State v. Henry

1

2024 S.D. 30

STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. MIRANDA ANN HENRY, a.k.a. CRYSTAL TRINITY PUMPKINSEED, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 30301-a

Supreme Court of South Dakota

May 29, 2024

CONSIDERED ON BRIEFS MARCH 19, 2024

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT HUGHES COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA THE HONORABLE BOBBI J. RANK Judge

KATIE J. THOMPSON Pierre, South Dakota Attorney for defendant and appellant.

MARTY J. JACKLEY Attorney General ERIN E. HANDKE Assistant Attorney General Pierre, South Dakota Attorneys for plaintiff and appellee.

PER CURIAM.

[¶1.] Miranda Ann Henry, a/k/a Crystal Trinity Pumpkinseed, appeals from her seventy-five-year sentence for first-degree manslaughter for the death of her boyfriend, Christopher Mexican. She argues that the court abused its discretion in sentencing. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

[¶2.] On December 30, 2021, Henry was released from prison on parole after serving thirteen months for her fourth DUI conviction. She initially paroled to Aberdeen, but in January 2022, she returned to Pierre to continue her romantic relationship with Christopher Mexican, her on-again off-again boyfriend of five years. Upon returning to Pierre she immediately began using alcohol and methamphetamine. She stayed in an apartment with Christopher and his uncle Carlos Mexican.

[¶3.] For about a week in early February 2022, Henry drank each day nearly all day long. By Monday, February 7, 2022, she decided to stop drinking. She had little recollection of the preceding week. Henry's hallucinations then returned. She had lived with hallucinations on and off since 2014 and had at times, received psychiatric care.

[¶4.] On February 8, 2022, Christopher woke Henry up and asked her to get him alcohol. She left the apartment and returned with food and alcohol. Henry was still determined not to drink despite hearing voices and experiencing shakes from alcohol withdrawal. As Christopher drank, he started calling Henry derogatory names. As was a typical pattern in their relationship, he would get aggressive when drunk. He told Henry to leave the apartment, and she left to attempt to meet with her parole officer. Henry eventually returned to the apartment. The next morning, Henry could still hear voices. She began drinking to make the voices go away, and she drank so much that she blacked out.

[¶5.] When Henry awoke, she was on the floor next to Christopher and noticed his uncle, Carlos, in the bed. She nudged Christopher, who did not respond. She realized that there was blood everywhere and attempted to wake up Carlos. When Carlos did not wake up, she knocked on the doors of neighboring apartments for help. No one opened their doors to Henry.

[¶6.] Law enforcement responded to the apartment building at about 3:45 a.m. on February 9, 2022, when they received reports of Henry walking up and down the hall, pounding on doors, and asking for help. Officers arrived and saw the door to Christopher's apartment slightly ajar. There were drops of blood on the floor in front of the door. Officers could see a male in the apartment lying on his back, shirtless, and covered in large amounts of blood. He was covered in lacerations on his torso, head, and neck. There also appeared to be stab wounds on his torso. Officers entered the apartment and observed a large laceration on the left side of the man's neck, near his carotid artery. Some blood on his body appeared to be dried. An ambulance was requested but after arriving, emergency responders could not detect a heart rhythm. Christopher's autopsy indicated that his cause of death was exsanguination due to the wounds all over his body.

[¶7.] As law enforcement entered the apartment, Carlos awoke and began moving under the blankets on the bed. He attempted to sit up and told the officers that "she said my nephew died[.]" He expressed alarm as he stepped out of the bed, and officers assisted him in getting out of the bed and into his wheelchair. Carlos stated that they had been drinking before he had fallen asleep, but at some point, he had heard Henry and Christopher "hollering" at each other. Carlos indicated that he heard Henry say, "[G]et up you stupid bitch," and also heard Christopher tell Henry to get out of the apartment using harsh and insulting terms. He believed that Henry had killed Christopher "[b]ecause they were trying to fight all three days."

[¶8.] Carlos related to law enforcement during a later interview that the couple was arguing because Christopher had told Henry to move out, and he further stated that before he fell asleep, Christopher had said, "You fucking bitch, get out of my house." Christopher had been telling Henry to get out for the previous two weeks. Carlos did not initially recall Henry yelling at Christopher but added that a week prior, she stated that she would kick his ass. Carlos also recalled Henry handing him a knife at some point during the night and telling him that she had stabbed Christopher with it. He threw it on the couch in response.

[¶9.] Shortly after officers arrived at the apartment, a crying Henry reappeared at the doorway, covered in blood. Henry was handcuffed and frisked. In the front pocket of her sweatshirt, law enforcement found a bloody box cutter with the blade exposed. Henry was distraught and speaking to herself as law enforcement transported her to the Hughes County Jail. Her PBT at booking indicated a blood alcohol content of 0.227%.

[¶10.] In the course of the investigation, law enforcement spoke to other individuals who knew Christopher and Henry. Violet Catches, Christopher's aunt, and Janell Mexican, his daughter, arrived on the scene upon learning of the police presence at the apartment building. Violet stated that Henry would have wanted to harm Christopher as she was "mean, and bossy to him[,]" would hit him, and accuse him of infidelity. Janell asserted that Christopher had called her the night before and stated that Henry would not stop hitting him. She heard Carlos in the background telling them to "knock it off." Janell believed that Henry often became physical with Christopher and that law enforcement had been called in the past to remove her from the premises. A neighbor named Ashley Scaresthehawk also noted to law enforcement that the couple had been on a drinking binge and fighting in the days leading up to the incident. She also witnessed a prior incident in which Henry had broken a neighbor's window and another time when Henry locked Christopher out of the apartment without any shoes.

[¶11.] Later on, law enforcement also spoke to Christopher Granados, one of Christopher's friends who viewed Christopher as a brother. Granados stated that the couple would fight, and Henry would hit Christopher. She would threaten to leave him for other men. Istoe Poorbear, another friend of Christopher's, related an incident that happened while they were drinking four or five years before Christopher's death. Poorbear stated that Henry glared at Christopher and told Poorbear that she should kill Christopher and go back to jail to be with her girlfriend. He also stated that they argued often, and Henry had been physically violent towards Christopher.

[¶12.] In the evening following her arrest, Henry waived her Miranda rights and agreed to speak with officers at the Hughes County Jail. She stated that she, Christopher, and Carlos had been drinking, and she "blanked out a couple of times." She recalled arguing with Christopher, that he threatened to kick her out, and that he was calling her names. She claimed that they eventually laid down on the floor next to each other, and she passed out. Henry recalled rousing a couple of times and speaking to Christopher. Upon awakening a further time and attempting to awaken Christopher, she realized that she was covered in blood and that Christopher was the source of the blood. She hit the floor with her fists, tried to wipe the blood off her, and attempted to wake up Carlos. Henry stated that she had no idea what had happened and wondered if she had done it. She looked at the couch and saw her knife, which she typically carried for self-defense.

[¶13.] At several points during the interview, Henry appeared to be speaking to individuals in the room who were not there. She indicated that Christopher's spirit was speaking with her, telling her that she had stabbed him.

[¶14.] On February 15, 2022, a Hughes County grand jury indicted Henry for second-degree murder. The State filed a part II habitual offender information, alleging prior felony convictions for grand theft, unauthorized ingestion of a controlled drug or substance, DUI 3rd offense, and DUI 4th offense. Henry moved for Dr. Stephen Manlove to be appointed "to determine her competency to assist in her defense and to proceed to trial and insanity at the time the offense was committed." The court granted her request.

[¶15.] Dr. Manlove concluded that at the time of the crime, Henry had been suffering from alcohol-induced psychotic disorder major depressive disorder, methamphetamine use disorder, alcohol use disorder, and cannabis use disorder. At the time of the evaluation, she continued to suffer from the same diagnoses, except that she no longer suffered from alcohol-induced psychotic disorder. Dr. Manlove determined that Henry was mentally competent to proceed. He noted some factors that tended to indicate that Henry was insane at the time of the crime, while others did not. Dr. Manlove concluded that overall, she was not insane as defined by codified law at the time of the crime. After the evaluation, Henry withdrew the issue of competency, and the court ordered that Henry was "mentally competent to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings...