Matthew Weeks v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) ( 2016 )

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), FILED
this Memorandum Decision shall not be Oct 14 2016, 9:02 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
Derick W. Steele Gregory F. Zoeller
Deputy Public Defender Attorney General of Indiana
Kokomo, Indiana
Christina D. Pace
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Matthew Weeks, October 14, 2016
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
34A02-1603-CR-528
v. Appeal from the Howard Superior
Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable George A.
Appellee-Plaintiff Hopkins, Judge
Trial Court Cause No.
34D04-1507-F1-81
Baker, Judge.
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[1] Matthew Weeks appeals the sentence imposed by the trial court after Weeks
was convicted of Level 2 felony voluntary manslaughter. Weeks argues that the
sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character.
Finding the sentence not inappropriate, we affirm.
Facts
[2] On the evening of July 2, 2015, forty-two-year-old Weeks went to William
Shadle’s residence to make contact with Shadle’s wife, Kandice, with whom
Weeks was involved in an intimate relationship. Weeks peered through the
northwest window of Shadle’s home. Shadle, who was seventy-four years old,
saw Weeks looking through the window and confronted him through the screen
door.
[3] Weeks claimed that Shadle opened the screen door and threw hot water on
him. Weeks, angry, entered the residence through the side door. According to
Weeks, Shadle confronted him with a knife. Weeks knocked the knife from
Shadle’s hand and repeatedly struck Shadle in the face, mouth, and ribs,
knocking Shadle to the ground and rendering him immobile and unresponsive.
Weeks fled the scene. Witnesses who had observed Weeks enter and then flee
the residence went to check on the welfare of the occupants. They found
Shadle unconscious, face-down, in a pool of blood, and called 911. Shadle died
on July 30, 2015, from the injuries inflicted by Weeks.
[4] On July 7, 2015, the State charged Weeks with Level 1 felony burglary resulting
in serious bodily injury. On August 11, 2015, after Shadle’s death, the State
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amended the charging information to include a charge of Level 1 felony
murder. On February 5, 2016, Weeks reached a plea agreement with the State,
agreeing to plead guilty to Level 2 felony voluntary manslaughter in exchange
for dismissal of the remaining charges. At the sentencing hearing, which
occurred the same day, the trial court sentenced Weeks to twenty-eight years
imprisonment. Weeks now appeals.
Discussion and Decision
[5] Weeks’s sole argument on appeal is that the sentence imposed by the trial court
is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character. Indiana
Appellate Rule 7(B) provides that this Court may revise a sentence if it is
inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the
offender. We must “conduct [this] review with substantial deference and give
‘due consideration’ to the trial court’s decision—since the ‘principal role of
[our] review is to attempt to leaven the outliers,’ and not to achieve a perceived
‘correct’ sentence . . . .” Knapp v. State, 9 N.E.3d 1274, 1292 (Ind. 2014)
(quoting Chambers v. State, 989 N.E.2d 1257, 1259 (Ind. 2013)) (internal
citations omitted).
[6] Weeks was convicted of one Level 2 felony, meaning that he faced a sentence
of ten to thirty years imprisonment, with an advisory term of seventeen and
one-half years. Ind. Code § 35-50-2-4.5. The trial court imposed a sentence of
twenty-eight years imprisonment.
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[7] Turning first to the nature of the offense, Weeks was having an extramarital
affair with Shadle’s wife and went to Shadle’s residence to find her. When
Shadle found Weeks staring through the window of his home, he threw hot
water on Weeks. Rather than retreat, however, Weeks opened the door,
entered the house, knocked a knife out of Shadle’s hand, and then administered
a fatal beating to the elderly, unarmed man. Weeks then left Shadle helpless in
a pool of his own blood. While this offense is not, perhaps, the worst of the
worst example of voluntary manslaughter, it does demonstrate a chilling
capacity for violence and disregard for the well-being of others.
[8] As to Weeks’s character, the significance of his criminal history cannot be
overstated. Not only does Weeks have prior convictions for neglect of a
dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, theft, and conversion, but he also
has a prior conviction for voluntary manslaughter. And at the time he was
sentenced in this case, he was facing charges for domestic battery, invasion of
privacy, intimidation, and harassment. He attempted, at sentencing, to blame
his actions on Kandice, which also reflects extremely poorly on his character.
It is readily apparent that Weeks is a violent person with no remorse for his
actions and no respect for the rule of law or his fellow citizens. Therefore, we
do not find the sentence imposed by the trial court to be inappropriate in light
of the nature of the offense and Weeks’s character.
[9] The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
May, J., and Crone, J., concur.
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