Opinion ID: 2050075
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: criminal confinement of Ruth B. Caldwell while armed with a shotgun.

Text: The Prosecutor also filed at that time a separate document styled Information for DEATH SENTENCE which alleged the following three aggravating circumstances: 1. Appellant murdered Gerald F. Griffin who was, at the time of his murder, a law enforcement officer acting in the course of his official duty [ See Ind. Code § 35-50-2-9(b)(6)(i)]; 2. Appellant committed another murder in addition to the murder of Gerald F. Griffin in that he murdered John H. Caldwell [ See Ind. Code § 35-50-2-9(b)(8)]; and 3. Appellant committed still another murder in addition to the murder of Gerald F. Griffin in that he murdered Rhonda L. Moore [ See Ind. Code § 35-50-2-9(b)(8)]. Appellant was arraigned on December 27, 1979, having been hospitalized ever since the Informations were filed. Two attorneys were appointed to represent Appellant and he pleaded not guilty at that time. Appellant's Petition To Allow Marriage was granted. Appellant filed for a change of venue from the county on January 7, 1980, which request was granted on January 10, 1980. All parties subsequently stipulated to a change of venue to Hamilton County and the Hamilton Superior Court, Division 2, assumed jurisdiction. On March 13, 1980, Appellant's original trial counsel withdrew and an attorney from Hamilton County was appointed to represent Appellant. An aggressive campaign of discovery thereafter ensued. On April 8, 1980, Appellant filed a motion captioned Request to File Notice of Intent to Raise Defense of Insanity. The trial court apparently took said motion under advisement and appointed two disinterested psychiatrists, Dr. Dwight W. Schuster and Dr. John E. Kooiker, to examine Appellant as to his competency at the time of the incident, his present competency to stand trial and his ability to assist in his defense. Dr. Schuster filed his written report on May 27, 1980. His report concluded: As the result of my examination it is my opinion that the defendant has sufficient comprehension to understand the charges against him, the proceedings thereto, and to assist his attorney in his own defense. Further, I believe that he was of sound mind or legally sane on the date of the alleged offense. Dr. Kooiker's report, filed on June 16, 1980, concluded: In the opinion of this examiner, the patient could be considered of sound mind at the time of the alleged crime. At the present time he is considered competent to assist his attorney in his defense and to stand trial on the charges. The trial court allowed Appellant to be examined by the psychiatrists in their offices and allowed Appellant to visit his counsel's office twice a week even while still incarcerated in Marion County to be close to certain medical facilities. On May 19, 1980, the trial court granted Appellant's Petition For Authority To Hire Research Assistant. The first pretrial conference was held on June 19, 1980, at which time the trial court formally allowed Appellant to file his Notice Of Intent To Raise The Defense Of Insanity and granted Appellant's motion for funds to hire Dr. Larry M. Davis, a psychiatrist, and Associate Professor Cathy S. Widom, Ph.D., a psychologist. Dr. Davis filed a written report on July 18, 1980, in which he concluded: At this time [Appellant] is fully competent to stand trial, participate with counsel, and understand the charges against him and aid in his defense. It is obvious that at the time of the shooting [Appellant] was operating under heavy stress and the dissolution of his marriage and the feeling that his in-laws were preventing a possible reunion. Although this behavior was dramatically out of character for [Appellant], I find no evidence that he was unaware at the time of right from wrong. Furthermore, I cannot establish beyond reasonable doubt that he was insane at the time of the shooting in the sense of being unable to adhere his behavior to the right. Dr. Widom never filed any reports in this case but did testify during Appellant's sentencing hearing. On Appellant's trial date, August 25, 1980, Appellant appeared before the trial court and withdrew his pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity and entered pleas of guilty to Count I-murder, guilty to Count II-murder, and guilty to Count III-murder. The trial court thereupon conducted a hearing to determine the voluntariness of Appellant's guilty pleas. The trial court examined Appellant about his mental status and about his knowledge of the many constitutional rights he was waiving by pleading guilty. The trial court specifically informed Appellant of the minimum and maximum penalties he faced by pleading guilty as charged and reminded Appellant that the State was seeking a death penalty for him. The trial court also carefully advised Appellant that by pleading guilty he would waive his right to have a jury recommend to the trial court whether or not a death penalty should be imposed against Appellant. Appellant consistently stated, without equivocation, that he understood everything that the trial court was discussing with him and that he knew what he was doing. Appellant also stated his belief that he had been adequately and satisfactorily represented by his counsel and that he had not been forced, threatened or induced in any way to enter his guilty pleas. We note that there was no plea agreement in this case. A factual basis for Appellant's three guilty pleas was presented to the trial court by the State and Appellant confessed three different times to having committed the three murders charged in Counts I, II and III. Having carefully and comprehensively examined Appellant, the trial court accepted Appellant's guilty pleas and found Appellant guilty of the three murder counts. A pre-sentence report was ordered to be prepared and a sentencing hearing subsequently was scheduled. On August 29, 1980, the Marion County Prosecutor moved the trial court to enter a nolle prosequi to Counts IV through IX in Appellant's case. Appellant's sentencing hearing commenced on October 22, 1980, and lasted approximately three days during which time a substantial amount of evidence was presented. Arguments also were made by both the State and Appellant as to whether or not a death sentence should be imposed. The evidence presented showed that at approximately 7:15 p.m. on November 6, 1979, forty-eight year old Appellant went to the house located at 4702 West 36th Street, Indianapolis, where his ex-wife, twenty-seven year old Rhonda Caldwell, was residing with her mother, Ruth Caldwell, and her father, John Caldwell. Appellant and Rhonda, Appellant's second wife, were officially divorced on October 29, 1979, just eight days before the instant murders. Appellant testified during his sentencing hearing and recalled, on direct examination, the events which transpired during the evening of November 6, 1979, as follows: I've been a hunter all my life... . It was almost time to go hunting. My vacation was going to start that Friday and I was going to go hunting and I had taken my guns to work to show to people at work my guns, which I did every year and talked of hunting and I kept my guns in the car covered with a blanket and that's where they were. They were loaded, they were loaded because I used a shotgun to train myself.... I talked to Rhonda on that evening I believe. .. . We had an argument about calling the house and cussing Chris [McPhail, Appellant's present wife who was then living with Appellant,] out and instead of letting Chris mail the [medical] bill to her, I told her I'd take it by myself... . It was her bill.... I was going over to 56th Street anyway so I thought I'd drop it off at her house while I was going over there... . Going to do a little poaching for deer.... And Rhonda, I asked her, I said, I know you got a date but I got to see you about this bill. I want you to tell these people not to send it to my house so you won't have to call her and cuss Chris out and that led to another argument and I hung up and I think she called back and then she hung up and then I went over to her house... . I didn't park my car in front of the house because when I passed by the house, I saw Rhonda sitting in the front room dressed up. For Rhonda to be dressed up at that time of night, I knew she was going out. So I didn't park my car in front of the house. I went down the street and then came back and parked in front of Mr. Butch Heiden's house. And I got the bill and I went and knocked on the patio door, the side door. She came to the door and I presented her with the bill. And that's when we began to talk. She came out and she put, she came out and she went back in and got her father's jacket, put it on and came back out again cause I said we ought to talk a little bit. And that's when we decided we were going to go out on our anniversary. And that's when I broke down and told her that I would do anything, I'd drink, I'd do anything to get you back and we talked about selling the house and moving on the west side and changing jobs and we could make it again. That's what we talked about, you know, really getting back together again... . We both were crying and her mother, I didn't know it at the time but her mother was in Rhonda's bedroom window looking out; I didn't know it and she came around to the front door with her husband [John] and said, all right Rhonda, that's enough, come on in now. And I said, well we're not through talking yet and John said, well come on in. And I went in with them. My mother-in-law was first, my father-in-law, then Rhonda and myself, I followed them in. I had my arm around Rhonda all the way up to the front room and Johnny said, well, my father-in-law said, that's enough. You ought to leave now. I said okay, I'll leave cause she had the bill. I left and went back to my car. I knew I was going over to 56th Street so I put on my, I had put my guns in the front seat, I put on my shell vest and I thought well I'll go back and talk to Johnny, see if he'll talk to me again and I had my shotgun with me. If he sees this, he'll know that I'm serious. He'll talk to me. Johnny was behind, between the kitchen and the front room was a partition there, he stuck his head out  I knocked on the [back] door and he stuck his head out and waved you can't come in. And I took my shotgun and poked it through the window and pulled the trigger. And I think I fired twice into the house. And the glass was broken and I reached around, I really couldn't, it was a double lock and it wouldn't open without a key so I went around to ... the front of the house and went through the window. Now the door had the double lock on it but it was open and the screen door was open because Johnny generally lets the dog out before he goes to bed but I didn't think of that; I went through the window. And I don't know, there was a lot of screaming and yelling and I don't know when I shot Rhonda. I do know that I went into the bedroom and told my mother-in-law this is all her fault, she should have let us, left us alone, she should have let us go back together when she had the say yes or no, she should have let us go back together as a married, because we were still married at the time and it was all her fault and I said, you finally happy you got your daughter whoring like you always was talking about, always telling me about, you finally got happy so you guys can run together now and have ball. And I shot her. I didn't aim at anyplace, I just shot her. And the phone rang, I remember going into the kitchen to answer the phone... .  and the fellow asked me, is Rhonda home and I said, yes, but this is her husband talking and he hung up. And at that time a face and a gun I looked out from behind  like the china cabinet is here and the phone is here on the wall and I looked out like that and there was a face and a gun and I turned around and dropped the phone and the phone hit the wall and I turned around and shot and ... Rhonda was on the kitchen floor, she was on the kitchen floor and I was arguing with her, whether she was dead or not, I don't know, but I was fussing about, look what we got ourselves into now. It's too late for anything. My life has ended. I think I went back into the bedroom, I'm not sure of that. I know the T.V. was on; I shot the lights out. In the front room, the lamp, it used to be our lamp I saw it and I shot that out... . After I shot the T.V. out, I shot that out and from there I just can't recall my exact movements. I know I asked the Lord to forgive me for what I was about to do and I put my gun to my stomach and pulled the trigger and I was knocked up against the wall and I fell forward and I went out and I came to, I was at the [dead] dog's feet and I knew I didn't want to die at the dog's feet and I pulled myself up toward the door to die. Voices and a bullhorn and a man was talking telling me to hang the phone up. I remember laughing because I'm dying and he wants me to hang up the phone, ain't that a joke. Other evidence admitted during Appellant's sentencing hearing established that John Caldwell was found in his living room dead from shotgun blasts to his abdomen and thorax, Rhonda Caldwell was found in the kitchen dead from multiple shotgun wounds to her lower abdomen and Ruth Caldwell was found in her rear bedroom injured by separate shotgun blasts to her right arm and to her buttocks. The man found dead near the outside entrance to the kitchen of the Caldwell home was Gerald Griffin. Several Indianapolis Police Officers testified that Gerald Griffin was a fellow Indianapolis Police Officer who was in full uniform, without hat, and was acting in the course of his official duties when shot and killed at the Caldwell home. Officer Amos Atwood specifically testified about Officer Griffin and stated that they both responded in their separate cars to the police radio call regarding trouble at the Caldwell home. Atwood testified on direct examination as follows: After parking my car and I exited from the car, Officer Griffin had gone into the garage patio area and had approached a storm door there at the garage; it's on the west side of the house ... . he had his uniform on and the only thing he didn't have was his hat... . There, there was a light on in the garage patio as I approached it and Officer Griffin was already there... . I was approximately 18-20 feet [away from the door] ... Officer Griffin was at the door and had knocked on the door and as he knocked on the door, he was standing there and the next thing I know he went into a crouch, his weapon coming up and he said, hey man, don't do it and that's exactly what he said when he was shot... . The only thing I could see was the impact of it going into Officer Griffin on the left side of his chest... . We note that other evidence presented during Appellant's sentencing hearing established that Appellant shot at least one additional Indianapolis police officer. Assistant Deputy Chief Cicero Mukes testified that he was shot by Appellant as he was responding, in full uniform without hat, to the police radio call for help in his standard Lieutenant's vehicle with flashing red lights on top. He testified as follows: I opened the vehicle door. I got out of, started out of the vehicle, got one foot out, was bringing my other foot out and was turning to the left and I heard a shotgun blast and I could see a ball of fire that came [from the picture window in the front of the Caldwell home] and hit me here [around eye on right side of face] and I fell to the ground. He also testified that the street lighting where he stopped his vehicle was good and made his car quite visible. Apparently Officer Amos Atwood was shot by a stray bullet during some gunfire which other officers directed at Appellant. Officer Atwood testified that Officer Roy Potter was shot along with Officer Murkes in front of the Caldwell home. The trial court heard all of this evidence adduced during Appellant's sentencing hearing and also considered the pre-sentence report it had commissioned for Appellant's case. Appellant apparently did not challenge this report which contained the following account given by Ruth Caldwell: Around 7:00 p.m., November 6, 1980, Rhonda, Ruth, and John Caldwell were watching television in the living room and the telephone rang. Rhonda answered the phone. When she got off the phone her mother asked her who it was. Rhonda said it was Richard (Moore) and he had wanted to talk. Rhonda said she told him if he had anything to say to say it on the phone. She said he hung up on her. The phone rang again and Rhonda answered it. When she was through her mother asked who it was and Rhonda said it was Richard again. About 15 minutes later, there was a knock on the door and John Caldwell got up to answer the door. He told Rhonda it was Richard so Rhonda got up and went out on the carport with Richard. Ruth went to the back bedroom in the house and watched them out the window. She observed them talking and then Richard got up and went to the carport door. Ruth observed Rhonda walk over to where he was, now they were facing close to each other and Ruth thought she saw Richard say something and saw tears come to Rhonda's eyes. Ruth then went in the living room and informed John that Rhonda was starting to cry and something was happening. They went to the door and Richard had already left. Ruth heard Rhonda say, get inside, lock the doors, Richard's got a gun. Then Ruth started screaming and running. She saw smoke in the living room but didn't remember hearing a shot. Then she heard the crash at the back door. Ruth ran to the bedroom where her daughter was on the phone and she heard John say, my God, Richard, that's my dog. Rhonda dropped the phone and ran out of the bedroom and must have seen Richard because Ruth heard her say, Richard, please don't kill me, I'll go back with you or anything. Just please don't kill me. Ruth heard Richard say, it's too late. Ruth also heard Rhonda say, Richard, that's my dad. Then Richard came around to the rear bedroom where Ruth was standing sideways and said, you whore, I'm going to kill you. He then shot the back of her arm. Ruth fell on her back and laid there for a while. Richard returned to the rear bedroom and said to Ruth, aren't you dead yet? And Ruth replied, no Richard, I'm not dead yet. Richard then said, I'm going to shoot you right in your asshole and he did. Having conducted its sentencing hearing as required by our Indiana statutes, the trial court found as follows: We've been here approximately three days and heard a substantial amount of evidence and we've heard argument from both State of Indiana and from the defendant as to whether or not the death sentence should be imposed in this case. The State has the burden and has had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt one or more of the aggravating circumstances which they have charged three, actually two under the statute but two counts of one. One of those aggravating circumstances is that the victim of the murder was a law enforcement officer acting in the course of duty. The other two counts relate to the defendant having been convicted of another murder. It's clear to the Court that the three counts charged in the death sentence information have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The question may lie as to whether or not the defendant knew that the victim, Officer Griffin, was, in fact, a law enforcement officer. I think the evidence is clear that Officer Griffin was a person not within the household and I think there's certainly reason to believe that the defendant did shoot a person outside the household, certainly through a door. There is conflicting testimony as to the action of the officer but I think there was certainly sufficient time and could have been sufficient action taken to determine for certain whether or not it was an officer. We have two patrol cars sitting in the driveway, marked with lights on the top. The statute does not require that the defendant knowingly murder a law enforcement officer acting in the line of duty but I think that this officer could have been identified; in fact, may have been identified as someone from outside the household and there certainly is some distinction between the brother-in-law, Mr. Caldwell, and Officer Griffin. But I think as the statute, its allegations as to aggravating circumstances, the Court has to conclude that those aggravating circumstances have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. I think the Court has to look carefully to mitigating circumstances in this case that's been presented by the defense. It is my understanding and from my listening here to the evidence that the first contention is that the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance when he committed the murder. I think that the fact is there that he was under certainly some type of mental or emotional disturbance. What the difference between that disturbance, extreme or normal, the testimony has been substantial that there were a number of conflicts going on in the mind of the defendant. And certainly, there's been substantial testimony both from Dr. Widom and from Dr. Davis as well as from several other persons including the defendant that there was substantial mental and emotional disturbances at this time. The Court is concerned, I think there is some truth that in most events of this kind, there is a great deal of mental or emotional disturbance. Whether in other cases it arises to this level, I'm not certain. It's only this case that I can make a decision on. I think the other primary factor that was raised came under the mitigating circumstance shown as, say we say a general one, the other circumstances or circumstance appropriate for consideration. And I think that the circumstances there presented were at sometimes moving to the Court, work that Richard performed, the defendant performed both prior to this event and after this event. The Court however must then, under our death penalty statute, attempt to determine whether or not the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances or whether or not the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating circumstances. That's been a difficult thing for this Court to resolve and perhaps that is as it should be and perhaps that is how it is for anyone whether it be a jury or a judge making that determination. The Court does believe that capital punishment in appropriate circumstances is a correct penalty. The question that is before this Court along with the basic issue of weight is, is it appropriate in this case? Do the, does the taking of three lives, one of which was a police officer acting in the line of duty outweigh the good works that have been testified to here as well as the mental stress that was upon the defendant at this time in question. I think there comes a time when a line has to be drawn and society has to say that it can not permit certain conduct to occur and when it does, that the most extreme penalty must be imposed. Mr. Moore, I think that in this situation, under the circumstances we've heard here in the last three days, that it is appropriate that the death penalty be imposed and that you be sentenced to die in the electric chair. For that reason, at this time, the Court does find the aggravating circumstances do outweigh the mitigating circumstances and at this time does set the date for your execution to be May the 1st, 1981 at an hour before sunrise.