Davis v. State

186 N.E.3d 1203

Rodrick L. DAVIS, Appellant-Defendant,

v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

Court of Appeals Case No. 21A-CR-2089

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

FILED May 2, 2022

Attorney for Appellant: Mark A. Thoma, Leonard, Hammond, Thoma & Terrill, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Attorneys for Appellee: Theodore E. Rokita, Attorney General of Indiana, Steven J. Hosler, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana

Najam, Judge.

Statement of the Case

[1] Rodrick L. Davis appeals his convictions for burglary, as a Level 3 felony, domestic battery, as a Level 6 felony, and

invasion of privacy, as a Level 6 felony. Davis raises two issues for our review, which we restate as:

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it admitted evidence of Davis's subsequent bad acts.

2. Whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support his conviction for Level 3 felony burglary.

[2] We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[3] In July 2020, A.K. lived in a house in Allen County with her fourteen-year-old autistic son and her thirteen-year-old daughter. Davis was A.K.’s "on-again/off-again" boyfriend, and the two had been dating and living together for "two years, going on three." Tr. Vol. 2 at 130, 182. At the time the events relevant to this appeal took place, Davis was staying at A.K.’s house, despite the fact that A.K. had a protective order against Davis that had been issued in a separate case and was in effect since April 2020. Davis also had a key to the house, but he was not on the lease and did not pay any of the household bills.

[4] On July 17, A.K. left her home and went to work in the early hours of the day; her shift began at 4:15 a.m. and ended sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. During her entire shift, Davis "kept blowing [her] phone up, constantly calling [her] cell phone and ... work phone ... over 100 times." Id. at 134. And the two argued "back and forth." Id. at 134. Davis had drunk heavily the night before, and A.K. testified that "his drunkness [sic] stayed with him" into the following day. Id.

[5] Later that day, Davis attended a family gathering in a local park, and he was not at A.K.’s house when she arrived home from work. Davis consumed alcohol at the party, and he called A.K. "between maybe 30 and 40 times." Id. at 136. The two continued to argue, "going back and forth over the phone." Id. at 135. Davis told A.K. repeatedly that he wanted to come to her house, and A.K. told Davis not to come because she "knew he was drunk" and that "if he came over that he was going to jail." Id. A.K. also contacted one of Davis's brothers and told the brother, "[D]on't bring [Davis] back to my house tonight or else he's going to jail." Id. The last time A.K. spoke with Davis over the phone that day, Davis told her, "B[***]h, I'll be there." Id. at 136.

[6] After the last call ended, A.K. pulled the couch in front of her front door and told her daughter that, if Davis came to the house, she and her brother should "run out the back door and run over to [a family member's house.]" Id. A.K. and her daughter sat on the couch for "about an hour" and kept watch for Davis. Id. at 137. Eventually, A.K. became tired, left the couch, and walked toward her bedroom. Her daughter remained seated on the couch. However, before A.K. reached her bedroom, Davis arrived at around 7:15 p.m., and he began to kick and knock on the front door. A.K. ran back to the couch and jumped on it. She told her daughter and son to leave the house through the back door because she "wanted them to be safe and not have to see anything." Id. at 138.

[7] Davis used his key to unlock the front door. A.K. "tried keeping [the couch] pushed up against the [front] door," but Davis was able to push the door open. Id. at 137. Davis entered the house, and he immediately confronted A.K. He and A.K. began to yell at each other. A.K. grabbed a can of mace, sprayed Davis in the face, then tried to push him out the front door.

At some point, A.K. ran around the couch and exited her house through the front door. Davis, who remained inside of the house, tried to close the front door and lock A.K. out of the house, but A.K. ran back to the house and stuck her hand in the door frame. A.K. sprayed Davis with mace for approximately two minutes—until the can was empty—and Davis slammed the door against A.K.’s hand ten to twenty times. He then opened the front door, "charg[ed]" toward A.K., and punched her in the face. Id. at 141. A.K. testified that "blood [was] everywhere" and she "couldn't breathe." Id. at 140, 141. She then began to walk along the sidewalk to her relative's house so that she could check on her children. Davis walked back inside of the house.

[8] Someone placed a call to 9-1-1, and police officers with the Fort Wayne Police Department responded to the scene. The officers saw A.K. walking along the sidewalk and observed that she was bleeding. Detective Calvin Dubose, who also arrived on-scene, interviewed A.K. and observed that she was "crying, visibly upset, and still bleeding"; she had blood "coming down her face"; and her right hand was swollen. Id. at 174. She told the detective that Davis hit her with his fists. Patrol Officer Aaron Bloomfield noticed that A.K. was crying and appeared "staggered, a bit dazed ... [and s]he didn't have a normal stride that you would perceive as normal for a human." Id. at 180. Officer Bloomfield called for an ambulance and took photographs of A.K.’s injuries, which included a broken nose and a sprained wrist. Medical personnel treated A.K.’s injuries at the scene.

[9] After tending to A.K., the officers surrounded A.K.’s house and sent a police dog inside. The officers followed and found that the couch partially blocked the front door, and household items had been knocked over. The officers proceeded into the kitchen and saw Davis standing at the kitchen sink. He appeared angry, and his face was wet. He told the officers that he had been sprayed with mace and that he was trying to clean his face. Officer Bloomfield observed "signs of intoxication" in Davis. Id. at 184. Davis was arrested and transported to jail.

[10] On July 22, the State charged Davis with burglary, as a Level 3 felony; domestic battery, as a Level 6 felony; invasion of privacy, as a Level 6 felony; and residential entry, as a Level 6 felony. Five days later, the court entered a no-contact order, directing that Davis have no contact with A.K. On September 22, the State amended the charging information to include a habitual offender enhancement, and on October 2, November 3, and December 9, the State filed separate informations against Davis for contempt of court, alleging in each that Davis had violated the no-contact order.

[11] While in jail, Davis used the jail-house phone to place over one hundred calls to A.K.’s phone, and he spoke with her twenty to fifty times between July 18 and August 24. He tried to convince A.K. to change her story and testify in his defense. In the initial calls, A.K. was angry with Davis, and she indicated that she intended to cooperate with the State in its prosecution of Davis. However, at Davis's insistence, she recanted and changed her account of the July 17 incident, telling the prosecutor and Davis's lawyer that what took place on July 17 was an accident, that she sustained injuries because she sprayed Davis with mace, Davis did not mean to hurt her, and she lied about the July 17 incident to get Davis in trouble and out of her life. Ultimately, however, A.K. agreed to testify for the prosecution.

[12] On April 28, 2021, the State filed a notice under Indiana Evidence Rule 404(b) —evidence of crimes, wrongs, and other acts—of its intent to introduce evidence of two additional incidents of domestic violence that occurred between Davis and A.K., one that occurred in April 2020, and another that occurred on December 4, 2020. On June 10, 2021, the trial court granted the State's request to admit the December 4 evidence but denied the request to admit the April 2020 evidence. The court's order provided in relevant part that the December 4 evidence was "relevant and probative to the parties’ hostile relationship and goes to the defendant's motive, intent, and state of mind." Appellant's App. Vol. 2 at 131.

[13] On June 22-24, 2021, the court held a three-day jury trial. At trial, A.K. testified for the State and against Davis, despite her earlier recantations. During the trial, the State introduced the December 4 evidence, which included A.K.’s testimony regarding the domestic violence that occurred that day, and photographs of the injuries A.K. sustained from the December 4 incident. The court noted and overruled Davis's objection and allowed A.K. to testify that, on December 4, A.K. arrived home from work around 2:00 p.m. to find her daughter outside of their home and crying. A.K. entered the house and found Davis passed out on the couch, despite the no-contact order that had been issued. Davis was "extremely intoxicated" and the house was "trashed." Tr. Vol. 2 at 148. A.K.’s daughter's laptop computer had been "completely torn apart." Id. When A.K. tried to wake Davis, he called her derogatory names and punched her "so hard it was literally like blood [was] on the ceiling and on the walls." Id. at 149. He then flicked the hot ashes from a cigarette onto her face. Davis made A.K. take off her clothes and go into the bathroom to clean her face. The two then had sex "[b]ecause [Davis] wanted to." Id. at 150. A.K. further testified that she had "always been self-conscious of [her] body, and [Davis ordering her to take off her clothes] was just one of his ways to torture [her] more that night." Id. After the incident, A.K. went to the hospital for treatment because "the pain just became unbearable." Id. at 152.

[14] During final instructions, the court provided a limiting instruction and advised the jury that the December 4 evidence was admitted "solely on the issue of the relationship of the parties" and that it "should not be...