Vehorn v. State

• Decision Date: 27 August 1999
• Docket Number: No. 49S00-9709-CR-491.,49S00-9709-CR-491.
• Citation: 717 N.E.2d 869
• Parties: Charles Bradley VEHORN, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

717 N.E.2d 869

Charles Bradley VEHORN, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 49S00-9709-CR-491.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

August 27, 1999.

Belle T. Choate, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Jeffrey A. Modisett, Attorney General of Indiana, Priscilla J. Fossum, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee. SULLIVAN, Justice.

Defendant Charles Vehorn was convicted of Murder and Auto Theft for shooting his girlfriend to death and stealing her car. He appeals, arguing that evidence of his stormy relationship with the victim was improperly admitted, that the vehicle was illegally searched, and that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. Finding to the contrary, we affirm Defendant's convictions.

We have jurisdiction over this direct appeal because the longest single sentence exceeds fifty years. Ind. Const. art. VII, § 4; Ind. Appellate Rule 4(A)(7).

Background

The facts most favorable to the verdict show that during the evening of April 2, 1996, Defendant shot his girlfriend, Brenda DeMoss, inside the house where they lived. One neighbor confirmed that both Defendant and DeMoss were home that evening, and another neighbor testified that around 7:00 p.m., three "bangs" that sounded like "fireworks" came from the direction of Defendant's residence.

At around 10:00 p.m. that same night, Defendant arrived at his father's house driving DeMoss's car. He appeared "nervous" and remarked to his father that he "messed up real bad." At one point during the conversation, he told his father that he had a .22 gun and ammunition. Defendant also told his father that DeMoss was visiting relatives. Two days later, Defendant departed his father's residence driving DeMoss's car.

After two days in which she did not show up for work, DeMoss's sisters went to her home on Friday, April 5th, 1996, to find the house locked and the shades pulled. They contacted a locksmith to open the door, and found DeMoss's body on the living room floor. She had been shot ten times with Defendant's .22 caliber rifle resulting in her death.

On May 13, 1996, Defendant was found sleeping in DeMoss's car in a public park in Riverdale, Georgia in violation of a city ordinance. After a patdown search, the police found a large kitchen knife under his coat. He was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. Soon thereafter, the police discovered that the vehicle was reported stolen. Pursuant to departmental policy, the police impounded the vehicle and performed an inventory search at the scene. Both the .22 caliber rifle and DeMoss's checkbook were found in the car. Defendant was charged with Murder¹ and Auto Theft.² The jury found Defendant guilty as to both counts, and the trial court imposed a sentence of 65 years for the Murder conviction and three years for the Auto Theft conviction.

Discussion

I

Defendant contends that the trial court committed reversible error by admitting the testimony of DeMoss's sister, Lisa Meece, that (1) Defendant and DeMoss had a stormy relationship and that (2) DeMoss had tried to end the relationship. Defendant argues that this testimony was inadmissible hearsay and was only offered as circumstantial proof that he murdered DeMoss.

Defendant challenged the admissibility of Meece's testimony during a pretrial evidentiary hearing. Before trial began, the State informed the court and Defendant of its intent to elicit certain testimony through DeMoss's sister about the nature of Defendant's relationship with DeMoss. Defendant objected to this testimony on the basis that it was inadmissible hearsay.³ The trial court heard argument and denied the motion. It held that it would allow testimony as to statements made by the victim concerning her intentions to ask Defendant to leave because these were "statements of her mind and relevant to the nature of the relationship." Later during trial, Defendant did not object to Meece's testimony describing the relationship as "rocky" and that DeMoss had tried to "kick [Defendant] out a couple of times." The State contends that Defendant waived any error in the admission of this evidence by failing to object when Meece's testimony was offered at trial.

As a general rule, motions in limine⁴ will not alone preserve errors for appeal; a party must contemporaneously reassert the party's objection at trial so as to allow the trial court an opportunity to make a final ruling on the matter in the proper context. White v. State, 687 N.E.2d 178, 179 (Ind.1997). While the prudent lawyer will always provide a contemporaneous objection at trial so as to preserve an issue for appeal, there are occasional exceptions to this general rule. This case provides one of them. During the pretrial hearing, the judge provided explicit assurance that an objection as to Meece's hearsay testimony was preserved for appeal when it told defense counsel that "even if you don't object, the Court will find ... that your objections to this type of evidence have been timely made."⁵ (R. at 157.) Finding that the issue of the admissibility of Meece's testimony has been properly preserved for appeal, we proceed to the merits of Defendant's argument.

Defendant contends that Meece's testimony is inadmissible hearsay and does not fall within the present state of mind exception. Rather, he maintains, it was offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted— that is, that the two had a stormy relationship and that DeMoss had asked Defendant to leave—"so that the Jury could then infer circumstantially that there would be a basis for [Defendant] to murder DeMoss." Furthermore, Defendant argues that DeMoss's state of mind at the time of her murder was not an issue at trial.

We accord the trial court substantial discretion in ruling on the relevancy of evidence. Hunter v. State, 578 N.E.2d 353 (Ind.1991); Thompson v. State, 613 N.E.2d 461, 466 (Ind.Ct.App.1993). Furthermore, we will reverse a trial court's hearsay ruling "only if the court has abused its discretion. We will sustain the trial court if it can be done on any legal ground apparent in the record." Light v. State, 547 N.E.2d 1073, 1081 (Ind. 1989) (citation omitted).

Only relevant evidence is admissible, Ind. Evidence Rule 402, and relevant evidence means "evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence," Evid. R. 401. A victim's state of mind is relevant where it has been put at issue by the defendant. Taylor v. State, 659 N.E.2d 535, 543 (Ind.1995). In this case, Defendant put DeMoss's state of mind at issue by trying to downplay difficulties in their relationship as merely the inevitable consequence of two individuals who lived a "hard life"; that they were not "uncommon" given their "on-again, off-again relationship."⁶ Also in evidence was Defendant's statement given during an extradition interview in Georgia to the effect that the status of Defendant's relationship with DeMoss was amicable and that DeMoss gave Defendant "permission to use the car."⁷

Having determined that the victim's state of mind was an issue at trial, we consider the question of hearsay. Hearsay is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at a trial or hearing, offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Ind. Evidence Rule 801(c). Hearsay is generally inadmissible. Evid. R. 802. However, a statement of the declarant's then existing state of mind is not excluded by the hearsay rule. Evid. R. 803(3); Ross v. State, 676 N.E.2d 339, 345 (Ind.1996).

If statements are admitted to show the declarant's state of mind, and not to prove the substantive content of those statements, they do not run afoul of the hearsay rule because, by definition, those statements are not "hearsay" pursuant to Evidence Rule 802. Angleton v. State, 686 N.E.2d 803, 809 (Ind.1997); see Lock v. State, 567 N.E.2d 1155, 1159-60 (Ind.1991) ("We find that the statements made by the victim [that they were `having trouble'] were properly admitted to prove that the relationship between the [defendant] and the victim was not completely benign, contrary to [defendant's] assertions at trial."), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 991, 112 S.Ct. 1686, 118 L.Ed.2d 400 (1992).

We recently approved of instances where statements are admissible to controvert a defendant's evidence when the defendant puts the victim's state of mind at issue. Ford v. State, 704 N.E.2d 457 (Ind.1998) (Victim's statement to witness "`that she was unhappy and that she wanted to leave but she was afraid that if she left [the defendant] again he would kill her,'" was admissible as indicative of her state of mind.); Taylor v. State, 659 N.E.2d 535 (Ind.1995) (Victim's statement to police officer that she was scared to come forward with sexual abuse allegations was admissible under state of mind exception.). Meece's testimony concerning (1) DeMoss's stormy relationship with Defendant and (2) DeMoss trying to end the relationship both fall into this category of statements offered for the non-hearsay purpose of showing the victim's state of mind. This testimony tends to contradict Defendant's argument that DeMoss allowed him to take her car and checkbook out of state, given that she had asked Defendant to leave their troubled relationship. Furthermore, we believe the probative value of this evidence is greater than any possible prejudicial effect, see Ford, 704 N.E.2d at 460; Lock, 567 N.E.2d at 1159-60, considering there was other evidence⁸ establishing their troubled relationship. See Cooley v. State, 682 N.E.2d 1277, 1282 (Ind.1997) (Any error in admitting testimony was harmless as the "hearsay evidence [was] merely cumulative of other evidence properly admitted."). The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Meece's testimony over Defendant's objection.

II

Defendant contends that evidence...