Sheckles v. Warden

1

RYAN SHECKLES, Petitioner, v. WARDEN, Respondent.

No. 3:22 CV 236

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, South Bend Division

November 6, 2023

OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES T. MOODY, JUDGE

Ryan Sheckles, a prisoner without a lawyer, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his 2011 murder conviction in Clark County under case number 10C01-1007-MR-600. (DE # 2.) For the reasons stated below, the petition is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

On direct appeal, the Indiana Court of Appeals set forth the facts underlying Sheckles' conviction as follows:

On August 25, 2009, Robert Sheckles, Sheckles's cousin called his girlfriend, Laisha Smith, and asked if she could drive him and Sheckles so that Sheckles could sell drugs. Smith had done this many times before and would drive the pair to different places, and Sheckles and Robert would deal cocaine to various clients. Sheckles and Robert would reimburse Smith by paying for fuel and giving her $40 to spend on painkillers, which she had been addicted to after having three surgeries her junior year in high school.

At about 8:00 p.m. on August 25, Smith picked up Sheckles and Robert at the Evergreen Apartments in Clarksville in her father's dark green Ford pickup truck. Sheckles sat beside Smith in the front passenger seat, while Robert sat in the middle of the backseat. They stopped at Robert Farming's home, where Sheckles either sold him cocaine or marijuana. Eventually, Sheckles directed Smith to drive to another place in Jeffersonville, where she had never been before. As they drove, Sheckles received several calls from Larry Morrow, who was using his ex-wife's, Shannon Morrow's, cell phone.

Following Sheckles's instructions, Smith stopped the vehicle, and as soon as she put the vehicle in park, Larry ran to the side of the truck where Sheckles was sitting in the front passenger seat. Larry asked why it took so long for them to arrive. Smith pulled out her cell phone to check her text messages. Sheckles and Larry began arguing about how much money Larry had and how much cocaine Sheckles would give him. Shannon approached as the two of them argued. At some point Larry placed money in Sheckles's lap. The argument escalated and Sheckles pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Larry in the face, killing him. Sheckles then shot Shannon as she turned and fled....

Sheckles and Robert told Smith to drive, and she put the truck in gear and drove. Smith ran over Larry as she pulled away. When Smith stopped at an intersection, Sheckles put his gun out the window and shot up into the air, yelling a gang slogan. Sheckles remarked that if he had not killed Shannon right there, he would have to find a way into the hospital to kill her so that she could not be a witness to what had happened. Sheckles told Smith to keep driving, but before they went far, Robert told Smith to pull over and let him out, which she did. Robert fled between two houses, and Sheckles told Smith to drive to Louisville....

Smith drove Sheckles to a McDonald's restaurant in Louisville where he stepped out of the truck and began looking for casings. Sheckles received a phone call from Robert, and Sheckles told Smith to drive back to Jeffersonville to pick up Robert. After picking up Robert Smith drove back to Louisville to pick up Sheckles. Sheckles stated that he had disposed of the gun in a dumpster and had Smith drive them to a Motel 6 in Louisville.

When they arrived at the motel, two of Sheckles's and Robert's friends were there trying to obtain a room. After they checked in, the five of them went up to the room. Smith was in the back bedroom area of the suite talking to Robert about what had happened. Sheckles joined them and told Smith not to say anything about what happened because, “we don't want anything like this to happen to you.” Smith promised not to say anything. Smith left to go home as her father needed his truck for work.

The next day, Smith drove Sheckles and Robert to [Robert] Farming's home and dropped off some gun clips. Robert gave Farming the gun clips to hide in exchange for some marijuana. Sheckles and Robert also wanted Smith to go to Tennessee to change the tires on her father's truck. Sheckles thought that Smith might have run over Larry's foot, leaving evidence on the tires....

On August 30, 2009, Smith was incarcerated for an unrelated offense for approximately three and one-half months.... Smith had a conversation with Sheckles following her release during which he asked how she was doing and for her telephone number. Later, Smith encountered Sheckles in jail when she visited a friend, and Sheckles told her that law enforcement had questioned him about the Morrow murders and that he knew how to talk to law enforcement officers so that they would not think one of them was involved. Sheckles advised Smith that, if questioned by law enforcement, she should say nothing and act like she did not know what the officers were talking about.

Several police officers questioned Sheckles after tracing Larry's last phone calls made on Shannon's phone to Megan Tomlinson who led them to Sheckles. Eventually, an anonymous tip led law enforcement officers to Smith in July 2010.... Smith's statement led police officers to investigate Sheckles and Robert as suspects. Investigators discovered a corner of a plastic baggie at the crime scene that led them to suspect that drugs were involved in the killings because such corners are used to package illegal drugs. Eventually, after obtaining DNA samples from the victims and suspects, investigators were able to identify Sheckles's DNA as the major contributor in a mixed DNA profile discovered on a Newport cigarette- Sheckles's favored brand-found at the scene.

Sheckles v. State, 968 N.E.2d 870 (Table), 2012 WL 1933082, at *1-3 (Ind.Ct.App. May 29, 2012) (internal citations omitted). Sheckles was subsequently charged with two counts of murder, as Shannon Morrow had died from her injuries a few weeks after being shot. Id. at *3. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 120 years. Id. at *5.

On direct appeal, he raised the following claims: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction; (2) the trial court erred in connection with a jury instruction on accomplice liability; (3) the prosecutor committed misconduct in his comments during closing argument; (4) the trial court erred in allowing certain testimony from Shannon Morrow's father; (5) he was denied a fair trial because of the conduct of his cousin, Robert, who was called as a witness by the prosecution but subsequently refused to testify; (6) the trial court erred in refusing to permit his attorney to impeach Laisha Smith about a prior arrest; and (7) his sentence was unduly harsh. Sheckles v. State, 968 N.2d 870 (Table), 2012 WL 1933082, at *6-13 (Ind.Ct.App. May 29, 2012).

The court rejected each of these arguments. The court found the evidence sufficient based on Smith's testimony and the DNA evidence found at the scene. Id. at *6-7. The court further concluded that the accomplice liability instructions were proper under Indiana law. Id. at *8. The court also concluded that Sheckles had waived his claims of prosecutorial misconduct by failing to object at trial, and that notwithstanding the waiver, the prosecutor's comments did not deprive him of a fair trial. Id. at *9-10. The court also found no error in the admission of the challenged testimony from Shannon's father or in the court's handling of Robert as a recalcitrant witness. Id. at 11. The court concluded that the trial court properly excluded evidence about Smith's prior arrest, because it had not resulted in a conviction. Id. The court alternatively concluded that any error in excluding this evidence was harmless, because Sheckles' attorney was able to impeach Smith with evidence of a prior shoplifting conviction and charges pending against her for battery and possession of a controlled substance. Id. at *12. Finally, the court found his sentence appropriate and affirmed in all respects. Id. at *13-14.

He then filed a petition to transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court, asserting only the following claims: (1) the jury was not properly instructed on accomplice liability and (2) the prosecutor committed misconduct during closing arguments. (DE # 10-10.) The Indiana Supreme Court denied his petition to transfer without comment. Sheckles v. State, 979 N.E.2d 632 (Table) (Ind. 2012).

In 2013, he filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief, which was later amended after an attorney filed an appearance on his behalf. Sheckles v. State, 171 N.E.3d 1044 (Table), 2021 WL 2280972, at *3 (Ind.Ct.App. June 4, 2021). An evidentiary hearing was held, at which his two trial attorneys, Jennifer Culotta and Amber Shaw, both testified. Id. His post-conviction attorney also introduced various documents into evidence. Id. Following the hearing, the petition was denied. Id.

On appeal, Sheckles proceeded without counsel and raised several claims of ineffective assistance by trial counsel. Specifically, he argued that his trial attorneys were ineffective in: (1) failing to investigate Jeffersonville Police Detective Shawn Kennedy, who was involved in the investigation and later resigned over allegations of workplace misconduct; (2) failing to request an admonishment or move for a mistrial after his cousin Robert had an outburst on the witness stand; (3) agreeing to the additional instruction on accomplice liability and otherwise failing to ensure the jury was properly instructed that his mere presence at the scene was not enough to convict; and (4) failing to object to comments made by the prosecutor during closing argument. Id. at *3-7. Based on his trial attorneys' testimony at the post-conviction hearing and the...