1989) (testimony concerning prior robbery was admissible in murder trial because the defendant had stolen the same type of pistol used to kill the victim); United States v. Day, 591 F.2d 861 (D.C. Cir. . They found the 41-year-old inmate on the floor with stab wounds. After she had purchased the shotgun, Thompson and Percy altered the shotgun by shortening the barrel and fashioned a sling to carry the weapon. at 321, were unfairly prejudicial and required a new trial. Even oblique or apparently innocuous references to prior convictions are impermissible. Despite Thompson's actions linking the separate events, the jury was impermissibly left with the reverberating clang of the Crandall murder ringing in its ears, United States v. Merriweather, 78 F.3d 1070, 1077 (6th Cir.1996) (reversing conviction due to erroneous admission of propensity evidence) (internal quotation marks omitted), suggesting that because Thompson killed and robbed Crandall, he must have killed and robbed Hillis and Beeler too. Thompson and Percy had the first two guns with them when they were detained by Illinois police in June 1991.See footnote 7, On cross-examination, the defense did not directly challenge Percy's account of what happened in New Castle. The State indicated its intent to offer evidence related to the Crandall murder to establish Thompson's identity, and that it might offer evidence of Thompson's previous felony convictions possibly as rebuttal to any attacks on the credibility of witness Douglas Percy in the event that any such attack may open the door to the use of such evidence. In a second motion in limine, Thompson responded that this evidence was not admissible under the identity exception because the Indianapolis killings and the Crandall murder were not signature crimes. For example, in United States v. Ostrowsky, 501 F.2d 318 (7th Cir.1974), the defendants were charged with concealing a stolen car and moving it in interstate commerce. If the extraneous details of the killing were inadmissible in Ostrowsky-a case involving car theft-the prejudice to Thompson in a second murder prosecution is an a fortiori case. Counsel contended that the evidence was entirely consistent with Percy's having, committed the murders and that his testimony "has been bought and paid for, a number of ways and as such is suspect." TermsPrivacyDisclaimerCookiesDo Not Sell My Information, Begin typing to search, use arrow keys to navigate, use enter to select, Stay up-to-date with FindLaw's newsletter for legal professionals. Next, an evidentiary dispute arose over whether the court's pretrial ruling on, Thompson's motion in limine, allowing the State to introduce "evidence of the obtaining of the weapon," permitted the State to introduce the fact of Thompson's conviction for the Crandall murder. The propensity evidence in this case crossed that line by a wide margin. What does Mr. Percy have to lose? There is nothing in the record indicating on what basis it was admitted into evidence over Thompson's objection. Because the State alleged that Thompson stole the murder weapon from Crandall and subsequently used it to kill Hillis and Beeler, the theft of the gun was relevant to this trial. Evidence of Prior Uncharged Misconduct. First, this does not remove the stain of admitting the conviction into evidence in view of the instruction that the jury is to consider only evidence in reaching its verdict, and not the charging information. 12. If so, the jury necessarily learns of the aggravating circumstance in the course of the guilt phase. You can explore additional available newsletters here. Percy passed away in 1948, at age 59 at death place. But, the acts that [Thompson] committed up there, as they related to his case are proof of his guilt here; that's the whole reason you were able to hear it. He has a very deep voice, and his hairstyle is a crew cut with a single strand of hair in a ponytail. While we have reversed on the basis of evidence improperly admitted during the State's case in chief, it might turn out that discrete pieces of this evidence would be admissible as rebuttal. He didn't stomp on him; he didn't take a shotgun and nearly blow his head off. Douglas Percy. Douglas (Doug) Jerry Thompson February 18, 2022. In this review, we do not reweigh evidence or assess the credibility of witnesses. He claimed this was sufficiently proved by the undisputed evidence that the murder weapon was found when Percy and Thompson were stopped by Illinois state police three months after Hillis and Beeler were killed. The jury therefore knew from the outset that Thompson had been a killer and a thief in the past. The State's closing argument was replete with references to the Crandall murder, to the extent that an uninformed reader would assume that Thompson was being tried for the Crandall murder in this case. And, he took Wesley Crandall's money that was there, and the marihuana. . The State's fallback position, advanced at oral argument in this Court, is that all evidence related to the Crandall murder was properly admitted because Percy's credibility was under attack. This Court has jurisdiction under Indiana Appellate Rule 4(A)(7). The proffered conviction here does not approach the probative value required to outweigh that prejudice under Rule 403. There is no doubt that Percy's credibility was critical to the State's case. To prove that Thompson was the perpetrator, the State presented evidence that he stole the murder weapon, a handgun, in the course of committing a different murder a month earlier. However, double jeopardy forbids a retrial -- even where the defendant requests it as here -- if the reviewing court concludes that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the conviction. On February 14th, 1991, Wesley Crandall, Junior, was murdered in his home in New Castle. Jerry Thompson Facebook Log In Jerry Thompson Friends Photos Videos More Friends Photos Videos Jerry Thompson About Work No workplaces to show College However, the details of the killing, including the cause of death as being two gunshot wounds in the head, id. That charge was eventually dismissed in exchange for Percy's testifying about the deaths of Hillis and Beeler. We cannot conclude that these evidentiary errors were harmless. Brewer distinguished between aggravating circumstances that are extraneous to the crime currently charged, such as a prior murder conviction, and an aggravating circumstance whose proof turns on the same evidence presented at the guilt phase. A forensic pathologist who testified as to the causes of death of Hillis and Beeler was coincidentally the same doctor who performed Wesley Crandall's autopsy. The proffered conviction here does not approach the probative value required to outweigh that prejudice under Rule 403. DICKSON, SULLIVAN and SELBY, JJ., concur. Moreover, the State emphasized the prior misconduct in its opening statement, during the case in chief, and again in its closing argument. The jury's verdict reflects a decision to credit Percy's testimony that this, Court, as an appellate tribunal, would ordinarily not question. People at Inforver; . Citing several cases, the State nonetheless urges a more expansive view of the identity exception to include evidence of prior crimes in which an instrumentality used in the current crime was acquired. Indeed, by the time of closing argument, the State referred to the discrete killings as a circle of criminal conduct for which Thompson should be held responsible. . For this reason, it has long been established that prospective jurors are not to know of prior convictions until the penalty phase. A. They are far from justifying irrelevant and highly prejudicial evidence that has no relation to that point or to any other material fact in dispute. He didn't stomp on him; he didn't take a shotgun and nearly blow his head off. Observing that Thompson had challenged Percy's credibility in opening arguments, the State maintained that some detail was needed to give the jury sufficient context in which to understand, and therefore credit, Percy's testimony about how Thompson acquired the gun used to kill Hillis and Beeler. 1996). The State emphasized the details of Crandall's killing from the beginning. The only similarity here between the Crandall murder and the Indianapolis killings was the use of firearms to kill the victims (and different guns were used in each crime). Because the effect of this testimony on the jury was at best speculative, and likely negligible in light of the more inflammatory evidence presented related to Crandall's murder, we see no basis for reversal on this point. There are 10+ professionals named "Doug Percy", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. 338, 367-68, 417 N.E.2d 889, 905-06 (1981); Evans v. State, 563 N.E.2d 1251, 1259 (Ind. The bag Thompson carried contained several guns and Percy's bag contained marijuana and shell casings. However, Thompson conceded in his second motion that the State was entitled to show that Thompson had access to or control over the weapon used to commit the murders of Hillis and Beeler. He claimed this was sufficiently proved by the undisputed evidence that the murder weapon was found when Percy and Thompson were stopped by Illinois state police three months after Hillis and Beeler were killed. . Our cases have long admonished that "one crime cannot be proved in order to establish another distinct crime even though they be of the same kind. Is proof of that conviction in New Castle, proof of his guilt in this case? Most seriously, the information, witness list, and verdict form from the Crandall murder trial were admitted into evidence. . Percy Douglas Thompson was born circa 1889, to Henry Maxwell Thompson and Jannet Isabella Watson. These criteria mirror Evidence Rules 401, 402, 403, and 404(b). . The relevance and balancing issues are reviewed for an abuse of discretion. . In closing, the State described the undoing of the apparently wrongful conviction of the two men as the beginning of a circle of justice that could be closed if the jury returned with a conviction in this case. I join fully in the majority opinion, but write separately to make an observation pertinent to the second trial. On cross-examination, the defense did not directly challenge Percy's account of what happened in New Castle. Lila Thompson (1967-1971), Percy Douglas (1984-1988), Shynese Sangster (2002-2006) Control profile. One thing was certain, by the time he reached manhood, Jerry Thompson was a savage killer. THOMPSON SUFFERED SEVERAL FATAL STAB WOUNDS. The propensity evidence in this case crossed that line by a wide margin. On March 14, 1991, Melvin Hillis and Robert Beeler were shot to death at Hillis Auto Sales in Indianapolis. Illinois state police recovered a nine-millimeter handgun from the vehicle that ballistics tests later determined was the weapon used to kill Hillis and Beeler. United States v. York, 933 F.2d 1343, 1353-54 (7th Cir.1991) (distinguishing Ostrowsky and lauding trial court's sanitized and tightly controlled admission of evidence of prior murder and vigilant efforts to minimize its prejudicial impact). Loveless v. State, 240 Ind. See, e.g., Taylor v. State, 659 N.E.2d 535, 542-43 (Ind.1995). He didn't leave witnesses. The issue is whether evidence beyond that appropriate to establish access to the gun was admitted and, if so, whether it was harmless error. The State's closing argument was replete with references to the Crandall murder, to the extent that an uninformed reader would assume that Thompson was being tried for the Crandall murder in this case. On February 12, 1991, two days prior to the murder, Thompson instructed his girlfriend to purchase a twelve-gauge shotgun and ammunition. The State's claim that any prejudice to Thompson was cured by a limiting instruction is unpersuasive. 492, 355 N.E.2d 843 (1976), however, stand for nothing more than what we have already concluded was permissible-a showing, with reasonable factual context, of access to the murder weapon. Indeed, the State does not contend that these were signature crimes. The defense argued that the court's pretrial ruling permitted evidence that the gun allegedly used to kill Hillis and Beeler had been taken from Crandall when he was killed, and nothing more. Observing that Thompson had challenged Percy's credibility in opening arguments, the State maintained that some detail was needed to give the jury "sufficient context" in which to understand, and therefore credit, Percy's testimony about how Thompson acquired the gun used to kill Hillis and Beeler. In June 1991, defendant Jerry Thompson and Douglas Percy were driving through Illinois and were stopped for a traffic violation. We have little difficulty concluding that the fact and manner of Crandall's death, and Thompson's murder conviction, were highly prejudicial to Thompson. Thompson's contention is meritless. Percy did not assert his knowledge of that fact or whether Crandall died from the shot. According to Percy, on the day of the killings, he and Thompson went to Hillis Auto Sales where, without any forewarning, Thompson shot both victims and Thompson and Percy robbed them. Ind.Code 35-50-2-9(b)(1) (Supp.1990). Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969). . Id. Without explanation, the trial court ruled that the conviction was admissible. 13. Access to the murder weapon, particularly where the evidence is circumstantial as in this case, is such a permissible purpose. 1993). In its effort to prove guilt, the State may not flood the courtroom with unnecessary and prejudicial details of prior criminal conduct merely because some of that evidence is relevant and admissible. The jury also returned convictions for two counts of felony murder, Ind.Code 35-42-1-1(2) (Supp.1989), which were merged into the murder convictions. Jerry as Percy Frank's Father as Toby Bart (from The Simpsons) as Duck Carl (from The Simpsons) as Donald Lenny (from The Simpsons) as Douglas Milhouse (from The Simpsons) as Oliver Nelson (from The Simpsons) as Diesel Skipper (from Skipper & Skeeto) as Skarloey Skeeto (from Skipper & Skeeto) as Rheneas 0. Sign up for our free summaries and get the latest delivered directly to you. . In rebuttal, the State replied that the events surrounding the Crandall murder were relevant: The reason it's relevant is because it proves [Thompson's] identity. When this mandate is observed, the conviction will not be disturbed. We need not address whether this error is a ground for reversal in the absence of any objection by the defense because the convictions must be set aside for the reasons explained in Parts II and III. Lockhart v. State, 609 N.E.2d 1093, 1097 (Ind.1993). One of the defendants had killed the possessor of the car (who apparently had stolen the vehicle himself) before the car was driven from Indiana to Illinois. Counsel contended that the evidence was entirely consistent with Percy's having committed the murders and that his testimony has been bought and paid for, a number of ways and as such is suspect.. In its effort to prove guilt, the State may not "flood the courtroom" with unnecessary and prejudicial details of prior criminal conduct merely because some of that evidence is relevant and admissible. Facebook gives people the power. And, he took Wesley Crandall's guns Mr. Thompson was ultimately convicted of the murder of Wesley Crandall in February of 1991. 534, 539, 166 N.E.2d 864, 866 (1960) (in prosecution for burglary, erroneous admission of defendant's alleged involvement in prior burglaries required new trial). 285, 102 L.Ed.2d 265 (1988). That's what identifies him with being associated with that gun. Is proof of that conviction in New Castle, proof of his guilt in this case? . The State's contention that the extra details of the Crandall murder helped prove identity is unpersuasive. The jury therefore knew from the outset that Thompson had been a killer and a thief in the past. The Marine officer who was named a "person of the week" in 2009 when she became the first-ever aircraft commander of Marine One -- the presidential chopper -- has been fired from her current post . But, the acts that [Thompson] committed up there, as they related to his case are proof of his guilt here; that's the whole reason you were able to hear it. As a result, the decision to admit evidence of Thompson's access to the gun, and the State's offer of corroborative evidence to support Percy's version of the events in New Castle, was within the trial court's discretion. He appeals. See also Swanson v. State, 666 N.E.2d 397 (Ind.1996) (although common-law doctrine of res gestae did not survive enactment of Indiana Rules of Evidence, facts that are part of the story of the crime are admissible if relevant within the meaning of Evidence Rule 401). AT THE TIME, THOMPSON WAS ON DIRECT APPEAL FROM HIS DEATH SENTENCE FOLLOWING A RETRIAL IN MARION COUNTY. You are here: cape breton post latest obits; david caruso art business; doug percy jerry thompson . Fox v. State, 497 N.E.2d 221, 224 (Ind. [2] Doug was born in San Jose, California on February 3, 1958. 338, 367-68, 417 N.E.2d 889, 905-06 (1981); Evans v. State, 563 N.E.2d 1251, 1259 (Ind.1990) (citing Brewer). at 367, 417 N.E.2d at 906. Douglas Percy Thompson Born: 3 . Even where a prior criminal act is relevant to a material fact, the potential for unfair prejudice dictates that the evidence of the prior misconduct be limited to that necessary to prove the disputed fact. The defense argued that the court's pretrial ruling permitted evidence that the gun allegedly used to kill Hillis and Beeler had been taken from Crandall when he was killed, and nothing more. The trial court began the voir dire, before any questioning had occurred, by reading both the charging information and the death penalty information to all prospective jurors. A. Pretrial developments The admissibility of the Crandall murder evidence was contested from the outset. Because a conviction in a capital case may be based upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice, Lowery v. State, 547 N.E.2d 1046, 1053 (Ind.1989) (citation omitted), the Double Jeopardy Clause does not preclude a retrial. . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. 1991, and ballistics tests confirmed to be the weapon used to kill Hillis and Beeler. And, he took Wesley Crandall's money that was there, and the marihuana. While we have reversed on the basis of evidence improperly admitted during the State's case in chief, it might turn out that discrete pieces of this evidence would be admissible as rebuttal. Without explanation, the trial court ruled that the conviction was admissible. If the extraneous details, of the killing were inadmissible in Ostrowsky -- a case involving car theft -- the prejudice to Thompson in a second murder prosecution is an a fortiori case. in the event that any such attack may open the door to the use of such evidence." The prosecutor referred not only to Percy's allegations, but also to their validation in the form of Thompson's murder conviction. The admissibility of the Crandall murder evidence was contested from the outset.
