Taiwan Lundy v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) ( 2016 )

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED
regarded as precedent or cited before any Sep 28 2016, 6:36 am
court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
the defense of res judicata, collateral Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Frederick Vaiana Gregory F. Zoeller
Voyles Zahn & Paul Attorney General of Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Justin F. Roebel
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Taiwan Lundy, September 28, 2016
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
49A04-1509-CR-1447
v. Appeal from the Marion Superior
Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable Mark D. Stoner,
Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge
Trial Court Cause No.
49G06-1311-FA-72474
Brown, Judge.
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[1] Taiwan Lundy appeals his sentence for twenty-nine convictions in connection
with an extended home invasion. Lundy raises one issue which we revise and
restate as whether the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing him. We
affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[2] At approximately 5:00 a.m. on October 24, 2013, Adrian Anthony, Trae Spells,
Michael Pugh, and Lundy broke into a home in Indianapolis belonging to R.N.
and B.N. One of the men entered the bedroom and held R.N. and B.N. at
gunpoint, and the other men grabbed their cell phones and ransacked the house,
taking anything of value including jewelry, purses, a vase containing coins,
cologne, watches, electronics, DVD players, an iPod, and televisions.
[3] The men demanded money, and R.N. indicated their money was in the bank.
One of the men fired a gun within a foot of R.N.’s head, shooting the wall.
R.N. identified his debit card and wrote down his pin code so the men could
use the ATM, and one of the men drove B.N.’s Jeep to an ATM. The men at
the house stated that, if the man who went to the ATM was unable to obtain
money, they were going to kill R.N. and B.N. The man who went to the ATM
returned and stated “[t]hey lied. It didn’t work. The pin code didn’t work” and
“[l]et’s shoot them.” Transcript at 69, 219.
[4] The men took R.N. and B.N. from the bedroom to a living room, ordered them
to their knees, and placed a pillow over their heads. R.N. and B.N. believed
they were going to be shot at that point. The men kicked R.N. in the head, and
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R.N. pleaded with the men until they agreed to take him to the ATM. R.N.
drove Anthony, who held R.N. at gunpoint, to the ATM. R.N. attempted to
withdraw money, but was unsuccessful because access to his account had been
locked due to the number of unsuccessful prior attempted transactions, and
Anthony stated “[y]ou lied to me again. You guys are dead. You are dead
absolutely.” Id. at 79. R.N. told Anthony that B.N. had a separate account
with a separate debit card, Anthony agreed to retrieve B.N.’s debit card, and
R.N. drove back to the house. While Anthony and R.N. were traveling to and
from the ATM, the other men removed televisions from the walls. One of the
men forced B.N. to lay on the floor with a blanket over her head, rubbed her
back, butt, and breasts, and stated that “if he had a condom he would rape [her]
but he didn’t want his DNA inside” her. Id. at 229.
[5] After R.N. and Anthony returned to the house, Anthony forced B.N. at
gunpoint to drive him to the ATM. There, B.N. attempted to withdraw $800
but it did not work, and then she successfully withdrew $500. B.N. then
unsuccessfully attempted to make additional withdrawals. Anthony told B.N.
to tell the other men that she was able to withdraw only $400. Meanwhile, as
Anthony and B.N. were traveling to and from the ATM, Spells asked R.N. for a
passcode to a computer, which R.N. did not provide. R.N. was tied up with an
orange extension cord, and Spells and Lundy struck R.N. with an iron urn,
shattered a glass vase on his head, hit him in the head with a pizza stone, and
punched him in the face.
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[6] Anthony and B.N. arrived back at the house, the men bound B.N. with a rope
or cord and duct tape, and one of the men wrapped a cord around B.N.’s neck
and “touched [her] vagina really forcefully.” Id. at 247. The men struck R.N.
and B.N. on their heads severely and repeatedly with a DVD player, and the
blows were so forceful that B.N. at first thought she had been shot. The men
loaded items into R.N. and B.N.’s Jeep and Subaru. Spells initially attempted
to drive the Subaru but did not know how to drive a manual transmission, and
he left the vehicle against a light post in the front yard of the house. After the
men left, R.N. and B.N. removed their restraints, ran to a neighbor’s house, and
called 911. The police discovered the Jeep and recovered some of the stolen
items.
[7] The State, in an amended charging information, alleged Lundy, Anthony,
Spells, and Pugh committed burglary as a class A felony, conspiracy to commit
burglary as a class A felony, three counts of robbery as class B felonies, eleven
counts of criminal confinement as class B felonies, two counts of intimidation
as class C felonies, attempted robbery as a class B felony, thirteen counts of
forgery as class C felonies, conspiracy to commit forgery as a class C felony,
sexual battery as a class C felony, criminal deviate conduct as a class A felony,
three counts of battery as class C felonies, and two counts of carjacking as class
B felonies. Anthony, Pugh, and Lundy were tried together, and Spells testified
that he entered a plea agreement, that his understanding was that he could be
sentenced to fifty to eighty years, and that he agreed to testify in this case. The
jury was given an instruction on accomplice liability. The jury found Lundy
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guilty on thirty counts and not guilty on one count of battery as a class C
felony, the State dismissed nine counts, and the court merged the conviction for
conspiracy to commit burglary with the conviction for burglary. Ultimately,
judgments of conviction were entered on the following: burglary as a class A
felony under Count 1; robbery as class B felonies under Counts 3, 4, and 28;
criminal confinement as class B felonies under Counts 10, 22, 23, 26, 27, and
37; attempted robbery as a class B felony under Count 11; forgery as class C
felonies under Counts 12 through 21 and 29 through 31; conspiracy to commit
forgery under Count 32; battery as class C felonies under Counts 33 and 38; and
carjacking as class B felonies under Counts 39 and 40.
[8] At sentencing, Lundy’s counsel elicited testimony from Lundy’s mother that
she attempted to convince Lundy to testify but that “he was scared of the
repercussions and the fact that he’s going to have to do all these years in jail
with these same people and he doesn’t want it to come back on him and he
doesn’t want anything to come back on his sisters in the street.” Transcript at
978. Lundy’s counsel argued in part:
I would ask the Court to take into consideration, uh, Mr. Spells’
sentence; and he did cooperate, he received a 70-year sentence
from my understanding, based upon his cooperation. But I think
Mr. Lundy is even differently, differently situated from Mr.
Spells, and the Court saw what Mr. Spells was all about first
hand when he came into court and testified in this case. Um. By
all accounts, Mr. Spells maybe not an overt admission, but by all
accounts Mr. Spells was the, was the individual who was
responsible for tying Ms. Nowak up, um, who was responsible
for the unspeakable things that were done to her, that, that, you
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know, will never be forgotten and she’ll have to deal with for the
rest of her life. And that individual received a 70-year sentence. .
..
But we’re asking for a fifty-year sentence, and in mitigation, we’d
ask the Court to consider Mr. Lundy’s relevant youth at the time
of the occurrence of this case; his mental health issues. I believe
that he has addiction issues. I think he’s had addiction issues
since birth. Um. His youth and his upbringing which in the
beginning he was an adopted child, and I think that’s clear from
the presentence investigation report.
The aggravators are also clear. He does have some, some
criminal history, as his mom testified to. However, that criminal
history pales in comparison to what he’s looking at here today
and what he’s been convicted of. And he, and he knows that.
One last thing, Your Honor, Mr. Lundy is not making a
statement of allocution, but in some respects, he made a
statement, or made his statement of allocution to the community
when he went, when he went on with Fox 59 and gave his
statement of apology and sorrow for his actions.
Id. at 999-1002. The court asked whether Spells received seventy years in this
case or in all cases, and the prosecutor responded that the sentence “was a
combination” and “[h]e got forty years on this case and thirty on the Court
Four case.” Id. at 1004.
[9] The trial court later stated:
Now, as to Mr. Lundy, Court notes as mitigating circumstances,
as I indicated earlier, that substance abuse evaluation and
treatment, mental health evaluation and treatment, as the
presentence report makes clear that the defendant was adopted,
was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Unlike the other
defendants, he was not involved in the College Avenue matter.
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The defense did cite that he is relatively young. The Court,
however, given his, the length of his criminal history which I’ll
go into in just a minute, and noted that all of the other
defendants are also relatively young age, Court doesn’t find that
to be a significant mitigating circumstance.
In terms of aggravating circumstances for Mr. Lundy’s criminal
history, Court notes that his first referral was when he was
thirteen for minor misdemeanor offenses. Most significant
juvenile matter then occurs in 2007 with a theft true finding that
would have been a D felony if committed by an adult given an
opportunity to be placed on probation. . . . Indicated that he has
had a number of opportunities to receive treatment in the juvenile
system and for whatever reason was unsuccessful with that. He
had a second true finding in 2010 at the age of seventeen for a
theft which would have been a felony if committed by an adult.
Also had a criminal mischief in terms of destruction of property
in 2010 which would have been a misdemeanor. . . . But the
defendant was over the age of eighteen when he committed theft
under the cause number in Court 15 under the cause number
ending in 738. Disposition for that was in June of 2011. He had
a felony conviction for that. Given an opportunity to be placed
on probation. His probation was revoked. He was sent to the
Department of Correction and was released from the Department
of Correction and had only been out from the Department of
Correction for five or six months when these offenses occurred.
So, those are the individual aggravating and mitigating
circumstances as it relates to each defendant. Court notes as an
overall aggravating circumstance as the State of Indiana
indicated, that this was [a] significant crime in the sense that it
involved the sanctity of the home, and done at a time in which
individuals would have been expected . . . in the home, and the
Court believes on the facts and circumstances that it was clear the
defendants knew that, counted on that, and yet invaded the home
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anyway. But having gone into the home, that they were engaged
in a significant act of terror as to the victims in this case. . . .
[Y]ou guys did more than steal. You brutalized, you terrorized,
you victimized them in ways that were just absolutely
unnecessary for obtaining property, which is what you were after.
. . . The violence that you did, the sexual activity you did wasn’t
necessary. It just simply wasn’t necessary and it creates a greater
aggravating circumstance than most burglaries and that is true for
each and every one of you.
Mr. Lundy’s attorney has asked for consideration and the Court
will be giving consideration in the sense that one, he wasn’t
involved in the College Avenue case. Two, that he has a less
significant criminal history. But the bottom line is, is that, the
Court can’t give you a significant mitigating circumstance
because you didn’t cooperate, because you didn’t do what Mr.
Spells did. Even when Mr. Spells lied, and he clearly did, about
some of the things that happened in the case, he still came
forward and decided to do something in terms of the right thing
to do. And if you had only listened, Mr. Lundy, to your mother
and your attorney, your sentence would have been significantly
different than what it is. Because everyone really deserved to
know exactly what happened. And between Mr. Spells, and you
Mr. Lundy, we might have been able to sift out who was
cheating in terms of their own involvement, and be able to figure
out who exactly did what.
But because you didn’t come forward, because you chose to
honor the code of lawbreakers instead of honoring the code of
doing the right thing in terms of telling the truth, you sit here and
you’re going to get a significant sentence that you otherwise
wouldn’t have gotten. And that’s a tragedy for you, but that’s the
choice you made. You choose to run with these guys, you
choose to stay with these guys, and not do the right thing. And
so, the Court wanted to address you specifically because that
doesn’t – your co-defendants aren’t in that category.
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Id. at 1016-1018, 1020-1022.
[10] The court sentenced Lundy to forty years on Count 1; ten years on Counts 3, 4,
10, 11, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 37, 39, and 40; and four years on Counts 12 through
21, 29 through 33, and 38. The court ordered that Counts 1, 3, 12, 33, 38, and
39 be served consecutively and that all other counts be served concurrently, for
an aggregate sentence of seventy-two years.1
Discussion
[11] The issue is whether the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing Lundy.
We review the trial court’s sentence for an abuse of discretion. Anglemyer v.
State, 868 N.E.2d 482, 490 (Ind. 2007), clarified on reh’g, 875 N.E.2d 218 (Ind.
2007). An abuse of discretion occurs if the decision is clearly against the logic
and effect of the facts and circumstances. Id.
[12] Lundy asserts the trial court abused its discretion when it impermissibly
punished him for exercising his constitutional rights to a trial by jury and
freedom from self-incrimination. Lundy argues that the court’s comments at
his sentencing hearing, “if allowed to stand, hauntingly chill the exercise of
these core constitutional principles” because, “as affirmatively stated by the trial
court to Lundy, should an accused choose to exercise one or both of these
rights,” the “consequences of doing so will result in a significantly greater
1
The court sentenced Pugh and Anthony to aggregate terms of eighty-eight years and ordered that the
sentences be served consecutive to the sentences they received for their participation in the College Avenue
case.
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sentence than if he had not elected to proceed to jury trial and/or had elected to
forfeit his right against self-incrimination.” Appellant’s Brief at 15-16. Lundy
argues that the trial court’s statements “plainly and affirmatively outline that he
received a harsher sentence than he otherwise would have had he not elected to
exercise his basic constitutional rights to a trial by jury and to be free from self-
incrimination.” Id. at 18.
[13] Lundy states that he “is mindful of the benefits of plea bargaining” and “agrees
that it is constitutionally sound for a defendant to receive leniency at sentencing
in consideration for a decision to bargain with the state and correspondingly
utilize less resources of the parties and the courts,” but that “[t]he problem
presented at [his] sentencing is the fact that the trial court affirmatively outlined
its reasons for imposing a harsher sentence upon him,” “[t]hose reasons
principally being he exercised his right to a trial by jury along with Pugh and
Anthony and elected not to testify against them.” Id. at 19-20. Lundy argues
this court could exercise its authority under Ind. Appellate Rule 7(B) and
impose a sentence it feels is appropriate, could remand the case for
resentencing, or could remand the case for resentencing with directions, and he
asks this court to consider a sentence of fifty years as a realistic starting point in
fashioning a remedy to the issues presented regarding his sentencing.
[14] The State maintains that the court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing
Lundy to an aggregate sentence of seventy-two years, that the law requires
courts to consider cooperation with the State and guilty pleas as mitigating
circumstances at sentencing, and that here the court did not punish Lundy for
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failing to assist the police or for demanding a jury trial but instead explained
that a significantly mitigated sentence, such as the sentence Spells received for
cooperating and testifying, was not merited because Lundy did not cooperate.
The State argues that the trial court’s statements were made in direct response
to Lundy’s arguments that he should be given a shorter sentence than Spells
because of his lesser involvement, that as such the court was commenting on
Spells’s entitlement to mitigation for cooperating and pleading guilty and was
not suggesting Lundy was being punished for exercising his constitutional
rights, and that these issues only became relevant because Lundy asked the
court to consider Spells’s sentence in fashioning Lundy’s sentence. The State
also asserts that Lundy does not present any significant indicia that the court
enhanced his sentence to punish him for exercising his right to a jury trial or
right against self-incrimination, that nothing in the court’s statement indicates it
was holding Lundy’s decision to go to trial against him, and that Lundy
concedes that it is constitutionally sound for a defendant to receive leniency at
sentencing in consideration for a guilty plea.
[15] The Indiana Supreme Court has observed that it is improper to rely on a
defendant’s maintaining his innocence as an aggravator and that a defendant’s
constitutional privilege against self-incrimination protects him from having to
confess to the police. Angleton v. State, 686 N.E.2d 803, 816 (Ind. 1997), reh’g
denied. Further, it is constitutionally impermissible for a trial court to impose a
more severe sentence because the defendant has chosen to stand trial rather
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than plead guilty. Hill v. State, 499 N.E.2d 1103, 1107 (Ind. 1986) (citing Walker
v. State, 454 N.E.2d 425, 429 (Ind. Ct. App. 1983), trans. denied).
[16] The Court has further observed that “[t]he propriety of using leniency to
encourage guilty pleas, however, has also been upheld.” Id. (citing Gajdos v.
State, 462 N.E.2d 1017, 1025 (Ind. 1984) (stating a defendant who enters a
guilty plea “has extended a substantial benefit to the state and deserves to have
a substantial benefit extended to him in return” and that “when the defendant
proceeds to trial and his accomplice pleads guilty, the sentences need not be
identical”) (citations omitted)). Further, a defendant who pleads guilty deserves
to have mitigating weight extended to the guilty plea in return, and the
significance of this mitigating factor will vary from case to case, based in part
on the benefit extended to the State or the victim. Francis v. State, 817 N.E.2d
235, 238 (Ind. 2004).
[17] In Hill, the Court stated that, while leniency in sentencing is constitutionally
permissible as an incentive for an otherwise proper plea of guilty, a more severe
sentence may not be imposed upon a defendant because he foregoes the
opportunity to plead guilty and exercises his right to trial by jury. 499 N.E.2d
at 1107. The Court stated that “[w]hether the severity of a particular sentence
was improperly influenced by a defendant’s jury trial election requires an
individualized consideration” and held that “[i]n the present case, we are not
directed to, nor do we find, anything in the record indicating that the
defendant’s decision to proceed with jury trial affected the severity of the
sentence ultimately imposed.” Id. The Court noted that it did not “find any
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indication that the trial judge was involved in the defendant’s plea negotiations,
nor did the judge encourage the defendant to plead guilty, or threaten him with
a more severe sentence if convicted following jury trial.” Id. The Court also
noted that the trial court reviewed the facts of the case against the defendant’s
substantial history of criminal activity and concluded that, “[a]bsent a
significant indicia that the defendant’s exercise of his jury trial right may have
contributed to the severity of his resulting sentence, we will not remand for
resentencing upon this issue.” Id.
[18] In Pauley v. State, Albert Pauley and Steve Phillips were at the home of Robert
Patchett and, when Phillip Paul arrived, he was beaten and stabbed. 668
N.E.2d 1212, 1213 (Ind. 1996). Pauley was found guilty of murder. Id. He
and Phillips received sixty years for their roles in the crime, and Patchett pled
guilty and received thirty years. Id. On appeal, Pauley argued he was
penalized for invoking his right to trial by jury. Id. The Court discussed Hill
and concluded that Pauley did not demonstrate that the trial court enhanced his
sentence because he elected to go to trial. Id.
[19] We observe that Lundy did not object to his sentence below on the basis that it
represented punishment for maintaining his innocence or insisting on a trial by
jury and does not argue or point to the record on appeal that the trial court was
involved in his plea negotiations, encouraged him to plead guilty, or threatened
him with a more severe sentence if convicted following jury trial. We further
observe that Lundy’s counsel asked the court to take Spells’s sentence into
consideration and argued that Spells was the person responsible for the actions
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against B.N. Lundy’s counsel requested that the court sentence Lundy to fifty
years and asked it to consider Lundy’s relative youth, mental health, addiction
issues, and expression to the community of his sorrow for his actions. In
response, the court stated that “the bottom line” was that the court could not
give Lundy “a significant mitigating circumstance” because he “didn’t do what
Mr. Spells did.” Transcript at 1021. The court’s comments related to the
reasons Spells could receive the sentence he received for his participation,
namely, his guilty plea and cooperation extended a substantial benefit to the
State. See Gajdos, 462 N.E.2d at 1025 (stating, “when the defendant proceeds to
trial and his accomplice pleads guilty, the sentences need not be identical”).
We further note that, as set forth in the record and in part above, the court
identified aggravating and mitigating circumstances, which Lundy does not
challenge, and explained its reasons for rejecting Lundy’s argument regarding
his relative participation and for attributing little weight to certain mitigating
circumstances advanced by his counsel. The court noted that Lundy was not
involved in another matter which the other defendants had been involved,
noted his age and why it did not find his relative age to be a significant
mitigating circumstance, reviewed his criminal history, and discussed the brutal
nature of the offenses committed during the course of the home invasion.
Conclusion
[20] Based upon the record, we conclude that Lundy has not demonstrated that the
trial court enhanced his sentence for impermissible reasons and that it did not
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abuse its discretion in imposing an aggregate sentence of seventy-two years for
Lundy’s crimes.
[21] For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Lundy’s sentence.
[22] Affirmed.
Baker, J., and May, J., concur.
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