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Pursuant to Ind.Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any court except for the purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case. APPELLANT PRO SE: ALVIN CHRISTMAS Carlisle, Indiana

FILED
Dec 22 2009, 9:27 am
of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

CLERK

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: GREGORY F. ZOELLER Attorney General of Indiana J. T. WHITEHEAD Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
ALVIN CHRISTMAS, Appellant-Petitioner, vs. STATE OF INDIANA, Appellee-Respondent. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 20A03-0903-PC-102

APPEAL FROM THE ELKHART CIRCUIT COURT The Honorable Terry C. Shewmaker, Judge Cause No. 20C01-0404-PC-4

December 22, 2009

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION

NAJAM, Judge

STATEMENT OF THE CASE Alvin Christmas was convicted of Murder and Robbery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury following a jury trial. On direct appeal, this court affirmed his convictions. See Christmas v. State, No. 20A03-0304-CR-116 (Ind. Ct. App. December 8, 2003) ("Christmas I"). Christmas subsequently petitioned for post-conviction relief, which the post-conviction court denied. He now appeals, challenging the post-conviction courts judgment, and he raises the following restated issues for our review: 1. Whether the post-conviction court abused its discretion when it denied his discovery requests. Whether he was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel. Whether he was denied the effective assistance of appellate counsel.

2. 3.

We affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY In Christmas I, we set out the facts and procedural history as follows: On the night of August 24, to August 25, 2001, Cassie Gibson (Gibson) contacted Christmas to buy some crack cocaine from him. They agreed to meet in the parking lot of the Elkhart General Hospital emergency room where she planned to take her friend, Autumn Attkisson (Attkisson), who needed emergency care. When Gibson arrived at the parking lot, Christmas was already there, waiting with his girlfriend, Regina McCain (McCain). Gibson got into the back seat of Christmas maroon-colored Chrysler and asked him for some crack cocaine on credit. Since she already owed Christmas $60, he refused. Gibson then asked Christmas to drive her to Valente Ramirez (Valente), who was living on Washington Street, in Elkhart, Indiana, with his brother. Valente regularly paid her as a prostitute, and she was hoping to get some money from him to pay her debt to Christmas and to purchase more crack cocaine. On the way to Valentes, Gibson informed Christmas that she would just enter the house, take his wallet, and leave again. Before arriving at the apartment, Christmas let Gibson smoke some crack cocaine. Upon their
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arrival at Valentes residence, Christmas parked in the parking lot, and Gibson went up to the apartment. After knocking on the door, Valente let her in. Valentes brother, Jorge Ramirez (Jorge) was asleep on the living room floor. When Valente went into the bathroom, Gibson took the wallet and left the apartment. After returning to Christmas car, Gibson saw that Valentes wallet only contained $20; nevertheless, she told Christmas that the wallet was empty. Christmas became angry, so Gibson informed him that Jorges wallet probably contained a lot of money if he was interested in making money. Gibson offered to return to the apartment, and after having sex with Valente, she would call Christmas to let him in. After Gibson went back to the apartment, Christmas drove to his home. McCain remained in the car while Christmas went into his apartment. When he returned to the car, he put something in the trunk, and told McCain to drive back to Valentes house on Washington Street. In the meanwhile, Gibson had sex with Valente on the dining room floor. After they finished, Valente woke up Jorge and retrieved twenty dollars from him, which Valente handed to Gibson. After she received the money, Gibson phoned Christmas to tell him that she would let him in. As soon as she saw Christmas on the front porch, Gibson exited and Christmas entered Valentes apartment. Christmas closed the front door. Inside the apartment, Christmas ordered Valente to lay on the ground while he walked towards the area where Jorge was sleeping. After ordering Jorge to get up, Christmas shot him in the head. Jorge moaned and fell on his side; he later died of his injuries. Christmas waved the gun while walking. After Christmas approached Valente, Valente got up from the floor and lunged at Christmas, who shot Valente in the hand and forehead. Valente then fled the house. Upon hearing gunshots, Gibson ran back to the car. When Christmas returned to the car, he was carrying a brown wallet and a gun in his right hand. Getting in the passengers side of the car, Christmas divided up the money found in the wallet and gave Gibson $120. Gibson paid off her debt to Christmas and purchased another twenty dollars worth of crack cocaine. McCain drove Gibson to a friends house where she threw away the wallet. On January 25, 2002, the State charged Christmas with Count I, murder, a Class A felony, I.C.

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