Title: Blackburn v. State
Citation: 519 N.E.2d 554
Docket Number: 21S00-8608-PC725
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: February 24, 1988

519 N.E.2d 554 (1988)
James BLACKBURN, Appellant (Petitioner below),
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Respondent below).
No. 21S00-8608-PC725.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
February 24, 1988.
Rehearing Denied June 27, 1988.
*555 Susan K. Carpenter, Public Defender of Indiana, Hilary Bowe, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., John D. Shuman, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
PIVARNIK, Justice.
Petitioner James Blackburn appeals the denial of his Petition for Post Conviction Relief in the Fayette Circuit Court. Blackburn was charged on April 2, 1969 in the Franklin Circuit Court with murder in the first degree. On April 25, 1969 the cause was venued to Fayette County, and on November 7, 1969, following a jury trial, Blackburn was convicted of murder in the second degree. The conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. Blackburn v. State (1973), 260 Ind. 5, 291 N.E.2d 686, appeal dismissed 412 U.S. 925, 93 S. Ct. 2755, 37 L. Ed. 2d 152. Blackburn's Petition for Post-Conviction Relief was filed on June 13, 1984 and, after a period of extended pleadings by both parties, the trial court denied the petition on January 28, 1986. Three issues are presented for our review in this appeal:
Blackburn also challenges the trial court's finding he was guilty of laches in bringing the post-conviction relief action. Since the State defended on all of the issues, however, and the trial court found against Blackburn on all of the above issues on the merits, the presentation of the laches issue is redundant and we will not consider it.
The facts are as follows:
Blackburn, 260 Ind. at 9-10, 291 N.E.2d  at 689.
Blackburn claims the court's instruction No. 17 was erroneously given since it had the effect of shifting the burden of proof to the accused or permitting a conclusive presumption to prove an element of the offense. Instruction No. 17 read:
Matters litigated on direct appeal are not available for review in post-conviction proceedings. Douglas v. State (1986), Ind., 490 N.E.2d 270, 271. Although Blackburn did not object to the giving of this instruction at trial and did not raise the question in this manner on direct appeal, this instruction was discussed on direct appeal on the issue of the refusal to give certain of Blackburn's tendered instructions. Blackburn, 260 Ind. at 15-19, 291 N.E.2d  at 692-694. Nevertheless, since the language used in instruction No. 17 was the subject of Sandstrom v. Montana (1979), 442 U.S. 510, 99 S. Ct. 2450, 61 L. Ed. 2d 39, and Francis v. Franklin (1985), 471 U.S. 307, 105 S. Ct. 1965, 85 L. Ed. 2d 344, we will consider the issue here.
Sandstrom held that instructing the jury that "the law presumes that a person intends the ordinary consequences of his voluntary acts," was reversible error since the jury may have found Sandstrom guilty by interpreting the instruction as shifting the burden of persuasion to Sandstrom to disprove intent or as creating a conclusive presumption that could not be rebutted and required the State prove only the result element. The United States Supreme Court further considered the issue in Francis v. Franklin, stating that in analyzing an instruction for constitutionality, the court is to determine whether it creates a mandatory presumption or merely a permissive inference. Francis, 471 U.S.  at 314, 105 S. Ct.  at 1971. A mandatory presumption requires the jury to find the presumed fact if the predicate fact is proved, whereas a permissive inference only suggests that such conclusion may be made. Id. The Francis Court further acknowledged that while specific portions of an instruction may be infirm the potentially offending words must be considered in the context of the charge as a whole. Other instructions might explain the particular infirm language to the extent that the instruction would not create an unconstitutional presumption in a reasonable juror. Francis, 471 U.S.  at 315, 105 S. Ct.  at 1972. This court considered this issue in Van Orden v. State (1984), Ind., 469 N.E.2d 1153, cert. denied (1985) 471 U.S. 1104, 105 S. Ct. 2335, 85 L. Ed. 2d 851. The challenged *557 portion of the instruction in Van Orden read:
Van Orden, 469 N.E.2d  at 1160. In Van Orden the limiting language was used but was further qualified by informing the jury that to determine purpose and intent they may look to all the surrounding circumstances including what was said and done in relation thereto. Thus, this court found the instruction did not have the limited and mandatory language of that rejected in Sandstrom and was properly given. Id. at 1161.
Here, in addition to instruction No. 17 the trial court gave preliminary instruction No. 8 which provided:
The trial court also gave instruction No. 23 which provided:
Instruction No. 17 informed the jury it was not necessary an express intention be proved but that it may be inferred. It further explained that in determining intent the jury may look to all the surrounding circumstances. The court's instructions properly informed the jury on the subject of intent.
Blackburn claims the post-conviction court erred in finding that trial counsel's failure to investigate and present all available exculpatory evidence did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel. Blackburn argues his counsel should have required ballistics and trajectory tests to determine whether it was possible that someone other than Blackburn fired the shot that killed the deceased officer. The effectiveness of Blackburn's trial counsel was determined by this court in Blackburn's direct appeal. Blackburn, 260 Ind. at 21-24, 291 N.E.2d  at 696-697. This issue is therefore not reviewable in post-conviction proceedings. Douglas, 490 N.E.2d  at 271. Further, Blackburn's claim is based on nothing more than speculation that further tests might reveal something favorable to him. No issue is presented meriting our consideration. See Strickland v. Washington (1984), 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, reh. denied (1984), 467 U.S. 1267, 104 S. Ct. 3562, 82 L. Ed. 2d 864; Elliott v. State (1984), Ind., 465 N.E.2d 707.
Finally, Blackburn claims the post-conviction court erred in finding his statement to police while in custody was not *558 elicited in violation of his right to counsel. Following his surrender, Blackburn was arrested and taken by police to the State Police Post at Connorsville, Indiana. Officer Kleiman advised Blackburn of his constitutional rights from a standardized waiver of rights form. Blackburn acknowledged he understood his rights but stated he did not wish to sign the waiver form. Blackburn then asked a series of questions of Officer Kleiman regarding the appointment of an attorney. Officer Kleiman described the conversation as follows:
The State contends Blackburn did not assert his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, but rather made only a general inquiry concerning obtaining counsel. The State further contends the statement given by Blackburn was not necessarily, under the circumstances, an inculpatory statement but was one in which Blackburn used the situation to state his version of what happened to his advantage. An examination of the entire record tends to support this version.
At trial, the defense made no objection to the admission of Blackburn's statement into evidence. In fact, the defense openly cross-examined Blackburn about the giving of the statement and the discussions between him and Officer Kleiman regarding employment of an attorney. Further, Blackburn took the stand in his own defense and discussed the events of that day, including the exchange of fire between Blackburn and the police that resulted in Officer Lietzen's death, in even more detail than was discussed in the statement. Blackburn's defense was a plea of insanity. Blackburn relied on a defense of admitting the occurrence of these events but maintaining the police officer's death was an unintentional result. Blackburn asserted his actions were the result of his mental condition and not an intent to kill anyone. The defense offered evidence that would show Blackburn was in a very troubled and emotional state that caused him to want to go off into the woods alone to think over his problems. There was evidence he had started to write a note to his wife, strongly inferring he had thoughts of committing suicide if he could not resolve the problems in his life as he saw them. His only desire was to be left alone and he fired at people only in an attempt to scare them away. He claimed he had attempted to aim the shots high into the air where they could not hurt anyone, although he admitted the position he was in could have resulted in some of the shots having been fired at a lower trajectory. He claimed he did not know Officer Lietzen and had no intention of hurting anyone. This is what he recounted in his statement to Officer Kleiman and about which he testified in detail on direct examination. Blackburn's activities on the hill and his arrest at the scene were reviewed by many witnesses, both lay persons and police officers. The evidence placed before the jury in Blackburn's statement was only cumulative to Blackburn's *559 direct testimony and the testimony of other witnesses in his defense. It clearly appears the strategy of the defense was bolstered by the admission of the statement.
Blackburn, in his direct appeal, claimed his counsel was incompetent and ineffective because he failed to object to the admission of his statement. In finding a failure to show ineffectiveness, Justice Arterburn, in a unanimous opinion by this court, held:
Blackburn, 260 Ind. at 22-23, 291 N.E.2d  at 696. For these reasons we fail to see that Blackburn has carried his burden of establishing his grounds for relief on this issue by a preponderance of the evidence pursuant to Ind.R.P.C.R. 1, § 5. Higgason v. State (1982), Ind., 435 N.E.2d 558, 559.
Denial of post-conviction relief is affirmed.
SHEPARD, C.J., and DeBRULER, GIVAN and DICKSON, JJ., concur.