Burkins v. State

219 N.E.3d 735

Aidan C. BURKINS, Appellant-Defendant,

v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

Court of Appeals Case No. 22A-CR-1867

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

Filed August 15, 2023

Publication Ordered September 6, 2023

Attorney for Appellant: Scott H. Duerring, South Bend, Indiana

Attorneys for Appellee: Theodore E. Rokita, Attorney General of Indiana, Sierra A. Murray, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana

Bradford, Judge.

Case Summary

[1] After a night of drinking and illegal drug use, the then twenty-year-old Aidan Burkins shot and killed his friend Thomas Campion and shot and injured his friend Gregory Clark. Additionally, a stray bullet went through the outer wall of a nearby home and struck the pillow of an occupant as he was sleeping. The State charged Burkins with murder, Level 1 felony attempted murder, Level 6 felony criminal recklessness, and Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession. Burkins pled guilty to marijuana possession, a jury found him guilty of the remaining charges, and the trial court sentenced him to ninety-five years of incarceration. Burkins contends that the trial court abused its discretion in (1) admitting evidence regarding his use of psilocybin mushrooms the night of the shooting and in denying his mistrial motion based on the same evidence; (2) refusing to allow him to introduce evidence of Campion's membership in the Aryan Brotherhood; (3) allowing the State to question him on whether he had acted knowingly, intentionally, and with reckless disregard; and (4) admitting testimony that he had been on a power trip and had made remarks that he wanted to kill someone and go to jail. Burkins also contends that the prosecutor committed misconduct by mentioning facts not in evidence during closing and that his sentence is inappropriately harsh. Because we conclude that none of Burkins's arguments have merit, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] Burkins met Campion and Clark at work, and they would often spend time with one another outside of work, which continued after they no longer worked together. Burkins began dating Hope Koontz in March of 2019. In February of 2020, Burkins and Koontz moved in together at Meadows Trailer Park in Nappanee, which was a heavily-populated neighborhood with other residences located nearby.

[3] On June 5, 2020, Clark and Burkins made plans for the evening, and Burkins drove to Clark's home where they smoked marijuana and drank beer. Clark and Burkins decided to visit Campion, and Burkins left his car at Clark's home while Clark drove them to Campion's home, where he lived with Emilee Malkowski and their two young daughters. The group watched Campion's daughters play and drank beer, ingested psilocybin mushrooms, and smoked marijuana.

[4] Later that evening, the group ran out of beer and decided to get more. Campion drove Clark and Burkins to a liquor store, but it was closed when they arrived, so they drove to Clark's apartment to smoke a concentrated form of THC referred to as a "dab[.]" Tr. Vol. III p. 25. Burkins, Campion, and Clark each had one dab. When the group unsuccessfully tried again to purchase beer, Burkins invited Campion and Clark to his house; he said, "We could just go back to my house and get some beer. We don't have to keep going." Tr. Vol. III p. 27.

[5] Meanwhile, starting at around 11:00 p.m., Burkins had texted Koontz several times to come pick him up, only to have withdrawn each request soon thereafter. Just before 11:40 p.m., Burkins again texted Koontz to pick him up and told her that it was "Nothing bad they f[*****] up[,]" and she agreed to come pick him up. Ex. Vol. p. 60. Burkins told Campion and Clark that he was going home, and that Koontz was going to pick him up from Clark's house. Campion and Clark brought Burkins to Clark's home, where Koontz was waiting. Campion parked behind Koontz's vehicle and Burkins got out of Campion's car and into Koontz's vehicle. When he entered Koontz's vehicle, Burkins was acting "erratic" and "frantic[.]" Tr. Vol. IV p. 68. Koontz told Campion that she had to work the next day and told Campion to move his car. Campion got back into his vehicle and drove away.

[6] Koontz and Burkins began to drive home, but Burkins instructed her to go back to Clark's because he wanted to drive his own vehicle home. Meanwhile, Clark and Campion wanted to continue to hang out with one another and wanted to obtain the beer from Burkins's home. Campion pulled into Burkins's driveway, still intending to get the beer from Burkins. Burkins was standing on the porch. Campion and Clark exited the vehicle. Neither Campion nor Clark was armed with a weapon, and Burkins was aware that neither had a weapon. Campion took a couple steps forward. Clark saw that Burkins was holding a gun as Burkins walked down the front porch steps. When Burkins stood at the bottom of the porch steps, he "pulled the gun up," and said, "If you take another step, I'll shoot." Tr. Vol. III pp. 42, 72. Campion responded, "You're not gonna really shoot me. Are you really going to shoot me?" Tr. Vol. III p. 43. Burkins reiterated his warning. After Campion stopped approximately five to six feet away from Burkins and said, "Wow, you're actually about to shoot me," Burkins shot him three times, killing him. Tr. Vol. III p. 43. Burkins looked at Clark and shot at him three times, hitting him twice. Clark turned and ran into the woods located behind Burkins's home, having been shot in the hand and in his right side at the bottom of his rib cage. Adam Easterday, who lived nearby and had been awakened by the gunfire, discovered that a bullet had passed through the outer wall of his home and had hit his pillow.

[7] Law-enforcement officers interviewed Burkins on June 6 and June 17, 2020. During a police interview, he stated that "[a] gun is like picking a fight" and "[n]o one is invincible to a gun[.]" Tr. Vol. V p. 246. Before Burkins left police custody on June 6, a blood draw was conducted. Campion's clothing was tested for gunpowder residue and other chemicals, but none were found, meaning that the muzzle of Burkins's gun had been more than three feet from Campion when it was fired.

[8] On August 24, 2020, the State charged Burkins with murder, Level 1 felony attempted murder, Level 6 felony criminal recklessness, and Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession. On June 27, 2022, Burkins pled guilty to marijuana possession and his jury trial began on the remaining charges. Burkins's theory at trial was that he had acted in self-defense. Prior to the presentation of evidence, Burkins objected to the introduction of testimony from Clark about the use of psilocybin mushrooms on the basis that Burkins's drug use constituted a prior bad act. The trial court overruled the objection and reasoned that the evidence was admissible under Evidence Rule 404(b)(2) as relevant to Burkins's intent. Burkins requested a continuing objection to evidence of mushroom consumption, which the trial court granted.

[9] Clark admitted during direct examination to having consumed alcohol, marijuana, and mushrooms the night of Campion's death and indicated that Campion and Burkins had done the same. On cross-examination, Burkins elicited additional testimony about all three men having consumed marijuana and mushrooms. Moreover, Burkins elicited testimony about Campion's affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood, a white-supremacist gang, including Campion's tattoos that indicated affiliation. The State also elicited testimony about Campion's affiliation with the gang, and Clark indicated that Campion's involvement had ended ten to fifteen years ago.

[10] After the State had presented its case-in-chief, Burkins moved for a mistrial based on the admission of testimony regarding Burkins's use of mushrooms. The trial court denied the motion and reaffirmed its prior ruling that the evidence was admissible because it was relevant to the question of Burkins's intent and, additionally, that it was relevant to the relationship between Campion, Clark, and Burkins.

[11] Burkins testified during his case-in-chief and stated that he had consumed marijuana, mushrooms, and beer the night of the shooting. Burkins also testified to Campion's affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood. Burkins testified that, the night of the shooting, Campion had shown him a tattoo indicating affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood and told him that "[i]f you mess with one of us, you get the rest of us." Tr. Vol. V p. 179.

[12] During cross-examination of Burkins, the State asked him twice if he had (1) knowingly killed Campion, (2) shot Clark with the specific intent to kill him, and (3) knowingly performed an act that created a substantial risk of bodily injury while armed with a deadly weapon when he had fired the bullet that hit the Easterday home. Burkins did not object to the first and third of these questions, objected to the second on the basis that it had been asked and answered, and objected to the fourth on the basis that it violated Evidence Rule 704, which prohibits a witness from testifying to an opinion on an ultimate issue in the case, specifically intent. The trial court overruled Burkins's objections to the questions.

[13] During his redirect examination, Burkins asked to introduce evidence that he could face retaliation from the Aryan Brotherhood to rebut testimony that Campion was no longer affiliated with the group. The trial court denied that request. As an offer of proof, Burkins stated that evidence would have shown that, days after the shooting, he had been contacted by law enforcement and told that Campion's father had told police that the Aryan Brotherhood was coming into town, and that officers had advised Burkins and Koontz to leave the area for their own safety. The State responded that anything that happened after the shooting was not relevant to Burkins's intent at the time of the shooting; it was a collateral matter that would mislead the jury and be extremely prejudicial. The...