Harold Bishop v. State of Indiana

Jul 31 2015, 9:41 am
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Matthew D. Anglemeyer Gregory F. Zoeller
Marion County Public Defender Attorney General of Indiana
Appellate Division
J.T. Whitehead
Indianapolis, Indiana
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Harold Bishop, July 31, 2015
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
49A02-1409-CR-622
v. Appeal from the Marion Superior
Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable Mark D. Stoner,
Judge
Appellee-Plaintiff. Cause No. 49G06-1209-MR-61990
Brown, Judge.
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[1] Harold Bishop appeals his conviction for murder. Bishop raises four issues,
which we consolidate and restate as whether the trial court abused its discretion
in admitting certain evidence. We affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[2] On the morning of Saturday, September 1, 2012, at about 8:00 a.m., Pamela
Dunlap and her neighbor Michael Armbruster were biking near the State
Fairgrounds heading toward the Monon Trail in Indianapolis. As they
approached the intersection at 38th Street and Winthrop Avenue, they observed
a man, later identified as Khalfani Shabazz, on a porch sitting down, halfway in
the doorway with his body propping open the front door, yelling “[o]h my God,
oh my God,” and “help.” Transcript at 283. Armbruster and Dunlap dialed
911 and told Shabazz help was on the way.
[3] Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (“IMPD”) Officer Haskell
Shaffer received the run to the scene and arrived about three to four minutes
later. Armbruster and Dunlap flagged down Officer Shaffer and directed him to
the porch, and Officer Shaffer approached Shabazz, observed that Shabazz had
suffered trauma to his chest and stomach area and was bleeding, and asked him
who he was and who had shot him. Shabazz did not respond and stared at
Officer Shaffer with a blank stare, and Officer Shaffer could not determine
whether Shabazz was aware of his surroundings. Soon after, other officers
arrived and “cleared” the home to make sure others were not inside, and
paramedics Kimberly Johnson and Adrian Foster arrived and approached
Shabazz on the porch and found a driver’s license in his pocket. Id. at 299. The
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paramedics observed that Shabazz had suffered five gunshot wounds including
shots to the chest, the left shoulder, the left arm, the third right finger, which
was almost amputated by a bullet that was still lodged within it, and a graze
wound to the top of the head. The paramedics administered oxygen using a
nano-breather to Shabazz, who was sweating profusely. Johnson observed that
Shabazz was trying to catch his breath and unable to speak in complete
sentences, and she believed he was in shock. Johnson believed that, based on
Shabazz’s physical state, he required immediate transport to Wishard Hospital,
and the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance for transport.
[4] In the ambulance, the paramedics noticed that Shabazz was starting to
“compensate,” which meant that his blood was collecting in and around the
areas of his major organs in order to keep him alive. Id. at 418. Shabazz had
no blood pressure, and the paramedics administered two IVs using “the largest
angio” that they could “so that a lot of fluid can get in the veins quickly” in an
attempt to raise his blood pressure. Id. at 419. However, even after the IVs
were provided, Shabazz’s blood pressure “was only 80 which is pretty low.” Id.
at 421. Shabazz asked multiple times while in the ambulance if he was going to
die, and although Johnson believed he would not live, she told him “he was
going to be okay” to try and comfort him. Id. at 420.
[5] When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Shabazz was taken to a shock
room for immediate medical attention. While he was awaiting surgery, IMPD
Sergeant and Investigator John Maloney, with the aggravated assault division,
as well as IMPD Homicide Detective Mark Prater, arrived, and each spoke
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with Shabazz separately. Detective Prater first spoke with him, asked who shot
him, and Shabazz responded: “Zimbabwe.” Id. at 363. Shabazz also told him
that Zimbabwe drove a grey car and that the shooting “was over a job they
were doing on South Meridian Street.” Id. at 364. The conversation lasted for
about ten or fifteen seconds. Sergeant Maloney then met with Shabazz and
asked who shot him, and at first he could not understand Shabazz’s response
“[b]ecause [Shabazz] was speaking very low and he had the oxygen mask on,”
and he noticed that Shabazz was having trouble breathing. Id. at 346. After
removing the oxygen mask, Sergeant Maloney asked again and Shabazz
responded: “Zimbabwe.” Id. Shabazz told him that Zimbabwe was black, that
he had a grey vehicle, and that Shabazz and Zimbabwe “had worked together
on a job on the south side on Meridian Street” and that a dispute over money
from that job had arisen. Id. at 346-347. Sergeant Maloney was able to speak
with Shabazz for about a minute before he was wheeled off to surgery.
[6] Shabazz died in surgery at 1:41 p.m. that day. Upon his death, IMPD
Homicide Detective Charles Benner was assigned as lead detective, and he met
with the officers who had taken part in the investigation, as well as friends and
family of Shabazz including his fiancée Shelinda Kerr. During Detective
Benner’s interview with Kerr, she identified the man she knew as Zimbabwe
from a photo array, and the person she identified was Bishop. Kerr had known
Zimbabwe since July of 1998 as a friend and partner in construction work with
Shabazz. Detective Benner also met with a man named Carl Alsum, who was
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referred to him by Kerr, and who also identified Bishop as Zimbabwe from a
photo array.
[7] Also, on September 1, 2012, IMPD Crime Lab Investigator Michael Hasty
went to Shabazz’s home to collect evidence which included, among other
things, three spent shell casings, and he transported the evidence to the Crime
Lab. On September 2, 2012, Dr. Joyce Carter conducted an autopsy of
Shabazz’s body and noted that he suffered gunshot wounds including an
abrasion to the top of his head, a wound in his left arm, a wound in the back of
his left shoulder, a wound to the right side of his chest, and a wound to his third
right finger that nearly amputated the finger. The shot to his chest caused
serious damage to his body, including fracturing two ribs, a huge tear to his
liver of approximately eight inches in length, holes in his diaphragm, damage to
his hepatic vein, a hole in his right lung, as well as tremendous bleeding. She
noted that the doctors during surgery applied eleven gauze sponges to the
wound, each of which is capable of holding a cup to a cup and a half of blood,
which, combined with the blood found in the abdomen and right chest cavity,
amounted to about four and a half liters of blood loss.
[8] On September 7, 2012, the State charged Bishop with the murder of Shabazz.
On September 12, 2012, Boone County Sheriff Deputies Bradley Dunn and
Jesse Boggs were dispatched to the area of 600 South 650 West, which was a
rural location surrounded by corn fields, farm land, and some woods to
investigate a suspicious person. When the deputies arrived on the scene, they
observed a black male sitting on a phone utility box near the northwest corner
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of the intersection. Deputy Dunn approached the man, later identified as
Bishop, and asked him what he was doing, and Bishop responded that “he has
warrants.” Id. at 454. Deputy Dunn asked what the warrants were for, and
Bishop said “for shooting people.” Id. Bishop spelled his name for the
deputies, and Deputy Dunn then realized that he was the person they “were
supposed to be looking for.”1 Id. The deputies confirmed that there were
warrants out for Bishop, and Bishop told them that “[h]is car was in the
woods.” Id. at 455. Deputy Dunn arrested Bishop and took him to jail where
he was handed off to IMPD. Other Boone County Sheriff’s Deputies later
discovered Bishop’s car, a grey Mazda which had been smeared with mud to
act as camouflage, about two to three hundred feet from the road in a wooded
area.
[9] On December 11, 2012, the State filed a motion for joinder of offenses for the
purposes of trial under the instant cause number as well as under cause numbers
49G06-1209-FA-061989 (“Cause No. 61989”) and 49G06-1209-FA-061225
(“Cause No. 61225”). In its motion, the State noted that the conduct
underlying Cause No. 61989 involved “the attempted murder and aggravated
battery of Shana Ford-Gogoua and Zackery Joseph that took place on
September 1, 2012 (at around 6:44 am),” and that Cause No. 61225 involved
“the attempted murder and aggravated battery of William Cullens that took
1
Deputy Dunn testified that Bishop stated his name was “Balagoon Sankofa,” which is a known alias of
Bishop and which appears on the charging information. Transcript at 454.
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place on August 31, 2012 (at around 10:50 pm) . . . .” Appellant’s Appendix at
54. The State argued that “.45 caliber shell casings [were] recovered from each
scene” and Firearms and Toolmarks Examiner Timothy Spears determined that
they “were in fact fired from the same weapon” and “of the same manufactured
brand . . . .” Id. at 55. The State further argued that the three separate shooting
incidents were committed over a ten-hour period, were of the same or similar
character, and were geographically close in proximity. On January 7, 2013,
Bishop filed a notice of objection to the State’s request for joinder, and the court
denied the State’s motion the following day.
[10] On November 8, 2013, in Cause No. 61989, the case involving the shootings of
Shana Ford-Gogoua and Zackery Joseph, the State filed a Notice of Intent to
Offer Evidence Pursuant to Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b) and Request for Hearing
to Address Admissibility of Evidence (the “Rule 404(b) Motion”) in which it
stated that it intended to present evidence regarding the murder of Shabazz and
the attempted murder of Cullens using “the same .45 caliber handgun” and that
such evidence is “essential and relevant to proving the identity of [Bishop] as
the same person who attempted to murder Ms. Ford-Gogua and Mr. Joseph . . .
.” Id. at 250-251. On November 19, 2013, Bishop filed his response arguing
that the crimes were not sufficiently similar to earmark them as one person’s
handiwork. The Rule 404(b) Motion was incorporated into the record in the
instant case.
[11] On February 11, 2014, Bishop filed a motion to suppress the statements of
Shabazz identifying him as the person that shot him and argued that the
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statements were inadmissible because they did not qualify as dying declarations
and were testimonial and therefore admission would violate his Sixth
Amendment right of confrontation. Also, on February 27, 2014, Bishop filed a
Motion to Dismiss Due to Destruction of Evidence or in the Alternative for
Exclusion of Evidence stating that he had been notified by the State on January
30, 2014, that the shell casings recovered from the scene of the attempted
murder of Cullens were mistakenly destroyed by order of the responding officer
following the completion of the firearms report prepared by Spears. The State
filed its response to the motion to dismiss on March 4, 2014, and its response to
the motion to suppress on March 7, 2014. Following evidentiary hearings on
the three motions, on May 5, 2014, the court entered an order denying Bishop’s
motion to suppress, and granting the State’s motion “to allow 404(b) evidence .
. . as it relates to the identification of [Bishop] and the recovery of ballistics
information . . . .” Id. at 160.
[12] The court commenced a jury trial on August 4, 2014, in which evidence
consistent with the foregoing was presented. During the trial, Bishop renewed
his objection to testimony relating to statements made by Shabazz to Sergeant
Maloney and Detective Prater that he was shot by Zimbabwe on the same
grounds as raised in his motion to suppress, and the court overruled each of his
objections and admitted the statements as dying declarations.
[13] The State called Angela Allen, a friend of Bishop’s for about twenty years, who
testified that on August 31, 2012, she and Bishop went to the bank and that
Bishop wanted her to keep some money for him, which is something she had
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previously done for him, and that Bishop gave her $300 and stated that “he was
going to, uh, go find Will or talk to Will . . . .” Transcript at 513. She testified
that she had previously met a person known as “Big Will” through Bishop. Id.
at 511. She further testified that Bishop “just showed up” at her house on
September 1, 2012, at about 8:00 a.m., which she thought was unusual because
he had never come without calling beforehand. Id. at 514. At this time, Bishop
objected and renewed his argument that evidence relating to the Cullens
shooting should not be admitted under Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b), and the
court overruled the objection. Allen then testified that she had been trying to
reach Bishop and asked where he had been, and he responded: “You don’t
want to know.” Id. at 524. She indicated that she gave him his money and he
left.
[14] The State also called William Cullens, again Bishop renewed his objection
under Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b), and the court overruled his objection.
Cullens testified that he had been a friend of Bishop for five years and they
would see each other a few times a month. He testified that earlier in the
summer of 2012 he borrowed $500 from Bishop, that they had agreed he would
repay Bishop after receiving proceeds from an annuity settlement which was
being structured in court, and that the payment had been delayed because the
court had granted multiple continuances.
[15] Cullens indicated that, as of August 31, 2012, he had not received the payment
and had not paid Bishop back on the loan, and on that evening he was at his
home on Wind Drift Drive in Indianapolis with his girlfriend Yvonne Johnson.
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That night, Yvonne asked him to drive her to a night club not far from their
house because she did not want to drive herself, and around 11:00 p.m. they left
to do so. Cullens testified that as the two were leaving the house and walking
towards his vehicle, he heard a voice say: “Will, where’s my money?” Id. at
634. He stated that he turned toward the sound of the voice and observed
Bishop standing fifteen feet away and holding a gun, that he saw Bishop raise
the gun at him, and Cullen turned and ran in the opposite direction. Cullens
heard a gunshot and felt the shot enter his back under the shoulder blade, but he
was able to keep running. He testified that he ran past the entrance to the
apartments, stopped to dial 911, and told the operator that Zimbabwe, referring
to Bishop, had shot him. He also stated that he told a responding officer and a
detective at the hospital that Zimbabwe shot him. In response to a juror’s
question, Cullen also testified that he did not know Khalfani Shabazz.
[16] The State next called IMPD Detective Harry Dunn, the lead investigator into
the Cullens shooting. Detective Dunn testified that he interviewed Cullens at
the hospital, that Cullens told him he had been shot by a man named
Zimbabwe, and that upon researching the name he found one person who used
Zimbabwe as an alias and that person was Bishop. He indicated that based
thereon, he put together a photo array which contained a picture of Bishop
taken in 1991, and that Cullens identified the picture of Bishop as Zimbabwe.
At this point, Bishop again renewed his objection on Rule 404(b) grounds, and
the court overruled his objection and admitted the photo array as State’s
Exhibit 49. On cross-examination, Detective Dunn stated that at one point he
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became aware that the shell casings from the Cullens shooting had been
destroyed.
[17] Bishop also renewed his objection to the testimony of IMPD Evidence
Technician Christopher Clouse, who testified that he collected the shell casings
at the Cullens crime scene, on both Rule 404(b) grounds and on grounds that
the evidence had been lost or destroyed, and the court overruled the objections
and admitted the evidence of the shell casings. Bishop objected to the
testimony of Spears, and again the court overruled the objection and admitted
Spears’s testimony, as well as photographs of the spent bullets. Spears testified
consistent with his earlier report that he analyzed the shell casings and bullets
recovered from both the Shabazz and Cullens crime scenes and that his tests
concluded the casings and bullets were 45 caliber, were fired by the same gun,
and were the same brand of bullet.
[18] On three different occasions, the court gave the jury a limiting instruction
regarding the evidence related to the Cullens shooting that such evidence was
admitted for the limited purpose of proving motive, knowledge, intent, or
identity. During the court’s first instance of giving this instruction, it
specifically instructed the jury that “[y]ou may use the evidence on August 31st,
if you wish, to determine the issue of the defendant’s motive, his knowledge, his
intent, and/or his identity for the issue on September 1,” that “that is the only
way you may use the information from the August 31st incident,” that “you
may not [] in any way [] determine that this is a character trait of the
defendant,” and that “the August 31st incident is for another jury, another court,
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another day.” Id. at 575-576. The court instructed the jury to consider State’s
Exhibit 49 “for the limited purpose of motive, identity, knowledge or intent.”
Id. at 665. Also, in Final Juror Instruction No. 5, the court instructed the jury:
Sometimes evidence is admitted for a limited purpose. You have
heard testimony from multiple complaining witnesses. You may
consider the testimony of such witnesses as it relates to the other
incidents for the limited purpose of determining the defendant’s
motive, intent, knowledge, and on the issue of identity.
You may not consider such testimony for any other purpose.
Specifically, you may not consider the evidence as proof of the
defendant’s character. You may not draw any inference that, because
the defendant acted in a certain way on one occasion, he must have
acted the same way on a different occasion because of that character
trait. Each incident must be viewed and considered on its own
individual facts.
Appellant’s Appendix at 222.
[19] On August 6, 2014, the jury found Bishop guilty as charged. On August 12,
2014, the court held a sentencing hearing and sentenced him to sixty-five years
in the Department of Correction.
Discussion
[20] The issue is whether the court abused its discretion in admitting certain
evidence. Generally, we review the trial court’s ruling on the admission or
exclusion of evidence for an abuse of discretion. Noojin v. State, 730 N.E.2d
672, 676 (Ind. 2000). We reverse only where the decision is clearly against the
logic and effect of the facts and circumstances. Joyner v. State, 678 N.E.2d 386,
390 (Ind. 1997), reh’g denied. Even if the trial court’s decision was an abuse of
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discretion, we will not reverse if the admission constituted harmless error. Fox
v. State, 717 N.E.2d 957, 966 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999), reh’g denied, trans. denied.
[21] Bishop challenges the court’s decision to admit three separate pieces of
evidence: (A) Shabazz’s identification of Bishop as the person who shot him;
(B) evidence of the similarity between the fired cartridge casings recovered from
the Shabazz shooting crime scene and the Cullens shooting crime scene; and
(C) the circumstances of the Cullens shooting pursuant to Ind. Evidence Rule
404(b). We address each of Bishop’s challenges separately.
A. Shabazz’s Identification of Bishop
[22] Bishop challenges the court’s decision to admit certain statements made by
Shabazz to Sergeant Maloney and Detective Prater identifying Zimbabwe, later
determined to be Bishop, as the person who shot him. Bishop asserts in his
brief that a dying declaration under the hearsay exception in Ind. Evidence Rule
804(b)(2), which is testimonial in nature, is subject to Confrontation Clause
scrutiny under Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S. Ct. 1354 (2004), and
its progeny, that the statements of Shabazz are testimonial and thus should not
have been admitted, and that even if Shabazz’s statements are judged to be
nontestimonial or otherwise not subject to confrontation analysis, such
statements do not fit within the dying declaration hearsay exception.
[23] We first discuss whether the court abused its discretion by admitting the
statements of Shabazz as dying declarations. Bishop argues that the
circumstances surrounding the statements of Shabazz reveal that Shabazz did
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not believe his death was imminent and had not abandoned all hope of
recovery, and accordingly the hearsay exception does not apply. Specifically,
Bishop asserts that Shabazz was assured by paramedics that he was going to be
okay, noting that “[p]aramedics are skilled in life-saving, and persons with no
medical background would rightly give much weight to what they say.”
Appellant’s Brief at 20. He argues that “[a]lthough Shabazz’s blood pressure
was low, his heart rate, respiration rate, and oxygen levels were all normal,”
and that “he scored the maximum on the Glasgow Coma Score, which
measures alertness to person, place, and thing.” Id. at 19.
[24] The State argues that the evidence reveals that Shabazz believed his death to be
imminent, noting that he asked Paramedic Johnson multiple times if he was
going to die, which demonstrates “that the prospect of death was at the center
of his thoughts.” Appellee’s Brief at 21. The State notes that Shabazz exhibited
shortness of breath and difficulty breathing and that his body began to
“compensate” in order to survive. Id. It asserts that “Shabazz’s queries were
perfectly consistent with the objective medical reality” that he had suffered
multiple gunshot wounds and was bleeding, and it argues that the fact Johnson
told him he would not die does not refute the conclusion that Shabazz believed
his death was imminent, underscoring that he made the inquiry multiple times.
Id.
[25] Out-of-court statements offered in court for the truth of the matter asserted are
generally inadmissible hearsay. Ind. Evidence Rule 802. However, one among
many exceptions to the inadmissibility of hearsay is an out-of-court statement
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that is “[a] statement that the declarant, while believing the declarant’s death to
be imminent, made about its cause or circumstances.” Ind. Evidence Rule
804(b)(2). The admissibility of such a “dying declaration” is based on “the
belief that persons making such statements are highly unlikely to lie.” Idaho v.
Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 820, 110 S. Ct. 3139, 3149 (1990).
[26] The crux of Bishop’s challenge to the admissibility of Shabazz’s statements as
dying declarations centers on Paramedic Johnson telling him that “he was
going to be okay,” which she indicated at trial was not a reflection of her true
thoughts but was an effort to try and comfort him. Transcript at 420. It is true
that, to be admissible as a dying declaration, the statement “must be made by a
person who knew death was imminent and had abandoned all hope of
recovery,” but
[i]n order to determine if a declarant made statements with the belief
that death was imminent while having abandoned all hope of
recovery, the trial court may consider the general statements, conduct,
manner, symptoms, and condition of the declarant, which flow as the
reasonable and natural results from the extent and character of his
wound, or state of his illness.
Wright v. State, 916 N.E.2d 269, 275 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009) (quotations omitted),
trans. denied.
[27] Here, we find that the court acted within its discretion when it concluded that
Shabazz’s statements were admissible dying declarations. Shabazz had been
shot five times, inflicting wounds to the top of his head, his left arm, his left
shoulder, the right side of his chest, and his third right finger, nearly amputating
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the finger. The shot to his chest caused serious damage to his body, including
two fractured two ribs, a huge tear to his liver approximately eight inches long,
holes in his diaphragm, damage to his hepatic vein, a hole in his right lung, as
well as tremendous bleeding. During surgery the doctors applied eleven gauze
sponges to the wound, each of which is capable of holding a cup to a cup and a
half of blood, which, combined with the blood found in the abdomen and right
chest cavity, amounted to about four and a half liters of blood loss. Also, when
Dunlap and Armbruster came upon Shabazz while riding their bikes, they
heard him yelling “[o]h my God, oh my God,” and “help.” Transcript at 283.
Paramedics at the scene observed that Shabazz was sweating profusely and
administered oxygen using a nano-breather, and he was trying to catch his
breath and unable to speak in complete sentences. Johnson believed Shabazz
was in shock and required immediate transport to the hospital. In the
ambulance, she noticed that Shabazz was starting to “compensate,” which
meant that his blood was collecting in and around the areas of his major organs
in order to keep him alive. Id. at 418. Shabazz had no blood pressure, and the
paramedics administered two of their largest IVs in an attempt to raise his blood
pressure, but they were not very successful at doing so. Shabazz asked
paramedics on multiple occasions if he was going to die despite assurances that
“he was going to be okay.” Id. at 420. He died at 1:41 p.m., which was within
hours of his transport to the hospital. In light of his statements, conduct,
manner, symptoms, and condition, as well as the reasonable and natural results
from the extent and character of his extensive wounds, the trial court properly
concluded that Shabazz’s statements were admissible dying declarations.
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[28] Having determined that statements were properly adjudged to be dying
declarations and admissible under Ind. Evidence Rule 804(b)(2), we next
address Bishop’s challenge under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth
Amendment. First, we note that in the landmark case of Crawford v.
Washington, the United States Supreme Court held that “testimonial statements
of a witness who did not appear at trial” are inadmissible “unless he was
unavailable to testify, and the defendant had had a prior opportunity for cross-
examination.” 541 U.S. at 53-54, 124 S. Ct. at 1365. In a footnote, the Court
acknowledged that a historical exception to the right of confrontation “involves
dying declarations,” specifically noting that “[t]he existence of that exception as
a general rule of criminal hearsay law cannot be disputed” and that “[a]lthough
many dying declarations may not be testimonial, there is authority for
admitting even those that clearly are.” Id. at 56 n.6, 124 S. Ct. at 1367 n.6. The
Court reserved the question of whether the Sixth Amendment incorporated “an
exception for testimonial dying declarations” and stated that such exception
would be “sui generis.”2 Id., 124 S. Ct. at 1367 n.6. Four years later, the Court
examined the limited exceptions to a defendant’s right of confrontation and
observed that Crawford stands for the proposition “that the Confrontation
Clause is ‘most naturally read as a reference to the right of confrontation at
common law, admitting only those exceptions established at the time of the
2
Sui generis is Latin for “of its own kind” and means “[o]f its own kind or class; unique or peculiar.”
BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 1662 (10th ed. 2014).
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founding.’” Giles v. California, 554 U.S. 353, 358, 128 S. Ct. 2678, 2682 (2008)
(quoting Crawford, 541 U.S. at 54, 124 S. Ct. at 1354). The Court noted that it
had “previously acknowledged that two forms of testimonial statements were
admitted at common law even though they were unconfronted” and that “[t]he
first of these were declarations made by a speaker who was both on the brink of
death and aware that he was dying.”3 Id., 128 S. Ct. at 2682.
[29] The Court’s statements in Giles have been accepted as providing an exception to
a defendant’s right of confrontation for dying declarations in other jurisdictions.
Recently, the Court of Appeals of Maryland, its highest court, joined the chorus
of jurisdictions that have formally held that the Confrontation Clause does not
apply to dying declarations. Hailes v. State, 113 A.3d 608, 621 (Md. 2015). The
Maryland court discussed the relevant provisions of Crawford and Giles
discussed above and further noted that those cases “were not the first cases in
which the Supreme Court indicated that the Confrontation Clause does not
apply to dying declarations,” observing that
[f]or example, in Maryland v. Craig, 497 U.S. 836, 847-48, 110 S. Ct.
3157, 111 L.Ed.2d 666 (1990), the Supreme Court stated:
We have repeatedly held that the [Confrontation] Clause
permits, where necessary, the admission of certain hearsay
statements against a defendant despite the defendant’s inability
to confront the declarant at trial. See, e.g., Mattox [v. United
States, 156 U.S. 237, 243, 15 S. Ct. 337 (1895)] (“[T]here could
3
The Court termed the second exception, the scope of which was at issue in the case, as “forfeiture by
wrongdoing,” which “permitted the introduction of statements of a witness who was ‘detained’ or ‘kept
away’ by the ‘means or procurement’ of the defendant.” Giles, 554 U.S. at 359, 128 S. Ct. at 2683.
Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 49A02-1409-CR-622 | July 31, 2015 Page 18 of 33
be nothing more directly contrary to the letter of the
[Confrontation Clause] than the admission of dying
declarations”4); Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 407, 85 S. Ct.
1065, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965) (noting exceptions to the
confrontation right for dying declarations and “other analogous
situations”).
Similarly, in Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U.S. 97, 107, 54 S. Ct. 330, 78
L.Ed. 674 (1934), the Supreme Court stated that the Confrontation
Clause has not
at any time been without recognized exceptions, as, for
instance, dying declarations. Dowdell v. United States, 221 U.S.
325, 330, 31 S. Ct. 590, 55 L.Ed. 753 (1911) (“Dying
declarations, although not made in the presence of the accused,
are uniformly recognized as competent [evidence].” (Citing
Mattox [], 156 U.S. at 243-44, 15 S. Ct. 337)). Cf. Robertson v.
Baldwin, 165 U.S. 275, 282 17 S. Ct. 326, 41 L.Ed. 715 (1897)
(The Confrontation Clause does not “prevent the admission of
dying declarations[.]”); Motes v. United States, 178 U.S. 458, 472,
473 20 S. Ct. 993, 44 L.Ed. 1150 (1900)5.
(Italics added). Likewise, in Kirby v. United States, 174 U.S. 47, 61, 19
S. Ct. 574, 43 L.Ed. 890 (1899), the Supreme Court stated: “[T]he
admission of dying declarations is an exception [to the Confrontation
Clause] which arises from the necessity of the cause. This exception
was well established before the adoption of the [C]onstitution, and
was not intended to be abrogated.” (Emphasis added).
4
In Mattox [], 156 U.S. at 243-44, 15 S. Ct. 337 the Supreme Court continued:
[Y]et from time immemorial[, dying declarations] have been treated as
competent [evidence], and no one would have the hardihood at this
day to question their admissibility. They are admitted, not in
conformity with any general rule regarding the admission of [evidence],
but as an exception to such rules, simply from the necessities of the
case, and to prevent a manifest failure of justice.
5
In Motes, 178 U.S. at 472, 20 S. Ct. 993 the Supreme Court actually referred to
statements that fall under the “forfeiture by wrongdoing” exception to the rule against
hearsay, not dying declarations.
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113 A.3d at 619-620 (some brackets omitted). The court stated that, as
highlighted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kirby, “the Confrontation Clause
does not apply to dying declarations” because they “were an exception to the
common law right of confrontation when the Sixth Amendment was ratified,”
and further observed that “[t]his accords with Crawford and its progeny, in
which the Supreme Court has held that the Confrontation Clause applies to
testimonial statements of types as to which—in contrast to dying declarations—
there was no exception to the common law right of confrontation when the
Sixth Amendment was ratified.” Id. at 620-621 (citing Crawford, 541 U.S. at 40,
68, 124 S. Ct. 1354 (statements against penal interest); Giles, 554 U.S. at 357,
359, 377, 128 S. Ct. 2678 (“forfeiture by wrongdoing” under California law);
Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, 819, 821, 834, 126 S. Ct. 2266 (2006)
(excited utterances); Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305, 324, 129 S.
Ct. 2527 (2009) (purported business records and public records). The court held
that the victim’s identification of defendant Hailes was a dying declaration, that
“thus, the Confrontation Clause does not apply,” and that accordingly “we
need not, and do not, address whether [the victim’s] identification of Hailes was
testimonial or non-testimonial, as the distinction is irrelevant in the context of
dying declarations.” Id. at 623.
[30] In the same matter, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, as affirmed by
the Maryland Court of Appeals, provided a thorough recitation of what it
termed a “juggernaut of persuasive authority” for excepting dying declarations
from Crawford as follows:
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Sixteen of our sister states have considered whether the Dying
Declaration is exempted from the coverage of the Confrontation
Clause. Sixteen out of sixteen have concluded that it is. In People v.
Monterroso, 34 Cal. 4th 743, 765, 22 Cal. Rptr. 3d 1, 101 P.3d 956, 972
(2004), the California Supreme Court addressed the issue squarely:
Thus, if, as Crawford teaches, the confrontation clause “is most
naturally read as a reference to the right of confrontation at
common law, admitting only those exceptions established at
the time of the founding,” it follows that the common law pedigree
of the exception for dying declarations poses no conflict with the Sixth
Amendment.
(Emphasis supplied). See also Walton v. State, 278 Ga. 432, 603 S.E.2d
263, 265-66 (2004); People v. Gilmore, 356 Ill. App. 3d 1023, 293 Ill.
Dec. 323, 828 N.E.2d 293, 302 (2005) (“Although the statement just
quoted [from Crawford] is dicta, we view it as a strong indication that
the Court does not believe that admitting testimonial dying
declarations violates the confrontation clause.”); Wallace v. State, 836
N.E.2d 985, 996 (Ind. [Ct.] App. 2005) (“[W]e are convinced that
Crawford neither explicitly, nor implicitly, signaled that the dying
declaration exception to hearsay ran afoul of an accused’s right of
confrontation under the Sixth Amendment.”)[, trans. denied]; State v.
Jones, 287 Kan. 559, 197 P.3d 815, 822 (2008) (“Accordingly, we are
confident that, when given the opportunity to do so, the Supreme
Court would affirm that a dying declaration may be admitted into
evidence, even when it is testimonial in nature and is unconfronted.”);
Commonwealth v. Nesbitt, 452 Mass. 236, 892 N.E.2d 299, 310-11
(2008) (“Thus, in the unique instance of dying declarations, we ask
only whether the statement is admissible as a common-law dying
declaration, and not whether the statement is testimonial.”); People v.
Taylor, 275 Mich. App. 177, 737 N.W.2d 790, 795 (2007) (“For the
reasons stated by the Supreme Court of California, we hold that, under
Crawford, dying declarations are admissible as an historic exception to
the Confrontation Clause.”); State v. Martin, 695 N.W.2d 578, 585-86
(Minn. 2005) (“We hold that the admission into evidence of a dying
declaration does not violate a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to
confrontation within the meaning of Crawford because an exception for
dying declarations existed at common law and was not repudiated by
the Sixth Amendment.”); Grindle v. State, 134 So.3d 330, 341-44 (Miss.
App. 2013) ( “[W]e are swayed by the United States Supreme Court’s
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commentary in Crawford and Giles that, were the matter properly
before the Court, the exception would be held to apply.”); Harkins v.
State, 122 Nev. 974, 143 P.3d 706, 711 (2006) (“The Confrontation
Clause, like other provisions in the Bill of Rights, is subject to
exceptions, ‘recognized long before the adoption of the Constitution,
and not interfering at all with its spirit.’ A dying declaration is one
such exception to the Confrontation Clause.”); People v. Clay, 88
A.D.3d 14, 26-27, 926 N.Y.S.2d 598 (N.Y. App. Div. 2011) (“Thus,
we read Crawford to signify that the substance of the right of
confrontation enshrined in the Constitution is informed by the
contemporaneous understanding of that right at common law, and is
not, instead, an abrogation of it. We therefore conclude that the
Supreme Court, having suggested that the common-law right did not
encompass dying declarations, would likely determine that the same is
true of the Sixth Amendment.”); State v. Calhoun, 189 N.C. App. 166,
657 S.E.2d 424, 428 (2008) (“We ... follow the majority of the states
that have decided this issue and hold that a dying declaration is a
‘special exception’ under Crawford to the Sixth Amendment right to
confrontation.”); State v. Kennedy, 998 N.E.2d 1189, 1202 (Ohio Ct.
App. 2013) (“In light of this case law, we hold that the Sixth
Amendment incorporates an exception for ‘the common law pedigree’
of dying declarations, even testimonial ones, and that Crawford did not
alter the rule.”); State v. Lewis, 235 S.W.3d 136, 148 (Tenn. 2007)
(“Because the admissibility of the dying declaration is also deeply
entrenched in the legal history of this state, it is also our view that the
single hearsay exception survives the mandate of Crawford regardless of
its testimonial nature.”); Satterwhite v. Commonwealth, 56 Va. App. 557,
695 S.E.2d 555, 560 (2010) (“[W]e hold Crawford did not upend the
traditional view that dying declarations serve as an exception both to
the common law hearsay rule and the constitutional right of a
defendant to confront his accusers.”); State v. Beauchamp, 333 Wis. 2d
1, 796 N.W.2d 780, 784-85 (2011) (“Those principles compel the
conclusion that allowing this hearsay exception comports with the
protections of the Confrontation Clause.”). Contra United States v.
Mayhew, 380 F.Supp.2d 961, 964-65 (S.D. Ohio 2005) (Mayhew
admitted the dying declaration but rationalized the exemption from
the Confrontation Clause as an instance of forfeiture by wrongdoing.).
The academic authorities are in solid accord. [2] MCCORMICK ON
EVIDENCE,[§ 309, at 507-508 (7th ed. 2013)], stated:
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The fact that dying declarations were received at the time the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights were formed when the
hearsay rule was not yet settled led the Supreme Court in
Crawford v. Washington to suggest that even if such a statement is
testimonial it would be admissible as an exception to the Confrontation
Clause objection.
(Emphasis supplied).
[6A LYNN] MCLAIN, MARYLAND EVIDENCE: STATE AND FEDERAL, §
804(3):1b, at 771 [(3d ed. 2013)], observed . . . :
In Crawford v. Washington the U.S. Supreme Court opined that
although some dying declarations might be “testimonial” for
purposes of the confrontation clause, they would nonetheless be
admissible against a criminal accused.
(Emphasis supplied).
Professor [Peter Nicholas, “I’m Dying to Tell You What Happened”: The
Admissibility of Testimonial Dying Declarations Post-Crawford, 37
HASTINGS CONST. L.Q. 487, 491-492 (2010)], observed in that regard:
In footnote six, the Court took pains to point out that Crawford
did not technically decide the issue of the admissibility of dying
declarations vis-à-vis the Confrontation Clause. But if the post-
Crawford era to date is any guide, this dictum will, like other dicta
in Crawford, soon become the Law of the Land. ... In any event, the
Court’s holding in Giles v. California four years later effectively
assumes that a dying declaration exception to the Confrontation Clause
exists. Moreover, lower federal courts and state courts that have
addressed the issue have, with near unanimity, read footnote
six of Crawford as creating a dying declaration exception to the
Confrontation Clause.
(Emphasis supplied).
Professors [Tim Donaldson and J. Preston Frederickson, Dying to
Testify? Confrontation vs. Declaration In Extremis, 22 REGENT U.L. REV.
35, 77 (2010)], have also noted:
Crawford acknowledged the existence of authority for admitting
testimonial dying declarations. The Supreme Court left no doubt in
Giles about its understanding of the status of the dying declaration
exception at the time of founding when it confirmed: “We have
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previously acknowledged that two forms of testimonial statements
were admitted at common law even though they were unconfronted ...
The first of these were declarations made by a speaker who was both on
the brink of death and aware that he was dying.” There is no
foundation for the assertion that the dying declaration
exception was nonexistent at the time that the Bill of Rights
was designed.
... Whatever construction a court places on the Confrontation
Clause, it is irrefutable that dying declarations were admitted at
common law before and after ratification of the Bill of Rights.
If something must yield when reconciling theory and history in this
area, the permanence of history should withstand the winds of changing
thought.
(Emphasis supplied).
State v. Hailes, 92 A.3d 544, 565-567 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2014), aff’d, 113 A.3d
608 (2015).
[31] The Court of Special Appeals opinion in Hailes cited this court’s decision in
Wallace v. State, which observed that defendant Wallace cited Crawford without
further argument and inferred that Wallace was challenging the admissibility of
statements made by the decedent as dying declarations as a violation of his right
of confrontation. 836 N.E.2d at 996. The court disagreed and noted “that
Crawford neither explicitly, nor impliedly, signaled that the dying declaration
exception to hearsay ran afoul of an accused right of confrontation under the
Sixth Amendment.” Id. Then, in Wright, defendant Wright conceded, as the
court noted approvingly, “that the rule in Crawford has a well-recognized
exception for dying declarations.” 916 N.E.2d at 275. Today, we formally
recognize that dying declarations as provided by Ind. Evidence Rule 804(b)(2)
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are excepted from the right of confrontation provided by the Sixth Amendment.
Accordingly, we need not decide whether the statements of Shabazz were
testimonial in nature. The court did not abuse its discretion in admitting such
statements.6
B. Cartridge Casings
[32] Bishop challenges the trial court’s decision to admit the testimony of Spears that
the casings recovered from the Cullens scene were fired from the same gun as
was used in the murder of Shabazz because the casings from the Cullens scene
were mistakenly destroyed by the State. He argues specifically that “there was
some indication that the casings possessed an exculpatory value that, however
tenuous, was evident to the State prior to its destruction.” Appellant’s Brief at
26.
[33] A defendant’s due process rights are violated when the State fails to disclose or
preserve material exculpatory evidence. See United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97(1976). For evidence to be constitutionally material, it “must both possess an
exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed, and be
of such a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain comparable
evidence by other reasonably available means.” California v. Trombetta, 467
U.S. 479, 489 (1984). When the evidence at issue is material exculpatory
6
The State also suggests in its brief that the statements of Shabazz were admissible as excited utterances
under Ind. Evidence Rule 803(2). However, because we conclude that the statements were admissible as
dying declarations, we need not address the State’s argument.
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evidence, it is irrelevant whether the State’s failure to disclose or preserve the
evidence was in good or bad faith. Illinois v. Fisher, 540 U.S. 544, 547 (2004).
[34] In contrast, when the evidence at issue is “potentially useful evidence,” as
opposed to material exculpatory evidence, failure to preserve that evidence does
not amount to a due process violation “unless a criminal defendant can show
bad faith” on the State’s behalf. Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 58 (1988),
reh’g denied. Evidence that is “potentially useful” was described by the Supreme
Court as “evidentiary material of which no more can be said than that it could
have been subjected to tests, the results of which might have exonerated the
defendant.” Id. at 57. At the heart of the Youngblood decision was the Court’s
unwillingness to impose under the Due Process Clause “an undifferentiated and
absolute duty to retain and to preserve all material that might be of conceivable
evidentiary significance in a particular prosecution.” Id. at 58.
[35] Here, Bishop does not assert that the State acted in bad faith and argues simply
that loss of the shell casings is significant because it deprived him of the
opportunity to test the casings and contradict the State’s expert testimony that
the casings came from the same firearm. We find, however, that it is clear the
destroyed shell casings fall under the category of “potentially useful evidence”
because they did not have “exculpatory value that was apparent before the
evidence was destroyed.” Trombetta, 467 U.S. at 489, 104 S. Ct. at 2534.
Indeed, Bishop concedes that their significance is contingent upon the chance
that additional testing would yield a result inconsistent with that of the State’s
expert (i.e., potentially useful), and therefore his due process argument must fail
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without a showing of bad faith. We conclude that the court did not abuse its
discretion by allowing the State to present expert testimony regarding the
casings.
C. Cullens Shooting
[36] Bishop contends that the court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of the
Cullens shooting under Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b) because the circumstances of
the Cullens shooting and the Shabazz shooting do not share enough similarity
for the Cullens shooting to be used as evidence of Bishop’s identity. He argues
that to qualify under the rule “the crimes must be so strikingly similar that it can
be said with ‘reasonable certainty’ that the same person committed them” and
that the circumstances of the two crimes do not meet that threshold.
Appellant’s Brief at 28. Bishop argues that “[t]he only relevance the Cullens
case had to the Shabazz case was to show that Bishop shot Cullens, so he
probably shot Shabazz,” that “[t]his is the ‘forbidden inference’ precluded by
Evid. Rule. 404(b),” and that even if it had relevance outside of Bishop’s
propensity to commit crimes the evidence should have been excluded under
Ind. Evidence Rule 403. Id. at 32. He further asserts that the admission of such
evidence was not harmless, noting that although the court admonished the jury
that evidence of the Cullens shooting could only be used on the issue of
knowledge, intent, identity, and motive, “this admonishment could not remove
the taint of the facts of the Cullens case. The jury’s apparent decision to believe
Shabazz’s identification of Bishop as his shooter may have turned on the
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wrongly admitted evidence and caused it to decide the case based on Bishop’s
propensity to commit crimes.” Id. at 34.
[37] The State argues that the evidence of the Cullens shooting demonstrated that
the same firearm used to shoot Cullens was used to shoot Shabazz. It asserts
that such evidence was probative as to Bishop’s motive, noting that both
shootings occurred during the same twenty-four hour period and involved
financial disputes. The State asserts that it had the burden of proving identity
and in that regard “had relevant evidence [of] another shooting, in the same 24-
hour period, involving the same firearm, same caliber weapon, evincing the
same intent . . . to find people who owed him money, and evidencing the same
motive for shooting his victims,” and that the probative weight of such evidence
was greater than its prejudice. Appellee’s Brief at 40. The State further
contends that, even if admitting such evidence was error, any error was
harmless at most because the court “insulated the jury from its misuse with
prophylactic jury instructions” and “the law presumes that the jury will follow
the trial court’s admonition” which “cures any error in the admission of
evidence.” Id. at 41.
[38] Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b), titled “Crimes, Wrongs, or Other Acts,” states:
(1) Prohibited Uses. Evidence of a crime, wrong, or other act is not
admissible to prove a person’s character in order to show that on a
particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character.
(2) Permitted Uses; Notice in a Criminal Case. This evidence may be
admissible for another purpose, such as proving motive, opportunity,
intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or
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lack of accident. On request by a defendant in a criminal case, the
prosecutor must:
(A) provide reasonable notice of the general nature of any such
evidence that the prosecutor intends to offer at trial; and
(B) do so before trial—or during trial if the court, for good
cause, excuses lack of pretrial notice.
[39] Rule 404(b) “was designed to assure that ‘the State, relying upon evidence of
uncharged misconduct, may not punish a person for his character.’” Lee v.
State, 689 N.E.2d 435, 439 (Ind. 1997) (quoting Wickizer v. State, 626 N.E.2d
795, 797 (Ind. 1993) (citing Lannan v. State, 600 N.E.2d 1334, 1338 (Ind.
1992))), reh’g denied. The standard for assessing the admissibility of Rule 404(b)
evidence is: (1) the court must determine that the evidence of other crimes,
wrongs, or acts is relevant to a matter at issue other than the defendant’s
propensity to commit the charged act; and (2) the court must balance the
probative value of the evidence against its prejudicial effect pursuant to Rule
403. Boone v. State, 728 N.E.2d 135, 137-138 (Ind. 2000), reh’g denied; Hicks v.
State, 690 N.E.2d 215, 221 (Ind. 1997). “To determine whether the trial court
abused its discretion, we employ the same test.” Wilhelmus v. State, 824 N.E.2d
405, 414 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005) (quoting Iqbal v. State, 805 N.E.2d 401, 406 (Ind.
Ct. App. 2004)).
[40] The evidence is inadmissible when the State offers it only to produce the
“forbidden inference” that the defendant has engaged in other, uncharged
misconduct and the charged conduct was in conformity with the uncharged
misconduct. Crain v. State, 736 N.E.2d 1223, 1235 (Ind. 2000). The trial court
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has wide latitude, however, in weighing the probative value of the evidence
against the possible prejudice of its admission. Id. If evidence has some
purpose besides behavior in conformity with a character trait and the balancing
test is favorable, the trial court can elect to admit the evidence. Boone, 728
N.E.2d at 138.
[41] Evidence of other crimes admitted under the identity exception are generally
evaluated based upon whether such crimes are “‘signature’ crimes with a
common modus operandi.” Thompson v. State, 690 N.E.2d 224, 234 (Ind.
1997). The rationale behind this exception “is that the crimes, or means used to
commit them, were so similar and unique that it is highly probable that the
same person committed all of them.” Id. (citing Lockhart v. State, 609 N.E.2d
1093, 1097 (Ind. 1993)). While the “signature crime” test focuses on similarity
and uniqueness between the charged and uncharged conduct, we note that in
addition courts have long considered “whether or not the evidence is so
specifically and significantly related to the charged crime in time, place and
circumstance as to be logically relevant to one of the particular excepted
purposes.” Malone v. State, 441 N.E.2d 1339, 1346 (Ind. 1982) (citing
Montgomery v. State, 274 Ind. 544, 548, 412 N.E.2d 793, 795 (1980), reh’g denied;
Duvose v. State, 257 Ind. 450, 451, 275 N.E.2d 536, 537 (1971)). Both “the
timing and similarity of the incidents are factors in the larger inquiry into
whether the incidents were relevant to a matter in issue.” Hicks, 690 N.E.2d at
222.
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[42] Here, the evidence elicited by the State related to the Cullens shooting included
that Angela Allen saw Bishop on the evening of August 31, 2012, the night
before Shabazz was discovered shot at his home, and that Bishop gave her $300
and stated that “he was going to, uh, go find Will or talk to Will,” whom she
knew through Bishop. Transcript at 513. Bishop showed up at about 8:00 a.m.
on the morning of September 1, 2012, and when asked where he had been he
responded: “You don’t want to know.” Id. at 524. Allen gave Bishop his
money and he left. Cullens testified that he owed Bishop $500 and on August
31, 2012, at about 11:00 p.m., he encountered Bishop outside of his home as he
was walking to his car. Bishop asked “Will, where’s my money?” and Cullens
observed Bishop holding a gun. Id. at 634. Bishop raised the gun, Cullens ran
in the opposite direction, Bishop shot Cullens, but Cullens was able to keep
running and call 911. Cullens told a responding officer that he had been shot by
Zimbabwe. Detective Dunn testified that Cullens identified Bishop as
Zimbabwe, the same alias provided by Shabazz to detectives. Spears testified
that shell casings and bullets recovered from both the Cullens and Shabazz
crime scenes were fired from the same 45 caliber handgun and were the same
brand of bullet.
[43] We find that this evidence was relevant to the identity and motive of Bishop as
the person who shot Shabazz, and was not merely evidence supporting the
“forbidden inference” of Bishop’s propensity to commit the charged act,
because the time, place, and circumstances of the Cullens shooting are logically
relevant to those excepted purposes under Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b). The
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Cullens shooting occurred within hours of the shooting of Shabazz during the
same overnight period. Both shootings occurred in the city of Indianapolis.
Also, the evidence revealed that both shootings concerned financial disputes
between Bishop and the victims. Importantly, there is strong circumstantial
evidence linking the shootings in that shell casings and bullets recovered from
the Cullens shooting, in which Cullens identified Bishop as the shooter,
matched shell casings and bullets recovered from the Shabazz crime scene as
being fired from the same gun and were the same brand of bullet. The
probative value of such evidence vastly outweighed any prejudicial effect it
might have had on Bishop.
[44] To the extent Bishop suggests that the evidence from the Cullens shooting was
inadmissible under Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b) because it did not rise to the level
of a “signature crime,” we note that our precedent takes care to note that “[t]he
identity exception to the general prohibition on propensity evidence is crafted
primarily for ‘signature’ crimes with a common modus operandi.” Thompson,
690 N.E.2d at 234 (emphasis added). The test for whether identity evidence
constitutes a signature crime does not focus on the timeframe between the
different criminal episodes. See, e.g., Nicholson v. State, 963 N.E.2d 1096, 1098-
1100 (Ind. 2012) (holding that evidence of a prior conviction and surrounding
circumstances stemming from conduct occurring twenty-two months prior to
the instant crime was admissible under Ind. Evidence Rule 404(b) as evidence
of a signature crime). It is for this reason that our precedent has set a high bar
for admitting signature crime evidence, focusing instead on whether the crimes
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are “so strikingly similar that one can say with reasonable certainty that one
and the same person committed them.” Davis v. State, 598 N.E.2d 1041, 1048
n.2 (Ind. 1992), reh’g denied, cert. denied, 510 U.S. 948, 114 S. Ct. 392 (1993). In
this case, the evidence of the Cullens shooting was relevant to show Bishop’s
identity based upon the closeness in time (during the same evening), place (the
city of Indianapolis), and circumstance (financial disputes between Bishop and
both Cullens and Shabazz, and the same firearm was used in each shooting).
[45] We conclude that based upon the closeness in time, place, and circumstances,
of the two shootings, including the forensic evidence showing that the same
firearm was used at each shooting within hours of each other, the evidence
presented of the Cullens shooting was relevant, and its probative value
outweighed any prejudice to Bishop. The court did not abuse its discretion in
admitting this evidence.
Conclusion
[46] For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Bishop’s conviction for murder.
[47] Affirmed.
Crone, J., and Pyle, J., concur.
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