Opinion

Tywan A. James v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

Court
Indiana Court of Appeals
Filed
Feb 11, 2020
Status
Published
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 11.0%

The opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), FILED

this Memorandum Decision shall not be Feb 11 2020, 8:04 am

regarded as precedent or cited before any

CLERK

court except for the purpose of establishing Indiana Supreme Court

Court of Appeals

the defense of res judicata, collateral and Tax Court

estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE

Jonathan D. Harwell Curtis T. Hill, Jr.

Harwell Legal Counsel LLC Attorney General of Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana

Justin F. Roebel

Supervising Deputy Attorney

General

Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Tywan A. James, February 11, 2020

Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.

18A-CR-2703

v. Appeal from the Marion Superior

Court

State of Indiana, The Honorable Mark D. Stoner,

Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge

Trial Court Cause No.

49G06-1710-MR-39787

Shepard, Senior Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-CR-2703 | February 11, 2020 Page 1 of 19

[1] Tywan James appeals his convictions of two counts of murder by claiming error

in the admission of certain evidence and insufficiency. He also asserts that his

sentence is inappropriate. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] On September 29, 2017, twenty-three-year-old Martina Webb and twenty-one-

year-old Aliyah Igartua drove from Gary to Indianapolis to pick up Jason

Ballard. Ballard lived in Gary but was in Indianapolis for a family gathering at

his aunt’s house. Webb and Ballard had known each other since middle school

and were seeing one another at the time of this incident. At some point that

evening, Webb and Igartua were present with Ballard at Ballard’s aunt’s home

on Winfield Avenue in Indianapolis.

[3] At 9:03 p.m., officers responded to a dispatch of shots fired on Winfield

Avenue, but they were unable to locate a suspect. Around midnight, officers

were dispatched to a vehicle fire at an address about four blocks from the

Winfield Avenue location to which they had been dispatched earlier. Inside the

vehicle, police found the bodies of two women who were later identified as

Webb and Igartua. Webb had suffered a gunshot wound to her head, and

Igartua had suffered a wound to her hand as well as her head. It was later

determined that both women had died before the fire because neither of them

had soot in their airways. The fire investigator determined that gasoline had

been applied to the passenger compartment and portions of the car’s exterior.

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[4] Detective Jones, a homicide detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan

Police Department (IMPD), contacted Webb’s mother and learned that Webb

had come to Indianapolis to pick up Ballard. The detective then spoke to

Ballard on September 30 and took a recorded statement from him.

[5] That same day, police found a pool of dried blood on the sidewalk and two .40

caliber shell casings in the same area of Winfield Avenue where shots had been

fired the previous night. Testing revealed that the blood was Igartua’s, and the

bullet recovered from her head during her autopsy was a .40 caliber.

[6] The following day, October 1, Michael Smith, appellant’s cousin, appeared at a

police roll call location and spoke with Detective Jones. As he spoke, Smith

was shaking, crying, and pacing, and he identified “Tywan” as the person who

shot Webb. Tr. Vol. III, p. 56. Based on this information and further

investigation by Detective Jones, officers prepared a photo array and showed it

to Smith. Smith identified James in the array and signed his name indicating

1

so. The State charged James with two counts of murder.

[7] During her investigation, Detective Jones had obtained the name of Martell

Marshall from Smith and Ballard. In March 2018, she visited Marshall and

obtained a statement in which he identified “Tywan” as the shooter. Id. at 65.

1

Ind. Code § 35-42-1-1 (2017).

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[8] The case went to trial in September 2018, and Ballard, Smith, and Marshall all

testified. Ballard testified he was at his aunt’s house on Winfield Avenue with

Smith and Marshall on September 29, 2017. He denied James’ presence at his

aunt’s house that night, and he denied being present when the shots were fired;

he testified that he had gone out in Broad Ripple that evening.

[9] Smith testified that he is a childhood friend of Webb’s, that he has known

Ballard his whole life, and that he has known Marshall for several years. He

denied being in Indianapolis on September 29, 2017, and stated that he did not

recall giving a statement to Detective Jones on October 1, that he did not

recognize the photo array, and that the signature on the array was not his. The

State then used Smith’s statement to impeach him, and the trial court gave a

limiting instruction advising the jury of such. In his statement, Smith had told

Detective Jones that he had been with Ballard and Marshall on September 29,

that he saw Webb get shot once in the head as she sat in the front passenger seat

of her vehicle, and that James pulled the trigger. He also said that after James

shot Webb, Igartua exited the vehicle and tried to run. The lone portion of

Smith’s statement the trial court allowed the jury to consider as substantive

evidence against James was Smith’s identification of “Tywan” as the shooter.

Id. at 56.

[10] The State also called Marshall, who testified that he is from Gary and that he

knew Webb and knows Ballard and Smith. He acknowledged that he was in

Indianapolis on September 29 with Ballard and Smith at Ballard’s aunt’s house.

He confirmed that he heard gun shots but said he did not see the person who

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fired the gun. For impeachment purposes only, the State was allowed to

question him about his statement to Detective Jones. He testified that he

remembered talking to the detective but did not recall telling her he saw the

perpetrator shoot Webb in the head or naming James as the shooter. As it had

done previously with Smith, the trial court admitted as substantive evidence

Marshall’s identification of the shooter as “Tywan.” Id. at 65.

[11] A jury convicted James as charged. He was subsequently sentenced to sixty

years on each count of murder, to be served consecutively.

Issues

[12] James presents five issues, which we consolidate and restate as:

I. Whether the court erred by admitting certain evidence;

II. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support James’

convictions; and

III. Whether James’ sentence is inappropriate.

Discussion and Decision

I. Admission of Evidence

[13] The trial court’s ruling on the admission or exclusion of evidence is reviewed

for abuse of discretion. Cherry v. State, 57 N.E.3d 867 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016),

trans. denied. An abuse of discretion occurs when a decision is clearly against

the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the court. Paul v. State,

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971 N.E.2d 172 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012). Error in the admission of evidence will

prevail on appeal only if it affects the substantial rights of a party. Carter v.

State, 31 N.E.3d 17 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015), trans. denied.

A. Cell Phone Contents

[14] James first challenges the admission of evidence collected from his cell phone

pursuant to a search warrant. That evidence consisted of a Facebook

Messenger message and internet browser history that tended to prove that

James was the shooter.

[15] The gist of James’ argument is that the warrant issued for the contents of his

phone was invalid because the State omitted material facts in the supporting

probable cause affidavit. Specifically, James claims error with the fact that the

affidavit contains information provided by Smith in his statement to Detective

Jones on October 1, 2017, but it omits the fact that some of those statements

were contradicted by Smith in his deposition in May 2018.

[16] The task of the issuing magistrate in deciding whether to issue a warrant is to

make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances

set forth in the affidavit, there is a fair probability that evidence of a crime will

be found in a particular place. Brown v. State, 905 N.E.2d 439 (Ind. Ct. App.

2009). A reviewing court, then, must determine whether the magistrate had a

substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed. Id. The reviewing

court focuses on whether reasonable inferences drawn from the totality of the

evidence support the determination of probable cause, and, in doing so, the

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reviewing court affords significant deference to the magistrate’s determination.

Houser v. State, 678 N.E.2d 95 (Ind. 1997). Furthermore, doubtful cases are to

be resolved in favor of upholding the warrant, and we will not invalidate

warrants by interpreting probable cause affidavits in a hypertechnical, rather

than a commonsense, manner. Rios v. State, 762 N.E.2d 153 (Ind. Ct. App.

2

2002).

[17] A probable cause affidavit must include all material facts known to law

enforcement, which includes those facts that cause the existence of probable

cause to be questioned. Ware v. State, 859 N.E.2d 708 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007),

trans. denied. When the State has failed to include a material fact, we will

determine the validity of the warrant by considering collectively the omitted

information and the information contained in the affidavit. Id.

[18] For a warrant to be invalid due to omission of information from an affidavit,

the defendant must show (1) that the police omitted facts with the intent to

make, or in reckless disregard of whether it made, the affidavit misleading and

(2) that the affidavit, if supplemented with the omitted information, would not

have been sufficient to support a finding of probable cause. Gerth, 51 N.E.3d

368. Omissions from an affidavit are made with reckless disregard if an officer

2

When ruling on the admission of evidence at trial following the denial of a motion to suppress, a trial court

must consider the foundational evidence presented at trial as well as the evidence from the suppression

hearing that is favorable to the defendant, only to the extent it is uncontradicted at trial. Gerth v. State, 51

N.E.3d 368 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

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withholds a fact within her knowledge that any reasonable person would have

understood to be a fact the judge would wish to know. Id.

[19] Applied here, James must show (1) Detective Jones omitted Smith’s

contradictory deposition statements with the intent to make, or in reckless

disregard of whether it made, her affidavit misleading and (2) if the affidavit

had disclosed Smith’s deposition statements, the affidavit would not have been

sufficient to find probable cause.

[20] At the suppression hearing, Detective Jones indicated that, although she was

aware that there were some differences between Smith’s deposition testimony

and his October 1 statement, she had not read the transcript of his deposition

testimony before submitting her affidavit. She testified that she used the

affidavit she had previously submitted for the warrant for James’ arrest and just

added the cell phone information. Detective Jones further stated that her first

affidavit was based on Smith coming to roll call of his own accord and asking to

speak to a detective who was investigating a double homicide in which the

bodies of two women were burned. In addition, Smith had identified James in

the photo array, and some of the information Smith provided had been

confirmed by physical evidence and corroborated by Ballard’s statement.

[21] The trial court determined that the detective’s omission, though negligent, does

not reflect reckless disregard because the detective had serious doubts that the

information supplied by Smith during his original statement was false. The

court also concluded that even if it found the detective’s omission to be reckless

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under the first factor, it would still find probable cause to issue the warrant,

even considering Smith’s deposition, under the second factor. The court

explained: “With the 30 claims of memory loss in the deposition, combined

with the 5th Amendment assertions to non-incriminating questions, it would not

be unreasonable for the reviewing judge to determine Smith had simply become

scared or non-cooperative and to not discount Smith’s original statement to the

detective, even if it were not under oath.” Appellant’s App. Vol. 2, p. 186.

[22] We think the detective’s omissions were more than simply negligent. In setting

forth the information Smith provided to law enforcement in October 2017, the

affidavit states that Smith “has no reason to be untruthful or provide false

information.” Id. at 169. The detective used her original affidavit containing

this language despite knowing that Smith’s May 2018 deposition testimony

contradicted his earlier statement. We believe the omitted information

concerning Smith’s deposition testimony is the kind of thing that any

reasonable person would have known the judge would want to know and that

the information was omitted with reckless disregard of whether the affidavit

would be misleading.

[23] Still, an affidavit containing the omitted information would have been sufficient

to support a finding of probable cause. The affidavit would still contain

information from Smith’s October 2017 statement, which the issuing magistrate

could have reasonably considered. Indeed, as the trial court stated, in light of

Smith’s numerous claims of memory loss and assertions of Fifth Amendment

protection during his deposition, the issuing magistrate could have determined

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that Smith had changed his statement due to fear. Moreover, the affidavit

indicated that the records of an initial cell phone number provided to the police

by James confirm he was at the scene of the shooting. The affidavit further

provides that, at the time of his arrest, James was in possession of a cell phone

with a different number and that he had previously called his parole officer

from that number. It is the contents of this phone that the State sought to

inspect. Consequently, the affidavit still provided the issuing magistrate with a

substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed. Therefore, we

conclude the omission at issue here was not fatal.

B. Smith’s Testimony

[24] James also asserts the trial court erred by admitting Smith’s testimony at trial.

He says the State called Smith as a witness for the sole and impermissible

purpose of impeaching him and thus presenting to the jury the otherwise

inadmissible evidence of his October 2017 statement.

[25] The State certainly had the right to impeach Smith, its own witness. See Ind.

Evidence Rule 607. But, “a party is forbidden from placing a witness on the

stand when the party’s sole purpose in doing so is to present otherwise

inadmissible evidence cloaked as impeachment.” Appleton v. State, 740 N.E.2d

122, 125 (Ind. 2001). The question is thus whether calling Smith as a witness

served any legitimate non-impeachment purpose.

[26] Prior to trial, Smith had provided an unsworn statement to Detective Jones

during which he identified James as the shooter. At trial, the State called Smith

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as a witness. Smith testified that he is from Gary, that he is a

childhood/neighborhood friend of Webb and has known her for many years,

that he is James’ cousin and has known James his whole life, that he has known

Marshall for several years and Marshall’s nickname is “Tells,” and that he has

known Ballard his whole life. Tr. Vol. II, p. 115. He verified his cell phone

number, which number the State subsequently showed had used towers in

Indianapolis in the vicinity of the murders on September 29 and had cellular

contact with James’ phone. When asked whether he was in Indianapolis on

September 29 and if he had seen Marshall or Ballard on that date, Smith

responded negatively. The court gave a limiting instruction that information

from Smith’s prior statement was to be used only for a credibility determination

and not as substantive evidence. The State then asked Smith whether he

recalled meeting with Detective Jones and giving a statement on October 1 that

he had witnessed Webb being shot in the head and that James was the shooter.

Smith responded in the negative.

[27] Thus, in addition to his allegedly inadmissible statement of October 2017,

Smith was questioned and provided substantive testimony about his

relationship to James and other witnesses as well as his mobile phone number

in September 2017. Smith’s cell phone records and the testimony of both

Ballard and Marshall establish Smith’s presence in Indianapolis in the area and

at the time of the murders. Consequently, we cannot definitively say the State

placed Smith on the stand for the sole purpose of impeaching him and

admitting otherwise inadmissible evidence. See Kendall v. State, 790 N.E.2d 122

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(Ind. Ct. App. 2003) (witness’ testimony could not be said to have been offered

solely to impeach witness with prior statement where witness provided other

relevant testimony regarding vehicle suspects were driving, how suspects were

dressed, and suspects’ actions), trans. denied.

C. Marshall’s Identification of James

[28] James additionally urges that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting

Marshall’s prior statement to Detective Jones identifying James as the shooter.

James claims the statement was inadmissible under Evidence Rule 801(d)(1)(C)

because the identification was made several months after the murders occurred.

[29] Rule 801(d)(1)(C) provides that a statement is not hearsay if the declarant

testifies and is subject to cross-examination about a prior statement, and the

statement is an identification of a person shortly after perceiving the person.

The gist of James’ claim is whether Marshall’s identification some five months

after the murders qualifies as an identification made “shortly after perceiving”

James.

[30] In Robinson v. State, 682 N.E.2d 806 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997), this Court held that

an identification within two and a half months after shootings satisfied the

purpose and requirements of Rule 801(d)(1)(C). In doing so, the Court looked

to guidance from the history of Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(C), which,

with the exception of the term “shortly,” is identical to our state version.

Noting that its analysis was hampered by the absence of advisory notes to the

Indiana Rules of Evidence and that the federal rule would provide no guidance

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as to the term “shortly,” the Court turned to the rationale for the federal rule in

search of a better understanding of the purpose of our state rule. The Advisory

Committee Notes to the federal rule state that identifications, such as

Marshall’s in the instant case, are defined as non-hearsay because “‘the context

of a formal proceeding, an oath, and the opportunity for cross-examination

provide firm additional assurances of the reliability of the prior statement.’”

Robinson, 682 N.E.2d at 811 (quoting FED. R. EVID. 801(d)(1)(C) advisory

committee’s note). The committee’s note thus underscores the focus of the rule:

reliability of the identification. Robinson, 682 N.E.2d at 811. Given this

emphasis on reliability, the Court concluded that Indiana added the

requirement that the identification be made “shortly after perceiving” to

“further buttress the reliability and accuracy of the identification.” Id. The

Court further observed that, in dealing with identification questions, courts of

this state have frequently recognized the additional accuracy of an identification

made shortly after the event when memories are fresh. Id. (citing Leslie v. State,

558 N.E.2d 813, 815 (Ind. 1990)).

[31] Here, on March 13, 2018, Marshall gave a statement to the detective in which

he admitted being at the scene on September 29 and identified James as the

shooter. Later in the interview, Detective Jones showed Marshall a photo array

that included James, but Marshall was not able to make an identification. At

trial, Marshall acknowledged being from Gary and knowing Webb, Ballard,

and Smith. He also admitted to being in Indianapolis on September 29 at

Ballard’s aunt’s house with Ballard and Smith. He testified that he heard gun

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shots but did not see the person who was shooting. Finally, Marshall testified

that he did not recall telling the detective that James was the shooter or that he

saw the shooter shoot Webb in the head. Although we have acknowledged the

term “shortly” is relative rather than precise, see Robinson, 682 N.E.2d at 811,

we cannot say Marshall’s identification of James five months after the shootings

satisfies the requirements of Rule 801(d)(1)(C), and, consequently, it was error

to admit it.

[32] Nevertheless, the error was harmless. Marshall’s identification of James as the

shooter was cumulative of Smith’s identification. The improper admission of

evidence is harmless error when the erroneously admitted evidence is merely

cumulative of other evidence before the trier of fact. Purvis v. State, 829 N.E.2d

572 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005), trans. denied.

II. Sufficiency of the Evidence

[33] James’ challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence for his convictions rests upon

findings of error in all, or at least some, of the three allegations we have just

examined.

[34] In reviewing challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, we neither reweigh

the evidence nor judge the credibility of the witnesses. Sandleben v. State, 29

N.E.3d 126 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015), trans. denied. Instead, we consider only the

evidence most favorable to the verdict and any reasonable inferences drawn

therefrom. Id. If there is substantial evidence of probative value from which a

reasonable fact-finder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a

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reasonable doubt, the verdict will not be disturbed. Labarr v. State, 36 N.E.3d

501 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015).

[35] In support of his argument, James cites Kiefer v. State, 761 N.E.2d 802 (Ind.

2002), noting that Kiefer’s conviction of attempted murder was reversed

because the evidence showed that Kiefer did not know the victim and had no

motive to kill him. Unlike the present case, however, these factors had a

bearing on a requisite element of Kiefer’s offense—i.e., whether Kiefer acted

with the specific intent to kill the victim. That element is not required for the

offense of murder; thus, Kiefer is inapposite to this case.

[36] Here, Ballard testified that he was at his aunt’s house on Winfield Avenue in

Indianapolis on September 29 with Smith and Marshall. In addition, the State

presented evidence of Smith’s identification of his cousin James as the person

who shot Webb and testimony about James’ cell phone records indicating his

phone used a cellular tower just over a mile away from the scene around the

time of the shots being fired. The records also show outgoing calls from James’

phone to the phones of Ballard and Smith.

[37] Additional, but more modest, proof of James’ guilt derives from the contents of

his cell phone. This evidence showed that on the Facebook Messenger

application account with display name “Tywan James” and username

“Tywan.James.58,” an outgoing message was sent on October 8, 2017, stating,

“Boy, I’m ducking homicide.” Tr. Vol. III, pp. 156, 155, 157, 158. The

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3

evidence also showed certain URLs that had been visited on James’ cell phone,

commencing with: “Bodies found in burning car in Indianapolis” and

“Update, bodies of Gary women found in burning car.” Id. at 159, 160.

Additionally, there was a search on the web page “enow.com.” on October 4

for “bodies found in Indianapolis” Id. at 160. The State’s evidence also

showed that on October 6 these URLs were visited: “Relatives share message

after two women’s bodies found in burning car,” “Bodies of two Gary women

found in burning car,” and “Bodies, two Gary women found inside burning car,

Indianapolis.” Id. at 160, 161. On October 7, there were searches on

“NetFind” for “Bodies found in Indianapolis” and “pictures of bodies found.”

Id. We conclude there was sufficient evidence to support James’ convictions for

murdering Martina Webb and Aliyah Igartua.

III. Inappropriate Sentence

[38] Finally, James claims his sentence is inappropriate given the nature of his

offenses and his character.

[39] Indiana Appellate Rule 7(B) provides that we may revise a sentence authorized

by statute if, after due consideration of the trial court’s decision, we determine

that the sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the

character of the offender. Thompson v. State, 5 N.E.3d 383 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014).

3

“URL” is an abbreviation for “uniform resource locator.” It is the address of a resource, such as a website,

on the internet. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/URL (last visited Feb. 4, 2020).

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However, “we must and should exercise deference to a trial court’s sentencing

decision, both because Rule 7(B) requires us to give ‘due consideration’ to that

decision and because we understand and recognize the unique perspective a

trial court brings to its sentencing decisions.” Stewart v. State, 866 N.E.2d 858,

866 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007). The principal role of appellate review under Rule

7(B) is to attempt to leaven the outliers, not to achieve a perceived “correct”

result in each case. Garner v. State, 7 N.E.3d 1012 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014). The

defendant bears the burden of persuading the appellate court that his or her

sentence is inappropriate. Childress v. State, 848 N.E.2d 1073 (Ind. 2006).

[40] To assess whether the sentence is inappropriate, we look first to the statutory

range established for the offenses. The advisory sentence for murder is fifty-five

years, with a minimum sentence of forty-five years and a maximum of sixty-

five. Ind. Code § 35-50-2-3 (2015). James’ sentence of sixty years on each

conviction was thus only modestly above the advisory.

[41] Next, we look to the nature of the offenses and the character of the offender.

As to the nature of the offenses, we note this case involves two horrific and

grisly murders where the victims were first shot in the head and then their

bodies set aflame. Both victims were in their early 20’s, and Webb had a young

son while Igartua had an infant daughter.

[42] As for the character of the offender, we observe that James’ record begins with

true findings for what would be A misdemeanor battery in 2003, followed by a

C misdemeanor operating while never having received a license and D felony

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receiving stolen parts in 2004. Upon becoming an adult, James was convicted

of B misdemeanor disorderly conduct in 2005. He was then convicted of A

misdemeanor resisting and C misdemeanor refusal to identify in 2006, and A

misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license in 2007. Also in 2007,

James was charged with aggravated armed bank robbery and use of a firearm in

doing so. He was convicted of these charges and sent to federal prison from

about December 2008 to April 2017, when he was released to federal probation.

While on probation, he was charged in June 2017 with B misdemeanor reckless

driving causing property damage. This charge was pending at the time of his

sentencing in the present case. Finally, James committed the current offenses

in September 2017 while he was still on federal probation.

[43] To further illustrate James’ character, the State introduced at sentencing an

audio recording of a phone call James made from jail in October 2018 after his

trial. During the call, James indicates that he has “a surprise” when he comes

back on appeal, and he suggests his accusers should “go buy a whole bunch of

mother-f***in’ bullet-proof vests” and states that he will “f*** them [ ] up.”

Ex. 4.

[44] In sentencing James, the trial court stated its belief that no mitigating

circumstances existed, but it took into account that James had faced challenges

growing up. The court cited his criminal history and the circumstances of the

murders as aggravating factors. And, it declined the defense request for

concurrent sentences.

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[45] In arguing that his sentence should be reduced, James points to the fact that he

had obtained his GED, had obtained employment, and had gotten married.

The deference shown to a trial court’s sentencing discretion should prevail

unless overcome by compelling evidence portraying in a positive light the

nature of the offense (such as accompanied by restraint, regard, and lack of

brutality) and the defendant’s character (such as substantial virtuous traits or

persistent examples of good character). Stephenson v. State, 29 N.E.3d 111 (Ind.

2015). James has not met this burden.

[46] Moreover, our Supreme Court has said that “[a]s a general rule, multiple

killings warrant the imposition of consecutive sentences.” Tobar v. State, 740

N.E.2d 109, 113 (Ind. 2000). James has not made any showing that

consecutive sentences were inappropriate for these two murders.

Conclusion

[47] We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in the admission of

evidence at trial, and in the instance where it erroneously admitted evidence, it

was harmless error; there was sufficient evidence to support James’ convictions;

and his sentence is not inappropriate.

[48] Affirmed.

Baker, J., and Crone, J., concur.

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This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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