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Sunday, May 18, 2008
Ind. Decisions - "Ind. Supreme Court tosses conviction in Gary shooting"
The Supreme Court reversal May 13th in the case of Andrew Lee Watts v. State of Indiana (see ILB summary here - 2nd case) was the subject of a story Thursday by Patrick Guinane of the NWI Times. Some quotes:
A former FBI informant implicated by multiple witnesses in the slaying of a man in a Gary tavern five years ago could soon walk out of prison.A divided Indiana Supreme Court threw out the voluntary manslaughter conviction against Andrew L. Watts Tuesday, citing trial error by Lake County Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez. The 3-2 ruling erases a 47-year prison sentence, and Watts appears close to completing a six-year stint for an accompanying criminal recklessness conviction.
"At present, Watts, who three witnesses say killed one person and wounded another, stands convicted only of criminal recklessness, with a six-year sentence that has already been served if good time credit has been earned -- and in any event will expire in one year," Justice Theodore Boehm complained in a dissenting opinion. "It is at least significantly likely that this will be the end of the matter."
At issue is Vasquez's decision to allow prosecutors, who originally sought a murder conviction, to provide jury instructions on the charge of voluntary manslaughter over the objection of Watts' attorneys.
When a defendant is charged with murder, voluntarily manslaughter is not an option unless there is mitigating evidence that suggests the crime was committed in the heat of the moment, which did not happen at Watts' trial.
"The trial court erred when it instructed the jury on voluntary manslaughter in the absence of evidence of sudden heat in the record," Justice Frank Sullivan Jr. wrote in the majority opinion. "Therefore, Watts’s conviction for voluntary manslaughter is reversed."
Justice Boehm wrote that a voluntary manslaughter conviction in Indiana is equivalent to an acquittal of murder, which he said leaves prosecutors powerless to bring a new murder charge. Watts can be retried for voluntary manslaughter, but Boehm said the absence of "sudden heat" evidence at the first trial makes a conviction unlikely.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 18, 2008 10:26 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions