "[t]here are countless ways to provide effective assistance in any given case. Even the best criminal defense attorneys would not defend a particular client in the same way." Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065, 80 L.Ed.2d at 695. Accordingly, when appellate courts are considering the claim of actual ineffectiveness of counsel, they "must judge the reasonableness of counsel's challenged conduct on the facts of the particular case, viewed as of the time of counsel's conduct." Id. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066, 80 L.Ed.2d at 695.

At the outset we observe the breadth of the defense trial counsel's efforts on the defendant's behalf. In pre-trial proceedings, his counsel initiated various proceedings and filed and pursued various motions, including a notice of intent to impose insanity defense, a notice of alibi, a motion to determine competence, a motion for bail, a motion for transcripts of the Jacobs and Smith proceedings, a motion for employment of forensic scientists at public expense, eight motions in limine a motion to produce, thirty subpoenas (including two subpoenas duces tecum), and a pre-trial deposition. Defense counsel called thirty-two witnesses at the five-day hearing on the defendant's motion for bail and seven witnesses during the seven-day jury trial, and he conducted competent cross-examinations of the thirty-three prosecution witnesses at trial.

The defendant's first allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel rests on his claim that his trial attorney failed to raise the issue of pre-trial publicity, to gather the necessary documentation, or to request a change of venue. As noted by the defendant, the record of proceedings does not contain any supporting documentation to demonstrate the existence of such publicity. However, he asserts that the presence of pervasive pre-trial publicity is established by the trial court's decision to conduct individual voir dire of the prospective jurors on the matter of pre-trial publicity and the judge's statement to the jury panel that "there probably will be publicity generated about what we are doing today, in newspaper, on radio, perhaps on television." Record at 1698.

This conduct by the judge does not establish the existence of such prejudicial publicity that defense counsel should necessarily have sought a change of venue. The defendant has not demonstrated that trial counsel was deficient in this regard.

The defendant next argues that his trial counsel's ineffectiveness is evidenced by counsel's failure to request a change of judge or the appointment of a special prosecutor. The defendant emphasizes that Judge McNichols, who presided at his trial, had also presided over both the criminal proceedings in which Jacobs and Smith were charged with and pleaded guilty to Crandall's murder and the subsequent post-conviction proceedings that led to the reversal of their convictions. Similarly, the defendant points to the role of the Henry County Prosecutor in the reopening of the...

To continue reading

Request your trial
27 cases
  • Woods v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • November 23, 1998
    ...cases rejecting on direct appeal ineffectiveness claims based on failure to challenge the admissibility of evidence); Thompson v. State, 671 N.E.2d 1165, 1171 (Ind.1996) (rejecting ineffectiveness claim based on failure to call witness who had testified at a pretrial hearing and noting a "v......
  • Stephenson v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • January 25, 2001
    ...concluded that such testimony is alone sufficient to sustain a conviction. See Timberlake, 690 N.E.2d at 252; see also Thompson v. State, 671 N.E.2d 1165, 1167 (Ind.1996), reh'g denied; Garrison v. State, 589 N.E.2d 1156, 1159 (Ind. 1992); Douglas v. State, 520 N.E.2d 427, 428 (Ind.1988). W......
  • Rondon v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • May 25, 1999
    ...seek a change of venue is generally a matter of trial strategy that we will not second-guess on collateral attack."); Thompson v. State, 671 N.E.2d 1165, 1169 (Ind.1996) (stating that "a decision by trial counsel concerning whether to file particular motions is a matter of trial strategy 19......
  • Timberlake v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • December 30, 1997
    ...a defendant must prove that an objection would have been sustained and that he was prejudiced by the failure. See Thompson v. State, 671 N.E.2d 1165, 1171 (Ind.1996). The alleged instances can be summarized as: 1) failure to object to the testimony of Robbins; 2) failure to object to a poli......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT