Woodrum v. State

Citation498 N.E.2d 1318
Decision Date30 October 1986
Docket NumberNo. 22A01-8602-CR-47,22A01-8602-CR-47
PartiesDarrell Glenn WOODRUM, Defendant-Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Plaintiff-Appellee.
CourtCourt of Appeals of Indiana

J. Patrick Biggs, New Albany, for defendant-appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Michael Gene Worden, Deputy Atty. Gen., Office of the Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for plaintiff-appellee.

NEAL, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Defendant-appellant, Darrell Glenn Woodrum (Darrell), appeals the decision of the Floyd Superior Court, which sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter, a Class C felony, based on jury verdicts finding him guilty of the offenses of involuntary manslaughter, battery, and reckless homicide.

We affirm and remand.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

Darrell met Janna Jo Sensinger (Janna) at Indiana Vocational and Technical College in the early summer of 1984. Both worked at the college, Darrell as an electronics instructor and Janna as a secretary. At this time, Janna had been separated from her husband, and she was living in a house with her daughter, Meghann, born December 16, 1982, the victim-decedent. Darrell was divorced and had custody of his daughter, Chari, around 4 years old. Around the beginning of October 1984, Darrell and Chari moved in with Janna and Meghann. Meghann died on January 15, 1985. Janna's divorce was finalized on February 28, 1985, and Darrell and Janna married on March 2, 1985.

After Darrell and Chari moved into Janna's residence, Darrell and Janna made several attempts to acclimate the children toward each other and the adults in order to establish a family household setting. Darrell and Janna read several books on the subject and made several agreements designed to raise and discipline the children equally.

Since Meghann was very possessive of her mother and usually preferred her mother's assistance when she was present, Darrell and Janna agreed Darrell should try to assist Meghann out of Janna's presence. On the morning of Meghann's death, Darrell was alone with Meghann trying to get her dressed. Meghann began to cry and Janna entered the room. Darrell became upset with Janna for coming into the room, breaching their agreement. Darrell then threw a T-shirt on a pile of clothes, which irritated Janna. After Janna finished dressing Meghann, Janna and Darrell took the children to the car in order to take them to a day-care center on their way to work. Chari got in the back seat first, and Janna pushed her over to make room for Meghann. Darrell then became irritated and switched the girls' positions in the seat. Janna then took Meghann out of the car, said she wasn't going to work, and started for the house. Darrell stopped her, they discussed the situation, and she returned to the car with Meghann. After dropping the children off at the day-care center and going to work, Darrell and Janna discussed the incidents that morning and over lunch, and resolved their differences.

The day-care center was operated by Diane Haffield, and it was located in the remodeled basement of Diane and Jerry Haffield's house. Diane was in charge of the day-care center for approximately three years. Kim Hartlauf started babysitting on a full-time basis when Diane was hospitalized in early January 1985, but she had acted as a part-time substitute babysitter for about four months prior. Kim testified that the average age of children at the day-care center ranged from two to four years old, plus her son who was five.

On the day of Meghann's death, the girls were fine when they arrived at the day-care center. Kim testified that there were approximately ten children at the day-care center on that day. Kim stated Meghann gritted her teeth all day and that was the only time she ever saw Meghann do that. Janna later testified that Meghann gritted her teeth all the time. Otherwise, Kim testified that Meghann was in good health all day. She changed Meghann's diapers three times during the day; she did not notice any bruises, she did not notice any discomfort or distress, and she did not notice any crying during the day. Kim had seen Darrell pick up the children on only one other occasion. When he arrived on that day, Meghann cried, appeared terrified of Darrell, and didn't want to go home. Kim dressed Meghann and persuaded her Darrell left work at 5:00 p.m., and it took him about twenty minutes to arrive at the day-care center. He spent approximately fifteen minutes at the day-care center, and it took five to ten minutes to drive the girls home. Darrell testified that once home he left the girls' coats on, gave them some candy, and told them to play while he made a few phone calls. He called Janna, a potential employer, then Janna again. When Darrell was on the phone, he said Chari came up to him and said Meghann was throwing up. After he was off the phone, Darrell checked Meghann but did not notice any signs that she had thrown up. Nevertheless, Darrell took a towel for the ride back to pick up Janna in case Meghann threw up in the car. The ride back to the college took thirty minutes. Darrell took the children to his office so he could put some work away and so they wouldn't interfere with Janna as she was trying to finish. Darrell testified that it wasn't until they reached his office that he noticed something wrong with Meghann. Darrell then called Janna and indicated something was wrong; Janna spoke with Meghann over the phone and then went to Darrell's office.

to go as Darrell wrote out a check for the day-care services.

When Janna arrived she said they needed to take Meghann to the hospital. Janna testified that Darrell's opinion was that, since he never took Meghann's coat off, she was only hot and sleepy. Nevertheless, Darrell agreed they should go to the hospital, and even scolded Chari to get her to hurry. The hospital records at Clark County Hospital indicate Meghann was admitted to the emergency room at 6:48 p.m.

Dr. Edward Schroeter was the emergency room physician who initially treated Meghann. He noticed Meghann was not breathing when she arrived, and after resuscitating her, he also noticed she had cuts on the inside of her lip and faint bruises around her navel. Dr. Schroeter was provided with a medical history and ran several tests on Meghann, none of which proved conclusive. He also conferred with other doctors at the emergency room. Based on the medical history provided by Darrell and Janna, Meghann was essentially treated wrongly for the first forty-five minutes, as her condition did not improve. It was then decided that Meghann must have internal bleeding, and she was transferred to Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, at 8:05 p.m.

Dr. Schroeter went with Meghann to Children's Hospital, and Dr. Diller B. Graff performed surgery around 9:45 p.m. Dr. Graff testified that the mesentery around her bowel was torn, and since she had lost so much blood, it would no longer clot. She essentially bled to death in surgery around 11:40 p.m.

Dr. Douglas Ackerman performed an autopsy on Meghann's body, which showed that the cause of death was an acute, blunt trauma to the abdomen. He stated he found circular bruises in the abdomen, two sets of four, which led him to the opinion that Meghann was struck twice by a fist in the abdomen. A forensic pathologist also stated that the force causing the injury could not have been inflicted by a person less than ten years of age.

Several opinions were expressed as to when the injuries occurred. Dr. Schroeter testified that the internal injuries occurred an hour to an hour-and-a-half before Meghann arrived at the emergency room. Another doctor stated the injuries should have occurred minutes to hours prior to emergency room treatment. Finally, an investigating detective stated a pathologist told him the injuries occurred two to twelve hours from the time they were looking at Meghann's remains, which would have been after death. Two of the doctors who testified stated it was difficult to pinpoint the exact time the injuries were sustained. Regarding the cuts on the inside of Meghann's lip, Dr. Schroeter testified they occurred within a half-hour before Meghann arrived at the emergency room. He observed that because there had been no maceration or watering of the cuts as usually happens, they were fresh cuts. Other doctors testified that since there Janna was called to testify for both the State and Darrell. She did not believe that Darrell caused Meghann's injuries. She testified that Darrell even scolded her not to hit the girls in the face when disciplining them. However, Janna's father testified that Janna told him that she would stay with Darrell even if he did it. Janna's mother also testified that at one point, Janna wanted her to take Meghann to Florida with her and offered to pay support. Other pertinent facts will be discussed below.

were no corresponding bruises on the outside of the lips, the injuries on the inside were consistent with placing a hand over the mouth with firm, direct pressure on the lips.

ISSUES

Darrell presents the following issues for our review:

I. The verdicts were not supported by facts presented at trial of this matter.

II. The verdicts were contrary to law in that defendant was found guilty by the jury of the mutually exclusive offenses of reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter and battery, a Class C felony, by striking Meghann M. Sensinger in the abdomen with his fist, because, by law, defendant could not have acted knowingly and recklessly in the same act.

III. The court erred in not granting defendant's motion for a mistrial following the prosecutor's emotional and highly prejudicial outburst in front of the jury, which was directed at the defendant as he was testifying at trial.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

ISSUE I: Sufficiency of the Evidence

Darrell was found guilty by a jury of the offenses of involuntary manslaughter, battery and reckless homicide; and the trial...

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  • Hughes v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Appellate Court
    • June 8, 1987
    ... ... Cheney v. State (1985), Ind., 486 N.E.2d 508. Circumstantial evidence is sufficient if an inference may reasonably be drawn from that evidence which supports the verdict. Woodrum v. State (1986), Ind.App., 498 N.E.2d 1318. Though evidence is circumstantial, a verdict upon which reasonable men may differ will not be set aside. Brooks v. State (1986), Ind., 497 N.E.2d 210. Moreover, our supreme court has held that where a person has the sole or exclusive opportunity to ... ...
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    ... ... State, 516 N.E.2d 63, 65 (Ind.1987). "This standard is measured by the probable persuasive effect the alleged misconduct had on the jury's decision and whether there were repeated instances of misconduct which would evidence a deliberate attempt to improperly prejudice the defendant." Woodrum v. State, 498 N.E.2d 1318, 1325-26 (Ind.Ct.App.1986) ...         The presence of jury admonitions may be considered in determining whether an error is harmless. Bonner, 650 N.E.2d at 1142. However, the simple fact that an admonition is given does not necessarily mean that particularly ... ...
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