Wise v. State

• Decision Date: 19 November 1999
• Docket Number: No. 49S00-9806-CR-333.,49S00-9806-CR-333.
• Citation: 719 N.E.2d 1192
• Parties: William WISE, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

719 N.E.2d 1192

William WISE, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).

No. 49S00-9806-CR-333.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

November 19, 1999.

Katherine A. Cornelius, Marion County Public Defenders Office, 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.

William Wise was convicted of the murder of his seven-week-old son Matthew and of arson as a Class A felony. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of sixty years for murder and fifty years for arson. In this direct appeal he contends that (1) he was denied a fair trial because of the trial court's rulings on the admissibility of certain evidence; (2) there was insufficient evidence to support giving an instruction on accomplice liability; (3) the prosecutor engaged in misconduct by objecting to the admission of evidence found in the fire debris; (4) the constitutional guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures was violated when insurance company personnel searched his home without a warrant; and (5) there is insufficient evidence to support his convictions. Although we affirm the trial court on these issues, we reduce Wise's conviction for arson as a Class A felony to a Class B felony because the same evidence used by the jury to establish the essential elements of murder was also included among the evidence establishing the essential elements of arson as a Class A felony.

Factual and Procedural Background

William and Michelle Wise were married in July of 1992, two months after learning that Michelle was pregnant with Wise's child. Michelle delivered a baby boy, Matthew, on January 15, 1993. The three resided in a home with a central alarm system connected to smoke detectors and a burglar alarm. Matthew's nursery was on the second floor and the Wises' bedroom was on the ground level. A baby monitor was located under Matthew's bed and the Wises were able to hear Matthew crying through a portable receiver.

At about 2:00 a.m. on March 6, 1993, the Wises awoke to the sound of Matthew crying. Wise went upstairs to feed the baby and remained upstairs on the sofa afterward. Sometime between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., Michelle went upstairs where she found Wise asleep on the sofa. She spoke to him for about ten minutes and then started downstairs. Although Michelle did not see or smell any smoke, the alarm went off as she approached the stairway. The alarm had gone off previously when there was no fire. Wise went down the stairway to check the main control panel and Michelle followed. After checking another control panel located in the downstairs foyer, the Wises observed smoke coming from the upper level of the home. Wise then returned upstairs to get a cordless phone but did not go down the hallway to Matthew's room. Instead, he brought the phone downstairs, attempted to call 911, but told Michelle that the phone was not working. Wise asked Michelle to go to a neighbor's house to call 911, and stated that he would get Matthew. Michelle called 911 from a neighbor's home at 5:09 a.m., and Wise called 911 from another neighbor's house at 5:10 a.m. Michelle did not tell the 911 operator that Matthew was in the house, but Wise did state that "[t]he baby" was upstairs.

In his statement to police, Wise reported that before calling 911 he had made it to the hallway outside of Matthew's bedroom but was forced to turn back because he was having problems breathing. However, Indianapolis police officer Keith Williams arrived within ninety seconds of the dispatch and found Wise standing in the doorway. Wise, who had previously received fire training and was employed at the time as a fire/EMS dispatcher, was clad in firefighter's clothing (helmet, jacket, and boots) and told Williams that he was with the Indianapolis Fire Department. Williams believed that Wise had not been in the house because he was not coughing and did not have any soot on his face. Although Wise told Williams that there was a baby in the house, he did not mention that the child was his or indicate that he had attempted a rescue. At Williams' suggestion, the two men entered the house. They went up the stairs and turned left towards Matthew's room. Williams, who was not wearing fire gear, was overwhelmed by smoke and backed out of the house. Firefighters arrived as Williams was exiting, and Wise collided with one firefighter near the top of the stairs. The firefighters went to Matthew's room and extinguished the fire with a two to three second blast of a firehose at 5:16 a.m. The contents of the room were completely burned so that nothing stood more than six inches above the floor. After searching through the rubble by hand, a firefighter discovered Matthew's body.

Matthew's entire body, except for a portion of the groin area, was severely charred. Major portions of his arms and legs had been burned away, and the remaining underlying soft tissues were exposed. The pathologist opined that such injuries could not have been caused by a non-accelerated fire of fifteen to twenty minutes in duration. David Lepper, an Indianapolis Fire Department investigator, examined the remains of Matthew's room and concluded that the fire was intentionally set. James Finnerman, an electrical engineer, ruled out several accidental causes and also concluded that the fire had been intentionally set.

Nearly a year after the fire, Wise was charged with murder, felony murder, and arson as a Class A felony. After a two week trial a jury convicted him of all counts. The trial court merged the murder and felony murder convictions and sentenced Wise to consecutive terms of sixty years for murder and fifty years for arson.

I. Denial of a Fair Trial

Wise contends that he was denied a fair trial based on three rulings by the trial court. First, the trial court admitted a videotape of the burning of a "test room." Second, the judge ruled inadmissible evidence of the fire-starting capacity of baby monitors other than the specific Fisher Price model that had been in Matthew's room. Third, the trial court admitted testimony that Wise and Michelle had discussed the prospect of an abortion weeks before their marriage.

A. Demonstrative Evidence

State's exhibits 47 and 55 were videotapes of a "test room" similar to Matthew's room that was burnt by an independent laboratory. The State asked fire investigator Lepper if there was any way to illustrate his testimony about "the rapid burning, the total destruction of the room, point of origin, V patterns, is there anything else that you have that could illustrate that in a way other than State's Exhibit Number 55, or as well?" Lepper responded no. The exhibits were then admitted, over Wise's objection, as demonstrative exhibits only.

Demonstrative evidence is evidence offered for purposes of illustration and clarification. See Null v. State, 690 N.E.2d 758, 761 (Ind.Ct.App.1998) (citing Underly v. Advance Mach. Co., 605 N.E.2d 1186, 1195 (Ind.Ct.App.1993)). To be admissible, the evidence need only be sufficiently explanatory or illustrative of relevant testimony to be of potential help to the trier of fact. Id. The admissibility of demonstrative evidence, like all evidence, is also subject to the balancing of probative value against the danger of unfair prejudice. See Berry v. State, 715 N.E.2d 864, 867 (Ind.1999); Ind. Evidence Rule 403.

Wise's argument focuses on the differences between the "test room" and Matthew's room. He contends that although the test room "emulate[d] Matthew's room in all the emotional senses, [it] failed to duplicate the actual room in all the practical senses," such as ventilation, materials used to construct the walls, the use of new furniture instead of antique furniture, and the lack of insulation and roofing. These concerns would be valid if the exhibits had been offered as reconstructive evidence. See Underly, 605 N.E.2d at 1195 (defining reconstructive evidence as "evidence offered to recreate conditions substantially similar to those existing at the time of the issue being litigated"). However, the videotapes were admitted for demonstrative purposes only and the jury was admonished to consider them solely for that purpose. Because the exhibits explained and illustrated Lepper's testimony in a way that was potentially helpful to the jury, they were properly admitted as demonstrative evidence.

Wise also contends that the exhibits should have been excluded under Evidence Rule 403 because the videotape "spent a considerable amount of time showing how wonderful, warm and comfortable the room looked like, especially concentration on those decorations in the room which made it a nursery." Rule 403 mandates the exclusion of evidence when its probative value is "substantially outweighed" by the danger of unfair prejudice. Trial courts are given wide latitude in balancing these concerns, and we review their determination for an abuse of discretion. See Ingram v. State, 715 N.E.2d 405, 408 (Ind.1999). As explained above, the exhibits offered probative value by illustrating Lepper's testimony. The trial court was within its discretion in concluding that any danger of unfair prejudice arising out of the inclusion of stuffed animals, baby shoes, or a doll in the crib of the test room did not substantially outweigh the probative value of these exhibits.

B. Exclusion of Evidence Regarding Other Baby Monitors

A Fisher Price model 1510 baby monitor was in the Wises' home. Wise contends that the trial court erred by excluding as irrelevant evidence that other brands of baby monitors could cause fires. Relevant evidence is evidence that tends "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." Ind. Evidence Rule 401. We review a trial court's ruling as to relevance for...