Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion | 49A02-1409-CR-659 | April 16, 2015 Page 1 of 16

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT

James H. Voyles, Jr.

Jennifer M. Lukemeyer

Voyles Zahn & Paul

Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE

Gregory F. Zoeller

Attorney General of Indiana

Michael Gene Worden

Deputy Attorney General

Indianapolis, Indiana

I N T H E

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

James Satterfield,

Appellant-Defendant,

v.

State of Indiana,

Appellee-Plaintiff.

April 16, 2015

Court of Appeals Cause No.

49A02-1409-CR-659

Appeal from the Marion Superior 

Court.

The Honorable Lisa Borges, Judge.

Cause No. 49G04-1404-MR-17426

Riley, Judge.
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STATEMENT OF THE CASE

[1] Appellant-Defendant, James Satterfield (Satterfield), appeals the trial court’s 

denial of his motion to let bail following his arrest and charge for murder. 

[2] We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

ISSUES

[3] Satterfield raises one issue on appeal, which we restate as follows: Whether the 

State established that the proof of Satterfield’s guilt for murder is evident or the 

presumption of that guilt strong despite his claim of self-defense.

[4] The State raises one issue on cross-appeal, which we restate as follows: 

Whether Satterfield filed a timely notice of appeal.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

[5] On the morning of April 2, 2014, Satterfield met Maegan Biddle (Biddle) at the 

Bankers Lane Apartments located on the near east side of Indianapolis, 

Indiana. Biddle was a prostitute in the area and she and Satterfield had 

engaged in illicit sex for money a couple of times previously. Biddle and her 

friend, Andre Brown (Brown), had just returned from visiting Biddle’s mother 

in Ohio, and she decided to prostitute herself that morning to raise money to 

buy crack cocaine. 

[6] Satterfield picked up Biddle along Washington Street and proceeded to the 

apartments where he parked under a carport. As usual, he locked the car’s 
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doors prior to parking. Biddle began performing fellatio on Satterfield for 

thirty-five dollars. Shortly thereafter, Satterfield noticed a man, later identified 

as Brown, walking through the parking lot and towards the rear of his car. 

Noticing Brown approach his vehicle, Satterfield became nervous and retrieved 

his gun1from behind the passenger side seat. Despite the locked doors, Brown 

opened the passenger’s side door and leaned down, saying “hey” in a forceful 

voice and holding a shiny object. (Transcript p. 45). Satterfield fired a single 

shot. As Brown fell backward, Biddle recognized him as her friend. Satterfield 

drove away quickly. After driving around for a couple of minutes, Satterfield 

paid Biddle and she left the car. 

[7] Around 9:30 a.m. that morning, a maintenance man from the apartment 

complex found Brown’s body. Detective Marcus Kennedy (Detective 

Kennedy) of the Indianapolis Police Department was notified. By the time 

Detective Kennedy arrived on the scene, Brown’s body had been removed but a 

claw hammer was located in close proximity to where Brown’s body was 

discovered. In a subsequent forensic investigation, the hammer tested positive 

for Brown’s DNA. Brown’s car was also found behind the carport, and inside 

the officers found some of Biddle’s possessions. Within twenty-four hours of 

learning that Brown was dead, Satterfield arranged, through counsel, to turn 

himself in and to provide a voluntary statement. Satterfield has no criminal 

 

1

Satterfield is licensed to carry a gun.
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history, has never before been arrested, and has been employed in lawn care 

irrigation since 1988. 

[8] On April 7, 2014, the State filed an Information, charging Satterfield with 

murder, a felony, Ind. Code § 35-42-1-1. On July 18, 2014, Satterfield filed a 

motion to let bail, which the trial court considered during a hearing on August 

15, 2014. During the bail hearing, witnesses testified and exhibits were 

admitted. At the close of the evidence, the trial court denied Satterfield bail. 

On August 29, 2014, Satterfield filed a motion to reconsider, which was again 

denied by the trial court.

[9] Satterfield now appeals and the State cross-appeals. Additional facts will be 

provided as necessary. 

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

[10] Because the State presents us with a threshold procedural question, we will first 

address the merits of its cross-appeal.

CROSS-APPEAL

[11] In its cross-appeal, the State maintains that Satterfield forfeited his right to 

appeal the trial court’s denial of his bail by failing to file a notice of appeal 

within the requisite thirty days of the trial court’s order. Because the trial 

court’s order constituted a final appealable judgment and the motion to 

reconsider did not toll the running of time, the State maintains that the notice of 

appeal was due eight days prior to Satterfield’s filing of his notice of appeal. 
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[12] A trial court’s denial of bail is deemed a final judgment and appealable as of 

right. Bradley v. State, 649 N.E.2d 100, 106 (Ind. 1995), reh’g denied. In order to 

perfect an appeal, a notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days of the final 

judgment being appealed. Ind. Appellate Rule 9(A)(1). A motion to reconsider 

does not “extend the time for any further required or permitted action, motion, 

or proceedings[.]” Ind. Trial Rule 53.4(A). Accordingly, with the trial court’s 

issuance of its order on August 15, 2014, Satterfield’s notice of appeal was due 

on September 15, 2014, not on September 23, 2014. 

[13] In an effort to avoid a forfeiture of his appeal, Satterfield contends that he 

labored under the mistaken impression that the trial court took the case under 

advisement at the conclusion of the bail hearing. “In this case, the trial court 

made an initial ruling but demonstrated some hesitancy in that it asked for 

guidance from other jurisdictions, which counsel then provided at a later date. 

The parties below were operating under the assumption that the initial order 

was not final until the trial court ha[d] a chance to consider the authority from 

other jurisdictions.” (Appellant’s Reply Br. pp. 1-2). After reviewing the 

transcript of the bail hearing, we find Satterfield’s argument is, at best, 

disingenuous. 

[14] While we agree with Satterfield insofar as the transcript reflects his counsel’s 

request to undertake more research with respect to the applicability of justifiable 

defenses in a bail hearing, at the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court 

nevertheless reiterated that its “ruling is going to stand.” (Tr. p. 76). 

Satterfield’s counsel affirmed that she “understand[s] the ruling stands now.” 
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(Tr. p. 76). Consequently, the trial court’s denial of Satterfield’s request for bail 

was a final, appealable order.

[15] However, In the Matter of the Adoption of O.R., 16 N.E.3d 965, 971 (Ind. 2014), 

our supreme court clarified that 

[t]he untimely filing of a Notice of Appeal is not a jurisdictional defect 

depriving the appellate courts of the ability to entertain an appeal. 

Instead, the timely filing of a Notice of Appeal is jurisdictional only in 

the sense that it is a Rule-required prerequisite to the initiation of an 

appeal in the [c]ourt of [a]ppeals. Timely filing relates neither to the 

merits of the controversy nor to the competence of the courts on 

appeal to resolve the controversy. . . . [T]he right to appeal having 

been forfeited, the question [then becomes] whether there are 

extraordinarily compelling reasons why this forfeited right should be 

restored.

In this case, we answer the question in the affirmative. 

[16] The right to bail is “a traditional and cherished right.” Bozovichar v. State, 103 

N.E.2d 680, 681 (Ind. 1952), abrogated on different grounds by Fry v. State, 990 

N.E.2d 429 (Ind. 2013). As such, “[t]he right to freedom by bail pending trial is 

an adjunct to that revered Anglo-Saxon aphorism which holds an accused to be 

innocent until his guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” Hobbs v. Lindsey, 

162 N.E.2d 85, 88 (Ind. 1959). “Unless [that right] is preserved, the 

presumption of innocence, secured only after centuries of struggle, would lose 

its meaning.” Stack v. Boyle, 342 U.S. 1, 4 (1951). Despite the broad language, 

the right to bail, as enshrined in the Indiana Constitution, is not unqualified as 

“[o]ffenses, other than murder or treason, shall be bailable by sufficient sureties. 

Murder or treason shall not be bailable, when the proof is evident, or the 
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presumption strong.” Ind. Const. art. I, § 17. Because of these strictly defined 

qualifiers in the case of murder or treason, each request for bail in those 

instances must be reviewed upon its individual merits. Thus, the denial of the 

right to award bail where the proof of guilt is not evident or the presumption of 

guilt is not strong would be a deprivation of liberty without due process of law, 

in violation of the Constitution, which would—rightly—call for prompt 

corrective action. See Ex Parte McDaniel, 97 So. 317, 318 (Fla. 1923). 

Ultimately, though, the criminal jurisprudence of Indiana and any

corresponding discussion of bail is founded on a presumption of individual 

innocence. See Bozovichar, 103 N.E.2d at 681; see U.S. v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 

755 (1987) (“[L]iberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial or without trial is 

the carefully limited exception.”). It is the unique confluence of this

fundamental liberty interest along with one of the most valued rights in our 

culture—the right to bail—that we conclude that Satterfield’s otherwise 

forfeited appeal deserves a determination on its merits. 

APPEAL

I. The Fry Decision

[17] The Indiana Constitution specifically provides that “[o]ffenses, other than 

murder or treason, shall be bailable by sufficient sureties. Murder or treason 

shall not be bailable, when the proof is evident, or the presumption strong.” 

Ind. Const. art. I, § 17. “This qualification was proper because murder is ‘the 

most serious charge that can be lodged by the [S]tate against an individual and 
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carries with it the possibility of the imposition of a sentence of death, society’s 

hashest penalty,’ and the purpose of bail would likely be disserved by an 

unqualified right in such a case.” Fry v. State, 990 N.E.2d 429, 435 (Ind. 2013) 

(quoting Phillips v. State, 550 N.E.2d 1290, 1294-95 (Ind. 1990), abrogated on 

different grounds by Fry v. State, 990 N.E.2d 429 (Ind. 2013)). Until recently, the 

burden was placed on the defendant to show that either of those two separate 

and distinct circumstances exist—i.e., to show that in his or her murder case the 

proof is not evident, or the presumption is not strong. Fry, 990 N.E.2d at 435. 

[18] In Fry, our supreme court disregarded the well-established maxim of stare decisis

and, in one fell swoop, overruled nearly 150 years of precedent going back to 

the Civil War era. Shifting the burden of proof, the Fry court held that “when a 

criminal defendant is charged with murder or treason, whether by indictment or 

information, the burden lies with the State to show that ‘the proof is evident, or 

the presumption strong,’ if it seeks to deny bail to that defendant.” Id. at 443-

44. Reversing the course of Indiana precedent, the court concluded that “the 

contrary procedure used in the past [is] incompatible with the fundamental 

guarantee presuming an accused’s innocence until proven guilty beyond a 

reasonable doubt.” Id. at 444. 

[19] Recognizing this complete disapproval of stare decisis, the Fry court also set out 

“to articulate what is contemplated by the burden [this court] ha[s] now 

assigned to the State” and endeavored to “provide some guidance by placing 

this standard somewhere on the proof spectrum, which is bounded generally at 

the low end by ‘reasonable suspicion’ and at the high end by ‘beyond a 
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reasonable doubt.’” Id. at 444, 445. “Like Goldilocks in the home of the three 

bears, [the Fry court] search[ed] for a formulation that is not too low, and not 

too high, but instead is just right.” Id. at 446. After review of our sister states’ 

jurisprudence in this area, our supreme court concluded that 

the State must show that the defendant “more likely than not”

committed the crime of murder (or treason). Such a showing, at such 

an early stage of the process, seems sufficient to justify the denial of 

bail given the severity of the proposed offense and the attendant 

consequences. After all, at that point the trial court—while not prejudging the ultimate guilt or innocence of the defendant—can 

reasonably say “the defendant most likely did it.”

Id. at 448. As such,

the State must [] present competent evidence either upon which those 

charging documents relied or upon which the State intends to rely at 

trial. Additionally the evidence cannot simply be statements by the 

prosecutor as to what the proof will—or might—be at trial. The 

magistrate must be shown information at the hearing from which he 

can make his own independent determination whether there is 

admissible evidence against an accused that adds up to strong or 

evident proof of guilt. . . . [T]he evidence presented by the State must 

show culpability of the actual capital crime for which bail may be 

wholly denied—i.e., murder or treason—and not simply implicate a 

lesser-included offense such as voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.

Id. at 449 (internal citations omitted). 

[20] Although the Fry court shifted the burden of proof and clarified the standard of 

necessary evidence to establish an ‘evident proof’ or ‘strong presumption’ to 

deny bail for murder or treason, the court cautioned that its opinion “should 

not be construed to modify—either to enhance or diminish—the due process 
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protections we have always required at bail hearings.” Id. at 449 (citing Phillips, 

550 N.E.2d at 1295). 

[21] In light of this reassessment of the burden of proof in bail hearings, we are 

called upon today to determine whether a defendant is allowed to present 

evidence of an affirmative defense to rebut the State’s strong presumption that 

the defendant more likely than not committed the murder (or treason) accused 

of. 

[22] While Satterfield answered this issue of first impression in the affirmative and 

suggests that we should impose on the trial court a requirement to assess a 

defendant’s justifiable defenses during a bail proceeding, the State maintains 

that “[p]ossible defenses have no bearing on the bail issue.” (State’s Br. p. 13). 

“Requiring the State to negate a defense—such as the self-defense claim made 

here—could result in a bail hearing becoming a mini-trial that in some cases 

could consume countless hours of the trial court’s time.” (State’s Br. p. 13). 

After hearing the parties’ respective arguments, the trial court opined it was not 

allowed to “weigh potential defenses.” (Tr. p. 74). We disagree.

[23] Although the text of Article I, § 17 shows that the framers of the Indiana 

Constitution wanted to establish a high threshold of proof before a person could 

be held without bail when charged with murder or treason, the words 

themselves do not suggest any limit on the kind of evidence that would be 

admissible in a proceeding to determine bail. Just like our supreme court in 
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Fry, we will turn to Indiana’s Civil War precedents and their progeny to seek 

guidance as to the nature of evidence admissible in bail proceedings.

[24] In Ex Parte Moore, 30 Ind. 197, 199-200 (Ind. 1868), the supreme court, faced 

with habeas proceedings in a murder case, considered it “proper” to “weigh the 

evidence, and determine the facts, as if trying the case originally” in answering 

the question “whether the proof of the prisoner’s guilt is so clear, or the 

presumption so strong, as to render the offense a non-bailable one.” Turning its 

analysis to the establishment of “express malice,” the court noted that if the 

killing, “though voluntary, was the result of sudden heat, or transport of 

passion, upon a sufficient provocation, it rebuts the presumption of malice, and 

reduces the offense to manslaughter.” Id. at 200. After considering the facts of 

the case, the Moore court concluded that 

in view of the provocation given by the deceased, the high state of 

excitement and passion produced upon the mind of the prisoner 

thereby, the hasty manner in which he went to his house and returned 

to the saloon with the pistol, and the short period of time, not 

exceeding five minutes, that intervened between the provocation and 

the act, [] it seems to us that it cannot be fairly said that it is clear that 

there was sufficient time between the provocation and the act for the 

passion to cool and reason to resume control, or that the proof is 

evident, or the presumption strong, that the killing was malicious.

Id. at 201-02. Finding the existence of provocation, the court held that “the 

prisoner is entitled to be let to bail.” Id. at 202. See also Schmidt v. Simmons, 36 

N.E.516, 516 (Ind. 1894) (defendant was refused bail after an indictment for 

murder even though “there were circumstances immediately preceding the fatal 

act . . . to incite hot blood” and a “conflict in the evidence as to whether the 
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deceased, at the time the fatal shot was fired, was making an effort to assault 

the appellant”),abrogated on different grounds by Fry v. State, 990 N.E.2d 429 (Ind. 

2013); Brown et al. v. State, 46 N.E. 34, 36 (Ind. 1897) (“It is, however, in the 

absence of any countervailing facts, a necessary presumption that the homicide 

was committed purposely.”), abrogated on different grounds by Fry v. State, 990 

N.E.2d 429 (Ind. 2013). 

[25] Several years later, the supreme court issued its ruling in State v. Hedges, 98 N.E. 

417 (Ind. 1912), abrogated on different grounds by Fry v. State, 990 N.E.2d 429 

(Ind. 2013), in which it granted an application for bail after a murder 

indictment. In Hedges, the court was presented with an objection by the State 

that the applicant of the bail hearing “can only introduce the evidence of 

witnesses upon whose evidence the State [had] relied for conviction” before the 

grand jury. Id. at 417. Considering whether only the evidence that was 

presented before the grand jury can be presented during a bail hearing, the court 

unambiguously declared:

The rule is that the applicant must introduce the evidence of witnesses 

indicated by the indictment, and he must also introduce such witnesses 

as the [S]tate indicates that it does rely upon, or claim it relies upon, 

but [the State] cannot foreclose the inquiry by simply declaring as to 

any witness that it does not rely upon his testimony. 

The inquiry necessarily requires the court to travel over much of the 

ground to be heard by a traverse jury, in so far as the degree of the 

offense is concerned, but it is an acknowledged constitutional and 

statutory right of very ancient usage on proper showing.

If it is to be of any consequence or avail, it must overcome the prima 

facie case made by the indictment, but it will readily be seen that that 

might be an impossibility, and, presumptively, if only the witnesses 
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upon whom the [S]tate relies are offered, and might be a barren right, 

and subject persons to cruel and unusual hardship, if not punishment, 

if there be not a full and fair inquiry from these who really have 

information.

Id. at 418 (internal citations omitted). See also State ex. rel. Post-Tribune Pub. Co. 

v. Porter Superior Court, 412 N.E.2d 748, 418-19 (Ind. 1980) (where our supreme 

court acknowledges that a bail hearing amounts to a mini-trial, and includes the 

presentation of evidence that may or may not be admissible at the later trial).

[26] Continuing on the path of allowing the presentation of incriminating and 

exculpatory evidence during bail proceedings, our supreme court reaffirmed in 

Phillips that the appellant in a bail hearing must be afforded all constitutional 

protections guaranteed to the criminally accused: the right to counsel, the right 

to present witnesses in his defense and to confront and cross-examine those 

against him, and the right against self-incrimination. Phillips, 550 N.E.2d at 

1295. And most recently, in Shuai v. State, 966 N.E.2d 619, 623-24 (Ind. Ct. 

App. 2012), trans. denied, we reversed the trial court’s denial of bail in a murder 

charge, where Shuai offered evidence to support alternate explanations that led 

to the minor victim’s death and called into question the credibility of the 

autopsy report. Relying on the evidence presented by both parties, we 

concluded—in a premonition of shifting burdens in Fry—that Shuai “presented 

sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption” that the proof of guilt is evident 

and the presumption of guilt is strong. Id. at 625. 

[27] Based on a long and consistent history of Indiana precedents, we do not find 

the State’s argument availing. Permeated within the right to bail is the 
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presumption of innocence for all purposes while awaiting trial. See Fry, 990 

N.E.2d at 440, 441. Although the right to bail is not absolute, but rather 

severely qualified by our Constitution in the case of murder (or treason), the 

“‘proof’ and ‘presumption’ that Article I, § 17 refers to are the ‘proof’ and 

‘presumption’ of guilt.” Id. at 421. Even though the Fry court shifted the 

burden of proof in bail proceedings to the State, the nature of the evidence 

establishing that the proof is evident or the presumption strong that the 

defendant committed murder (or treason) remained untouched. The Fry court 

admonished that “our opinion today should not be construed to modify—either 

to enhance or to diminish—the due process protections we have always 

required at bail hearings.” Id. at 449. Considering all of our precedent, it 

appears that in its argument on appeal the State attempts to use Fry to diminish 

the due process protections that we have historically required. 

[28] In order to preserve the presumption of innocence and to fully retain the 

constitutional due process rights, a defendant must be awarded the opportunity 

to present evidence and witnesses on his or her behalf in an endeavor to rebut 

the State’s burden that he or she “more likely than not committed the crime of 

murder (or treason).” See id. at 448; see also Phillips, 550 N.E.2d at 1295 (a 

defendant must be afforded the type of procedural due process hearing that will 

guarantee that bail is not denied unreasonably or arbitrarily). If a defendant 

would be prevented from presenting evidence indicating a possible justification 

to the murder charge, then no bail would be possible as the constitutional 

qualification on the presumptive right to bail would become absolute. The right 
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to bail when charged with murder or treason would then indeed become a 

“barren right.” Hedges, 98 N.E. at 418. Accordingly, after the Fry decision reevaluated the bailment landscape, we pay homage to the ancient principle of 

stare decisis and reaffirm a defendant’s right to present exculpatory evidence as to 

his or her culpability during a bail proceeding and the trial court’s duty to take

this evidence into account when considering a request for bail.

II. Application to the Facts

[29] When reviewing a trial court’s denial of bail in a murder case, we reverse only 

for an abuse of discretion. Rohr v. State, 917 N.E.2d 1277, 1280 (Ind. Ct. App. 

2009). A decision is an abuse of discretion when it “is clearly against the logic 

and effect of the facts and circumstances.” Prewitt v. State, 878 N.E.2d 184, 188 

(Ind. 2007). We will not reweigh the evidence, and we consider any conflicting 

evidence in favor of the trial court’s ruling. Collins v. State, 822 N.E.2d 214, 218 

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

[30] Here, Satterfield was charged with knowingly killing Brown. Despite 

Satterfield’s admission that he shot Brown, he presented evidence that he might 

have used this deadly force in self-defense. The evidence reflects that while 

Satterfield was in his own vehicle, Brown forcefully attempted to enter the car 

while holding a shiny object. Satterfield fired a single shot. 

[31] However, after being presented with Satterfield’s evidence, the trial court 

refused to weigh any evidentiary facts alluding to a possible self-defense and, 

thus, abused its discretion. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s denial of 
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Satterfield’s bail and remand to the trial court with instructions to conduct a 

new bail hearing in accordance with our opinion today. 

CONCLUSION

[32] Based on the foregoing, we hold that even though Satterfield forfeited his right 

to appeal due to his failure to timely file a notice of appeal, extraordinarily 

compelling reasons warrant a review of Satterfield’s argument on the merits. 

Upon review of the evidence, we reverse the trial court’s denial of bail and 

remand for a new bail hearing with instructions to weigh Satterfield’s evidence 

of self-defense. 

[33] Reversed and remanded. 

[34] Najam, J. concurs

Bradford, J. concurs in result