Preview:

FILED
Apr 08 2010, 2:20 pm
of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

CLERK

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT
Robert J. Hill Public Defender of Marion County Katherine Cornelius Deputy Public Defender Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Gregory F. Zoeller Attorney General of Indiana Matthew Whitmire Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

______________________________________________________________________________

Indiana Supreme Court
_________________________________ No. 49S00-0803-CR-147 JEFFREY TREADWAY, Appellant (Plaintiff below), v. STATE OF INDIANA, Appellee (Defendant below). _________________________________ Appeal from the Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division 5, No. 49G05-0511-MR-188188 The Honorable Grant W. Hawkins, Judge _________________________________ On Direct Appeal _________________________________

In the

April 8, 2010

Rucker, Justice.

Case Summary

After a trial by jury Jeffrey Treadway was found guilty of murder, felony murder, robbery, and battery. Alleging two statutory aggravating circumstances, the State sought life imprisonment without parole. The jury recommended life imprisonment and the trial court sentenced Treadway accordingly. Rephrased and reordered Treadway raises the following issues: (1) did the trial court err in failing to dismiss the States request for life imprisonment without parole; (2) did the trial court abuse its discretion in failing to grant a mistrial; (3) did the trial court abuse its discretion by admitting into evidence the testimony of two inmate witnesses; (4) did the trial court err in admitting into evidence Treadways pretrial statement; (5) did the trial court err in instructing the jury; (5) was the evidence sufficient to sustain the verdicts; (6) did the State prove the existence of the statutory aggravators beyond a reasonable doubt; (7) is the trial courts sentencing order inadequate; and (8) is the life without parole sentence inappropriate based on Treadways character and the nature of the offense. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Facts and Procedural History

In the late evening hours of October 15, 2005, Treadway knocked on the door of a home occupied by an elderly couple, eighty-two-year-old Donald Carroll and his eighty-year-old wife Betty Carroll. Two years earlier Treadway had performed minor yard work for the couple for which Mrs. Carroll paid him $25.00. When Mr. Carroll answered the door Treadway struck him in the head repeatedly with a brick and took his wallet. As Mrs. Carroll attempted to intervene, Treadway swung at her with the brick and pushed her onto a couch causing injuries to her arms and hands. In response to Treadways demand for money Mrs. Carroll gave Treadway $200.00 and he fled the scene. Mrs. Carroll called 9-1-1. After the police arrived Mr. Carroll was taken to Methodist Hospital where he died as a result of blunt force injury to the head. Tr. at 1650.1 When questioned by the police Mrs. Carroll gave a description of the attacker, noting that he had

In this opinion we refer to the trial transcript as "Tr." and the transcript containing trial exhibits as "Ex. Tr."
1

2

unkempt gray hair, a full beard, vivid eyes, wore a blue plaid jacket, that his name was "Jeff" and that he had done yard work for her in the past.

A few days later with the assistance of a sketch artist, Mrs. Carroll created a picture of Treadway that was thereafter released to the news media. On October 23, 2005, Treadway was arrested in the state of Minnesota on an unrelated charge and was questioned by officers of the Fairmont Police Department. During questioning Treadway made references of being wanted in Indianapolis and that he was "going for life." Ex. Tr. at 127.

The State charged Treadway with murder, felony murder, robbery as a Class A felony, and battery as a Class C felony. Alleging he committed the murder by intentionally killing the victim while committing or attempting to commit robbery

Download Jeffrey Treadway v. State of Indiana.pdf

Indiana Law