Doyle v. State

223 N.E.3d 1113

Michael Ambrose DOYLE, Jr., Appellant-Defendant,

v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

Court of Appeals Case No. 23A-CR-604

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

Filed November 22, 2023

Appeal from the Tippecanoe Superior Court, The Honorable Randy J. Williams, Judge, Trial Court Cause No. 79D01-2101-F2-4

Attorney for Appellant: Michael D. Dean, Withered Burns, LLP, Lafayette, Indiana

Attorneys for Appellee: Theodore E. Rokita, Attorney General of Indiana, Ellen H. Meilaender, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana

Riley, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

[1] Appellant-Defendant, Michael Doyle (Doyle), appeals his convictions for dealing

in methamphetamine (ten grams or more), a Level 2 felony, Ind. Code § 35-48-4-1.1(a)(1); and dealing in methamphetamine (between five and ten grams), a Level 3 felony, I.C. § 35-48-4-1.1(a)(1).

[2] We affirm.

ISSUES

[3] Doyle presents this court with three issues, which we restate as:

(1) Whether the trial court properly admitted the statements of a witness pursuant to the doctrine of forfeiture by wrongdoing;

(2) Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of uncharged conduct; and

(3) Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it refused Doyle’s proffered instruction on circumstantial evidence.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

[4] On January 14, 2021, around 8:50 p.m., Deputy Ryan Holloway (Deputy Holloway) of the Newton County Sheriff's Department brought his K-9 unit to the scene of a traffic stop in Goodland, Indiana, involving a vehicle in which Joshua Sweet (Sweet) was a passenger. After the K-9 officer alerted to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle, Deputy Holloway searched the vehicle and found what a field test and weighing at the scene indicated was approximately 9.5 grams of methamphetamine, as well as paraphernalia and a digital scale. Deputy Holloway confronted Sweet about the methamphetamine. Sweet told Deputy Holloway that he had procured the methamphetamine from Doyle and that Doyle was dealing drugs at the Red Roof Inn in Lafayette, Indiana, Room 102. Sweet allowed Deputy Holloway to access his cellphone and to read Facebook messages between himself and Doyle arranging for Sweet to come to the Red Roof Inn to meet with Doyle. Doyle told Sweet he was in Room 102, "All my cars outside," and "I need money," to which Sweet responded, "I got 1000 can you do two for that[.]" (Exh. Vol. VI, pp. 165, 166). Doyle told Sweet, "Yes right now in Hand in My Pocket it’s no one else’s it’s so is that a yes come through or what" (Exh. Vol. VI, p. 166). Deputy Holloway had known Sweet for several years, and Sweet had provided the deputy with reliable information in the past. Deputy Holloway forwarded this information to the Lafayette Police Department (LPD).

[5] In the early hours of January 15, 2021, officers with the LPD went to the Red Roof Inn in Lafayette with a K-9 unit, who alerted to the presence of narcotics in Room 102. Based on this alert, the officers procured a search warrant for the room which they executed that day. No one was in the room when the officers entered. The LPD officers found eleven baggies of what was later determined to be at least 49.48 grams¹ of methamphetamine in the top drawer of the room’s dresser/wall unit. In the same drawer officers found two baggies, one of which was later determined to contain .65 grams of cocaine, two glass pipes commonly used to smoke methamphetamine, and a digital scale which was later found to have Doyle’s DNA on it. In the room, the officers also found $2,228 in cash, a box of sandwich baggies, a used syringe, and clothing and other items which appeared to belong to a female. Further investigation revealed that Doyle’s red car was parked outside Room 102 when the officers made entry.

[6] While officers were still on the scene at Room 102, a silver Nissan sedan pulled up just outside Room 102. Officers recognized Doyle as the passenger in the Nis- san, took him into custody, and provided him with his Miranda advisements. Doyle told the officers that he had been in and out of Room 102 over the previous day or two. The officers searched the Nissan and found what they suspected to be spice and partially consumed spice cigarettes. Doyle had $1,950 on his person. Subsequent investigation revealed that Room 102 had been rented to Riley Smith (Smith), a male friend of Doyle's.

[7] On January 15, 2021, the State filed an Information, charging Doyle with Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine (ten grams or more): Level 6 felony cocaine possession; Level 6 felony unlawful possession of a syringe; Class A misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance (spice or a synthetic drug); and Class C possession of paraphernalia. All these offenses were alleged to have occurred on or about January 15, 2021. In a separate Information the State alleged that Doyle was an habitual offender. On September 7, 2021, the State filed a motion seeking to add two charges to the Information, namely Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine alleged to have occurred on January 5 and 6, 2021, and Level 3 felony dealing in methamphetamine alleged to have occurred on January 14, 2021. The Level 3 felony charge related to the dealing that Sweet had reported. On September 23, 2021, the trial court granted the State’s motion to add the new charges. On November 3, 2022, Doyle filed a motion to sever the new Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine charge. On November 10, 2022, the trial court granted Doyle’s motion to sever, and it granted a motion by the State to dismiss the Class A misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance (spice or lookalike substance) charge.

[8] On November 3, 2022, the State served Sweet with a trial subpoena. On November 14, 2022, the trial court convened Doyle’s four-day jury trial. Sweet did not appear for the first day of trial, and, with Doyle present in open court, the trial court issued a writ of body attachment for Sweet. Due to Sweet’s failure to appear, the State filed a motion to introduce evidence pursuant to Indiana Rule of Evidence 804(b)(5), seeking the admission of Sweet’s January 14, 2021, statements to Deputy Holloway and alleging that Sweet was unavailable for trial due to Doyle’s wrongdoing. On November 15, 2022, prior to the presentation of the evidence, the trial court held a hearing on the State’s motion. The State presented evidence of a telephone call Doyle had made from jail on January 29, 2021, wherein Doyle read from the probable cause affidavit filed in the instant matter that on January 14, 2021, Sweet had reported his drug dealing at the Red Roof Inn. Doyle instructed the woman on the other end of the call to contact his stepson, Hunter Snow (Snow). Doyle instructed the woman to tell Snow that Doyle loved him, that Snow should "take care of [Sweet,]" and that Snow should make sure to "do what [he] did to [his] dad to [Sweet]." (Exh. 7). Doyle explained in the call that Snow had previously beaten up his own father for Doyle. Doyle expressed his hope that Snow would "punch every fucking wall in the jail with that dude." (Exh. 7). During the call, the woman to whom Doyle was speaking expressed her willingness to assist and confirmed that Sweet was in Rensselaer. Doyle noted that his stepson Snow was also in Rensselaer.

[9] At the hearing on the State’s motion to admit Rule 804(b)(5) evidence, the State also had admitted into evidence a voice text from Sweet received by the State on November 9, 2022, in which Sweet stated that he would "not be much help for you guys," "last time look what it did for me," and "so take it how you want to, endangered my family’s lives." (Exh. 2). Sweet had also texted the State on November 14, 2022, that he would not appear to testify at trial and that he would turn himself in after Doyle’s trial was over. In those texts, Sweet stated, "Last time I helped you it was published and my family was ran off the road several times and worse[.]" (Exh. Vol. VI, p. 23). In texts sent by Sweet later in the morning of the first day of Doyle’s trial, Sweet stated that he feared being prosecuted for his testimony. After being assured that he could only be prosecuted if he did not appear, Sweet texted that he was not sure what happened on the night of January 14, 2021, because he was high and drunk, implied he would not testify because he was not being paid, and stated that he would assert his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. Also admitted into evidence at the Rule 804(b)(5) hearing was a jailhouse telephone call made during the evening of November 14, 2022, from Doyle to a woman whom he instructed to call both the Newton County Jail and the Tippecanoe County Jail to attempt to locate Sweet and to find out when visitation hours at the jails were. Doyle instructed the woman to tell jail personnel that she was a friend or a relative if asked. At the close of the evidentiary hearing on the State’s motion for Rule 804(b)(5) evidence, the trial court took the matter under advisement.

[10] During opening argument, Doyle's counsel told the jury that it would hear evidence that Doyle had admitted to law enforcement that he had been in Room 102 but that he was only there to visit prostitutes, not to deal methamphetamine. The jury also heard testimony that drug dealers commonly work out of hotels, they usually have a larger amount of drugs in their possession than a mere user would, they often deal in more than one kind of drug at a time, they use scales and sandwich baggies as packaging when dealing drugs, and that they commonly have large amounts of cash on their persons.

[11] Regarding the Rule 804(b)(5) evidence, the trial court made an in-trial ruling that the State had met its burden, noting that Doyle had been present in open court when it had issued a body attachment warrant for Sweet on the first day of trial, that Doyle had then placed the call about finding out if Sweet had been taken into custody, and that the reason Doyle had...