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Pruitt v. State9/13/2005
s within the sound discretion of the trial court, this Court reviews the admission of photographic evidence only for abuse of discretion. Ealy v. State, 685 N.E.2d 1047, 1049-50 (Ind. 1997).
Pruitt concedes that a gruesome photograph is permitted if it is an accurate representation of what it purports to represent. McNary v. State, 460 N.E.2d 145, 148 (Ind. 1984). However, autopsy photographs have been held inadmissible because the jury could infer that the defendant is responsible "for the cuts, incisions, and indignity of an autopsy." Allen, 686 N.E.2d at 776 (quoting Loy v. State, 436 N.E.2d 1125, 1128 (Ind. 1982)). Pruitt argues that the pre-autopsy photograph is similar to an autopsy photograph because it shows Starnes's body bloated with 100 pounds of extra fluid and a large incision that exposes internal organs. Pruitt contends that the prejudicial effect lingered through both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial. After reviewing the photograph and the evidence surrounding its admission, we conclude that the trial court was within its discretion in deciding that the photograph's probative value in showing the several day process of the disease from the time of injury to the time of death was not outweighed by a tendency to inflame or prejudice the jury.
V. Jury Instruction on Executive Clemency Powers
Indiana Code section 35-50-2-9(d) (2004) requires the trial court to instruct the jury before the sentencing on "the statutory penalties for murder and any other offenses for which the defendant was convicted, the potential for consecutive or concurrent sentencing, and the availability of good time credit and clemency." Pruitt argues that the trial court's instruction in this case violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 16 of the Indiana Constitution by diminishing the jurors' sense of responsibility for their verdict. The jury was instructed: "The Governor of Indiana has the power, under the Indiana Constitution, to grant a reprieve, commutation, or pardon to a person convicted and sentenced for murder. A pardon completely eliminates a conviction and sentence. A commutation reduces the sentence, for example by changing a death sentence to one for life without parole or for a term of imprisonment. A reprieve is a temporary postponement of the execution of a sentence. The Indiana Constitution leaves it entirely up to the discretion of the Governor when and how to use this power."
In California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992 (1983), the Supreme Court discussed the constitutionality of California's statutory requirement that capital sentencing juries be instructed that the Governor could commute a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole, resulting in a lesser sentence that included the possibility of parole. The Court recognized the instruction given in Ramos was both accurate and relevant to a legitimate state penological interest, specifically a concern for the future dangerousness of the defendant should he ever return to society. Id. at 1001-06. The Court noted "California reasonably could have concluded that, while jurors are generally aware of the Governor's power to commute a death sentence . . . most jurors would not be aware that the Governor also may commute a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole and that they should be so informed to avoid any possible misconception conveyed by the description of the sentencing alternative." Id. at 1003 n.18.
Ramos establishes that a court can constitutionally inform a jury of the possibility that clemency may affect a sentence of life without parole, and the Indiana statute directs this may be done. Pruitt argues that it does
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