Timothy J. Hughes v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) ( 2016 )

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), FILED
this Memorandum Decision shall not be Nov 18 2016, 7:06 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
Jon A. Keyes Gregory F. Zoeller
Allen Wellman McNew Harvey, LLP Attorney General
Greenfield, Indiana
Matthew B. MacKenzie
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Timothy J. Hughes, November 18, 2016
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
30A01-1604-CR-956
v. Appeal from the Hancock Circuit
Court
State of Indiana, The Hon. Richard Culver, Judge
Appellee-Plaintiff. Trial Court Cause No.
30C01-1508-F5-1249
Bradford, Judge.
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Case Summary
[1] On August 11, 2015, Appellant-Defendant Timothy J. Hughes operated a
vehicle while intoxicated. His vehicle struck two bicyclists, Carla McCloud and
Amanda Wheeler. McCloud later died of her injuries sustained in the crash.
Wheeler survived, but sustained a fractured skull and other injuries. On August
13, 2015, the State of Indiana (“the State”) filed a delinquency petition alleging
that Hughes had committed numerous offenses relating to his operation of the
vehicle in question. On August 19, 2015, the State filed a motion for waiver of
juvenile jurisdiction, and on the same day the court granted that waiver. Later
that day, Hughes was formally charged as an adult for those same offenses in
addition to two other charges.
[2] On February 9, 2016, Hughes pled guilty to all counts without the benefit of a
plea agreement. The trial court accepted Hughes’s guilty plea and sentenced
him to an aggregate nine-and-a-half-year executed sentence. On March 9,
2016, Hughes filed a motion to correct error, which the trial court denied on
April 11, 2016. On appeal, Hughes contends that his sentence is inappropriate
in light of the nature of his offenses and his character. Concluding that
Hughes’s sentence is not inappropriate, we affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[3] In March of 2015, Hughes entered into an informal adjustment for a
delinquency alcohol violation. During that adjustment, Hughes participated in
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a dual diagnosis program that was designed to address his mental health and
substance-abuse issues. Less than a month after Hughes was released from
supervision in that case, he quit working with his sponsor, quit attending
meetings, and began to use alcohol multiple times a week, often to the point of
passing out.
[4] On August 11, 2015, Hughes consumed a significant amount of alcohol and
became highly intoxicated. Hughes then made the decision to drive home on
the “back roads” in order to avoid contact with law enforcement. At
approximately 9:05 p.m., Hughes’s vehicle struck two bicyclists, McCloud and
Wheeler. Hughes was so intoxicated at the time that he initially thought that
he had hit a deer. It was not until Hughes saw McCloud lying in the ditch that
he realized that he had hit a person. Hughes did not, however, see that he had
hit Wheeler as well. Hughes remained at the scene of the crash and waited for
law enforcement to arrive.
[5] Officers responding to the scene of the crash observed Hughes showing clear
signs of impairment and subsequently conducted several field sobriety tests.
Hughes failed every test he was offered. Inside Hughes’s vehicle, the officers
also found: a partially full 1.75L bottle of Gran Legacy Vodka, a partially full
water bottle of clear liquid that smelled of alcohol, and one OxyContin pill that
had been broken.
[6] Hughes was read Indiana’s implied consent by the officers and voluntarily
agreed to take a chemical test at Hancock Regional Hospital. The results of the
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blood alcohol content test were 0.28 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of
blood (“BAC”). Hughes was eight days shy of his eighteenth birthday at the
time.
[7] McCloud was transported to the hospital via air ambulance due to the severity
of her injuries where she died several days later. Wheeler sustained a fractured
skull and numerous other injuries. As a result of those injuries, Wheeler had to
delay entry into graduate school; lost her sense of smell; has great difficult
reading and remembering information, suffers from daily migraines, has pain
throughout her left side; and suffers from depression, post-traumatic stress
disorder, and survivor’s guilt necessitating the intervention of a therapist.
[8] After initially being charged in juvenile court then waived to adult court on
August 19, 2015, the State charged Hughes with the following offenses: (1)
Level 5 felony operating while intoxicated (“OWI”); (2) Level 6 felony
operating a vehicle with a BAC above 0.08; (3) Level 6 felony OWI; (4) Level 6
felony operating a vehicle with a BAC above .08; (5) Level 5 felony reckless
homicide; (6) Level 6 felony illegal possession of a narcotic drug; and (7) Class
C misdemeanor possession of alcohol as a minor.
[9] At the initial hearing on August 19, 2015, the trial court set a cash bond in the
amount of $20,000, subject to the conditions of GPS monitoring, SCRAM,1 a
1
SCRAM is a wireless alcohol monitoring system. The technology can either be used like a handheld
breathalyzer or attached to the ankle like a GPS monitoring device. Alcohol Monitoring, SCRAM SYSTEMS,
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drug and alcohol evaluation, that Hughes remain drug- and alcohol-free and
that he submit to random drug screens. On August 31, 2015, after Hughes was
released on bond, Hughes entered treatment at St. Vincent’s Stress Center. He
was referred to dual diagnosis treatment for a second time. On October 1,
2015, Hughes successfully completed the program.
[10] On October 23, 2015, community corrections reported to the trial court that
Hughes had confessed to a field officer during a daily home visit and urine
screen that he had inhaled the contents of a twelve-ounce can of Ultra Duster
on the night of October 21, 2015 to help him sleep. In response to Hughes’s
actions, the trial court revoked his bond on November 4, 2015.
[11] On February 9, 2016, Hughes pled guilty to all charges without the benefit of a
plea agreement. During the sentencing hearing, the trial court found that
Hughes’s guilty plea was a mitigating circumstance, but did not give it a “great
amount of weight” because there was “overwhelming evidence” against
Hughes and his plea was “not entirely based upon any heartfelt remorse.” Tr.
p. 197. The trial court further concluded that the following aggravating
circumstances outweighed the mitigators: (1) Wheeler had a loss that was
“greater than what was necessary to prove the elements of serious bodily
injury[;]” (2) Hughes had a prior juvenile case; (3) “previous attempts at
rehabilitating [Hughes], [his family’s] efforts, . . . the probation department’s
https://www.scramsystems.com/products/scram-continuous-alcohol-monitoring/ (last visited November 7,
2016).
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efforts, . . . and the Court’s efforts have failed[;]” (4) additional steps to control
Hughes’s destructive behavior, including the use of community corrections,
“have not been sufficient and have failed to protect society[,]” and the court
feared that Hughes could not be “safely rehabilitate[d] . . . outside the walls of a
facility[;]” (5) before and after the crash, Hughes was “very selfish and without
remorse as evidenced by the fact that [he was] huffing and being dishonest with
[his] grandmother after [the court] gave [him] a chance at freedom and
rehabilitation[;]” and (6) Hughes was engaged in “old fashion criminal
thinking” and his desire to protect the names of his friends. Tr. pp. 197-02.
After considering the mitigating and aggravating factors, the trial court
concluded that the “only appropriate penalty [was] the maximum sentence
allowed by law.” Tr. p. 202. After the presentation of evidence and argument
by the parties, Hughes was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years of incarceration
by the trial court.
Discussion and Decision
[12] The sole issue for our review is whether Hughes’s maximum sentence allowed
by law is appropriate in light of the nature of his offenses and character. Under
Indiana Appellate Rule 7(B), “[t]he Court may revise a sentence authorized by
statute if, after due consideration of the trial court’s decision, the Court finds
that the sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the
character of the offender.” When reviewing such claims, we “concentrate less
on comparing the facts of the [case at issue] to others, whether real or
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hypothetical, and more on focusing on the nature, extent, and depravity of the
offense for which the defendant is being sentence, and what it reveals about the
defendant’s character.” Paul v. State, 888 N.E.2d 818, 825 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008)
(internal quotes and citations omitted). Hughes, as the defendant, bears the
burden of persuading us that his sentence is inappropriate. Sanchez v. State, 891
N.E.2d 174, 176 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008).
[13] With respect to the nature of the offense, the trial court found that Wheeler
suffered a loss that was “greater than what was necessary to prove the elements
of serious bodily injury.” Tr. p.198. As it relates to McCloud, the court found
that she already “suffered the ultimate penalty” and it is impossible to say that
her death is any less bad than another death caused by a drunk driver. Tr. p.
198. Hughes chose to get behind the wheel of his vehicle on August 11, 2015,
after having consumed a large amount of alcohol. He also admitted that he
initially thought he had hit a deer. The record shows that after Hughes exited
the vehicle, he only saw McCloud lying in the ditch and was unaware that he
had also struck Wheeler. Furthermore, the evidence shows that following the
crash, Hughes’s BAC was 0.28, over three times the legal limit. Wheeler lost
her best friend and cousin McCloud on the day of the accident. The evidence
also shows that Wheeler has and continues to suffer from lingering physical,
emotional, and cognitive deficits as a result of the crash. We do not agree with
Hughes’s argument that in light of the nature of his offense, his sentence is
inappropriate.
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[14] Hughes also argues that that his youth, remorse, guilty plea, and the fact that he
sought mental-health and substance-abuse treatment after the crash should
weigh in his favor. The record reveals that the trial court considered Hughes’s
guilty plea but found that his “guilty plea was in part a result of the
overwhelming evidence against [him] and not entirely based upon any heartfelt
remorse.” Tr. p. 197. Moreover, the trial court found that despite previous
attempts to rehabilitate him, Hughes continued to engage in self-destructive
behavior and went so far as to lie to his grandmother in order to get high just
days after being released from treatment and weeks after the crash.
[15] Finally, the fact that Hughes was several days shy of his eighteenth birthday at
the time of the offense does not mean the trial court erred when it treated
Hughes the same as an adult for sentencing purposes. While the youth of a
defender is a factor a sentencing court may consider, age is not automatically a
significant mitigating factor. Gross v. State, 769 N.E.2d 1136, 1141 n.4 (Ind.
2002). We are unconvinced that Hughes’s character is sufficient to render his
sentence inappropriate.
[16] Hughes also points to his lack of criminal history as an indication that his
sentence is inappropriate. While it appears that, other than the informal
adjustment for a delinquency alcohol violation, Hughes has not previously been
arrested or convicted of any prior criminal or delinquent acts, we believe that
his lack of criminal and delinquent history is offset by the seriousness of the
present offenses. Hughes has failed to establish that his nine-and-a-half-year
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executed sentence is inappropriate in light of both his character and the nature
of his offenses.
[17] We affirm the trial court’s judgment.
Pyle, J., and Altice, J., concur.
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