Woodford v. State
| Decision Date | 17 October 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 49S00-8710-PC-00902,49S00-8710-PC-00902 |
| Parties | Norman A. WOODFORD, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
J. Richard Kiefer, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Mary Dreyer, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
Appellant Norman Woodford and an accomplice robbed a Hook's drug store in Indianapolis. During the robbery, an Indianapolis police officer and Woodford's accomplice engaged in a gun battle. Both were killed. Subsequently, in November 1976, Woodford pled guilty to the murder of a police officer. Ind.Code Sec. 35-13-4-1(b)(1) (Burns 1975). He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Five years and eleven months later in December 1982, Woodford filed a petition for post-conviction relief challenging the validity of the guilty plea. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found in favor of the State on the issue of laches and denied Woodford's petition.
Upon appeal, this Court reversed denial of Woodford's petition and remanded to the trial court for a new evidentiary hearing in light of our decision in Twyman v. State (1984), Ind., 459 N.E.2d 705, which held that the State has the burden of proof with regard to laches. Woodford v. State (1985), Ind., 484 N.E.2d 563. On remand, the trial court held a second evidentiary hearing on Woodford's petition. The record of the first hearing was introduced by stipulation, and the trial court again found for the State. The court entered extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law including a conclusion that Woodford's guilty plea was knowingly and voluntarily entered. The trial court did not specifically state that laches barred Woodford's claim. Woodford appeals again, alleging that the trial court erred on the issue of laches and in finding for the State on the merits of his post-conviction claim. We affirm.
Woodford argues that the State failed to carry its burden of proof on the issue of laches. For laches to bar relief, the State must prove by a preponderance of the evidence, first, that the petitioner unreasonably delayed seeking relief, and, second, that the State has been prejudiced by the delay. Perry v. State (1987), Ind., 512 N.E.2d 841. In reviewing claims that evidence is insufficient to show laches, we do not reweigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of the witnesses. Rather, we consider only that evidence most favorable to the judgment, together with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. If the determination of the court is supported by substantial evidence of probative value, the judgment will be affirmed. Washington v. State (1987), Ind., 507 N.E.2d 239.
In this case, the evidence of prejudice presented by the State was not sufficient to sustain a finding of laches. After the second evidentiary hearing, the trial court issued the following findings of fact relevant to the prejudice part of the laches test:
b. The bullets and fragments recovered at the autopsy of Officer Manly and Robbie Woods are no longer available to the State, but were destroyed within five months of the sentencing on November 5, 1976.
c. The Hooks Shopping bag containing cigarettes and a bottle of baby oil were destroyed in April of 1977, less tha[n] Five (5) months after the sentencing hearing in this cause.
d. The 38. cal weapon obtained from Norman Woodford was ordered disposed of in 1984 and the .357 cal. Magnum connected with this case was ordered sold at auction in December, 1985.
e. State's witnesses Lilith Healy, Thomas Finch, Albert Belt, and James Terrell are available to testify at a new trial. Robin Denise Brooks failed to appear as subpoenaed for the P.C.R. hearing.
f. Detective Larkins testified at the hearing that Norman Woodford made a statement admitting his guilt to Detective Larkins, Detective Jerry Campbell and Detective Harry Dunn at approximately 4:30 p.m. on the date of his arrest. There is no waiver of rights form. All three police officers are presently available.
(Record at 144-45). Although the findings make it clear that all of the physical evidence from this case was disposed of, the extent to which the loss of that evidence prejudices the State must be measured against what its presence would have resolved at trial. In this case, witnesses are available to testify about how the physical evidence related to the crime, and none of the disposed evidence was so essential that its loss would prejudice the State enough to require a finding of laches.
Lack of prejudice to the State's case is also shown by the fact that all but one of the State's witnesses are available to testify. At the second post-conviction hearing, Lilith Healy, the cashier in the Hook's drug store, identified Woodford as the man who robbed her. Detective Larkins, the police detective who conducted the original investigation, also testified. Larkins was questioned about the availability of the State's other witnesses. He stated that Albert Belt, the drug store security guard who had positively identified Woodford, no longer had a permanent address but generally frequented a gambling establishment and could have been subpoenaed to testify. Larkins also testified that James Terrell, an ambulance driver who was driving by the drug store and saw Woodford fleeing from the scene, was living in Evansville and remembered the crime. Terrell was not subpoenaed to testify. Finally, Larkin testified that Thomas Finch, who talked to Woodford shortly after the crime and received from him a Hook's shopping bag containing a bottle of baby oil and a package of cigarettes purchased prior to the robbery, was still living in Indianapolis and was available to testify. Finch was not subpoenaed.
The fact that Terrell, Belt and Finch were not called to testify supports Woodford's argument that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support a finding of laches. The absence of the testimony of the three men, coupled with the relative unimportance of the physical evidence and Mrs. Healy's eyewitness testimony identifying Woodford lead us to conclude that the evidence presented by the State did not prove sufficient prejudice to its case. Rather than enter a finding on the State's affirmative defense of laches, the trial court addressed the merits of Woodford's case.
Woodford argues that the trial court erred by not making a finding on laches after the second evidentiary hearing. Many trial judges who had post-conviction petitions under advisement when this Court decided White v. State (1986), Ind., 497 N.E.2d 893, elected to pass over the State's customary affirmative defenses and go straight to the merits of the post-conviction claim. Judge Gifford's decision to do that in this litigation obviously did not harm Woodford, and given the evidence recited above, should not lead to a finding of laches anytime in the near future.
Woodford argues that the trial court's finding on the voluntary and intelligent nature of his guilty plea was erroneous for three reasons. First, Woodford argues that the trial court deprived him of due process and due course of law by applying standards for review of a guilty plea articulated in White v. State:
To decide a claim that a plea was not made voluntarily and intelligently, we will review all the evidence before the court which heard his post-conviction petition, including testimony given at the post-conviction trial, the transcript of the petitioner's...
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