David Wayne Beecher ^{1 2}

   FamilySearch ID: L6LG-D53.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Newspaper: Kokomo Tribune: David W. Beecher held in jail, 11 Jan 1988, Kokomo, Howard, IN. ³ PERU, Ind. - David W. Beecher, the 30-year-old son of a Miami County couple shot to death in their home Sunday, is being held in the Miami County Jail pending filing of charges in the deaths, Indiana State Police said today. Wayne E. Beecher 63, and Lydia Beecher, 59, were found late Sunday night shot to death in their home on Miami County Road 550 North, about 11 miles west [east] of U.S. 31. Indiana State Police said the couple had been dead several hours before police were summoned to the residence by David Beecher at about 11:40 p.m. Sunday. David Beecher, who lived with his parents, told police he returned to the residence and found the slain couple. Charges are expected to be filed within 72 hours by the Miami County prosecutor's office, police said. Police said the bodies were found inside the home. Autopsies were being performed today at Duke's Memorial Hospital, police said. Results were not available at Tribune deadline. Wayne Beecher was an employee at Chrysler Transmission Plant, Kokomo, police said. Arrangements are pending at Flowers-Leedy FunerafHome, Peru.

2. Newspaper: Logansport Pharos-Tribune, 12 Jan 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ² PERU - A meeting was scheduled this afternoon in Peru to review evidence in the homicide deaths of a Miami County couple. David W. Beecher, 30, Rt. 3, Peru, is being held in the Miam County jail on a preliminary charge of two counts of murder in the deaths of his parents, Wayne Beecher, 63, and Lydia Beecher, 59. The Miami County prosecutor's office said a meeting of iaw enforcement officers involved in the investigation was scheduled for 4 p.m. today. The autopsy report also is expected to be completed today, according to the Miami County Coroner's office.

3. Newspaper: Kokomo Tribune: Charges to be filed in Peru murder case, 13 Jan 1988, Kokomo, Howard, IN. ⁴ PERU, Ind. - Miami County Prosecutor Wilbur Siders today said charges against a 30-year-old Peru man who is accused of killing his parents Sunday were being prepared this morning. Siders said he plans to file two counts of murder and one count of robbery against David W. Beecher. Beecher is being held in the Miami County Jail. Police said Wayne Beecher, 63, and his 59-year-old wife Lydia were killed Sunday in their home on Miami County Road 550 North, about 11 miles west [east] of U.S. 31. Wayne was employed at Chrysler Transmission Plant, Kokomo, police said. David Beecher, who lived with his parents, told officers he returned to the house Sunday and found the slain couple. Unofficial autopsy results indicated the causes of death were wounds from a .22-caliber weapon. Lydia had five or six wounds to the head and chest, and Wayne had four or five wounds to the head and chest. Siders urged anyone who knows the whereabouts of David Beecher during the weekend or had seen his high four-wheel drive truck to contact the Indiana State Police. People should contact Jim Harper at 473-6666.

4. Newspaper: Pharos-Tribune: Murder Trial Opens In Deaths Of Parents, 28 Apr 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ⁵ Murder Trial Opens in Deaths Of Parents
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The court was told that his father's missing billfold was found at Beecher's girlfriend's house
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Peru - Defense attorney James H. Grund told a jury Wednesday that despite the circumstantial evidence, his client, David Beecher, did not kill his parents.

"The legitimate question here is why?" Grund said. "This isn't a matter of accusing David Beecher of going into a bank, robbing it, and killing a few people. This is a matter of shooting and killing his own parents, and why would David do this?"

Grund told the jury to question every piece of evidence presented during the trial because things are not as they seem.

"When two plus two do not equal four, I want you to chop that down in your minds," Grund said. "And in the end, if there are any doubts, you must rely on the presumption of innocence. And if you don't, you will only perpetuate the tragedy of the Beecher family."

Miami Circuit Court Judge Bruce Embrey has set aside two weeks for the trial of David Beecher, 30, accused of shooting his parents, Wayne and Lydia, sometime around Jan. 8.

The shooting took place in the 1½ story Beecher residence, located on Miami County Road 550N, about two miles west of U.S. 31.

Miami County Prosecutor Wil Siders, in his opening statement, said the facts will show that Beecher did kill his parents, and that money may have had something to do with the murders.

Beecher, along with the murder charge, also is charged with robbery for allegedly taking his father's billfold.

The billfold, Siders told the jury, was found Jan. 10 in an empty Folger's coffee bag inside a plastic garbage bag waiting to be thrown away at Beecher's girlfriend's (Rhonda Sailors) residence.

"Beecher wasn't working at the time, but receipts were found throughout his girlfriend's house indicating he made purchases that weekend," Siders said.

Indiana State Police Trooper Richard Kirk, the first officer to arrive at the scene Jan. 10, testified that when he entered the Beecher residence through the rear door he immediately smelled the "stench-type odor of decaying flesh."

The dead bodies, Kirk said, were in the living room on ground floor, while Beecher sat on a couch in the basement talking on the phone to the Indiana State Police.

"There was a large amount of blood under the male subject on the floor and a large amount of rigidity in the woman," Kirk said. "After walking through the house a second time, I noticed .22-caliber casings on the floor of the kitchen.''

Kirk testified that Beecher, who "appeared to be upset," told him his parents had been shot and murdered, that he had been at his girlfriend's house, and that when he arrived he found them.

But it was the way in which Beecher found his parents that seemed to be the focus of questioning Wednesday. Beecher allegedly told police that he first observed his parents through the doorway that leads from the kitchen into the living room with only a light on in the foyer.

But Kirk said he and other police performed two experiments with the lighting in the house, first with the kitchen and living room lights off, and second, with only the kitchen light on, and either way the bodies were hardly noticeable.

"With the lights off you could not tell if anyone was in the living room," Kirk said. "And with the lights on in the kitchen the bodies could hardly be seen."

5. Newspaper: Pharos-Tribune: Jury in Beecher Trial Hears Tape, 29 Apr 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ⁶ Jury in Beecher Trial Hears Tape

Beecher's call to police about murder subject of tape

PERU - The jury in the David Beecher murder trial listened to a tape Thursday on which Beecher told the Indiana State Police that his parents had been shot.

In many sections of the nearly 10 minute tape, Beecher was audibly upset and could not be understood.

"I want to report a murder. This is David Beecher calling," Beecher said. "My mother and father are laying on the living room floor. They're dead. Somebody shot them."

Beecher, who lived at home with his mother and father, told the Indiana State Police dispatcher that he had just returned from his girlfriend's house after being gone since Friday evening.
Beecher said he didn't touch anything around the house, and that he would turn on the porch light for whomever would arrive at the scene.

When Indiana State Police Trooper Richard Kirk arrived, he removed the phone from Beecher, who could be heard wailing in the background, "Oh God, Oh God."

Along with the tape, Prosecuting Attorney Wil Siders presented evidence indicating Wayne and Lydia Beecher were murdered sometime on Jan. 8.

Some of the items included a calendar hanging on the kitchen wall with the first seven days marked off in blank ink, a photograph of a seven-day orange translucent pill container with one pill in each of the Friday and Saturday compartments, and a shopping list and numerous coupons found in Wayne Beecher's coat pocket.

During his opening statement, Siders told the jury that Wayne Beecher's Friday afternoon routine consisted of cashing his paycheck, going to the grocery, and then picking up his wife and going out to dinner.

Sometime on Jan. 8, someone living at the Beecher residence brought in a copy of the Peru Daily Tribune. Indiana State Police Crime Technician Dean

Marks testified that the Jan. 8 issue of the paper appeared to be "flat, unopened and unread," while the Jan. 9 issue was found in the mailbox. Marks testified that there was no evidence of any hand-to-hand struggle at the scene, and nothing of value was taken other than Wayne Beecher's billfold.

Marks testified that he believed Wayne and Lydia were both sitting on the couch in the living room when the murders occurred, and that the dried blood trail leading from the side of the couch to the floor indicated that Wayne attempted to get up after being shot, but then fell to the floor.

Marks also testified that while he was gathering evidence, he observed on the kitchen wall a wooden "Whose in the dog house" plaque with each family members' name on separate carved wooden dogs. When asked by Siders the significance of such a thing, Marks said that David Beecher's dog was in the doghouse.

Marks, who was present during the Beecher autopsies, testified that eight entrance and two exit wounds were found in Wayne's body, and five entrance wounds and one exit would were found in Lydia's body. Lydia, Marks testified, had been drinking vodka that day of her death and her blood alcohol content was .11 percent.

Wabash Valley Bank teller Ann Cook, perhaps the last person to see Wayne alive other than his wife and the murderer, testified that Wayne cashed his paycheck sometime around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 8.

"He deposited $275.07 and I gave him $149 back in change," Cook said.

Siders, earlier in the week, told the jury that when David Beecher was searched, despite the fact that he was unemployed, $102 in cash was found in his possession.

6. Newspaper: Pharos-Tribune: David Beecher Murder Trial, 1 May 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ⁷ Murder Trial
Jurors hear detective read Beecher's version of events that led to discovery of his parents
PERU - Ruby L. Weir, one of two women responsible for finding the Folgers coffee bag containing Wayne Beecher's billfold, testified Friday that David Beecher was like one of the family.
Weir, along with David's girlfriend, Rhonda Sailors, found the Folgers bag inside a green garbage bag in the Weir residence while Beecher was being held for questioning Jan. 11 in the Miami County Jail. Weir testified that David, who helped out around the house, visited on weekends when Rhonda was not working. Weir and Sailors are employed at United Technologies Automotive Parts in Peru.
"If Rhonda worked third shift and was not at home on Friday, David would come over on Saturday," Weir said. "The only time I remember David staying over was the weekend of January 8."
Weir testified that David arrived on January 8 around 6:30 p.m. to pick Rhonda up for a date.
"They were going to dinner at Red Lobster in Kokomo," Weir said. "They came back around 10 p.m., and around 11 p.m. David said he felt nauseated, so I gave him an Alka Seltzer."
Weir testified that after Rhonda departed for work sometime around 11 p.m., David asked if he could rest on Rhonda's bed. When asked by Prosecuting Attorney Wil Siders if she heard David get up at any time or leave the residence, Wier said he may have gotten up to use the bathroom.
Presented into evidence by Siders was a typed manuscript of the taped session on which Beecher gave his version of the events prior to when he found his dead parents. The manuscript was read by Indiana State Police Detective Sgt. Kenneth Roland, who, along with Miami County Deputy Sheriff Rodney Mygrant, interviewed Beecher on Jan. 11.
Beecher said he left Rhonda's house at 11:30 p.m., drove home, parked in the driveway, opened the back door, saw his parents on the floor, and then went into the basement to call the police.
"When I opened the door I remember a smell, a stinky smell," Beecher said. "I thought it was meat, chicken or chicken wrappings in the kitchen." Beecher also remembered seeing shell casings on the floor of the kitchen, with only the foyer and basement lights on.
When asked when he last saw his parents, Beecher said sometime before 6 p.m. on Jan. 8. "Mom and dad were alive and getting ready to get groceries like they do on Fridays."
Beecher said that his parents had given him some money for his birthday, which was Jan. 18, and that his father was giving him $30 or $40 a week for "gas and such."
When asked if anything had occurred during the week that seemed "out of the ordinary," Beecher said that he had observed two individuals two Sundays prior to Jan. 11 walking on the road near his parent's house.
"I thought to call the police because they seemed suspicious, but I figured it was none of my business," Beecher said.
Beecher, who owns several guns, said he was saving money to buy a handgun for personal protection.
When asked if he shot his parents; Beecher responded with "No, I did not."
As for the money Beecher spent while at the Weir residence, Siders presented receipts that would indicate he purchased a number of items, including donuts, soda, candles, a can of Ninja body spray, and a lace lingerie set costing $16.04.

7. Newspaper: Pharos-Tribune: Suspect's Girlfriend Testifies, 3 May 1988, Logan Twp., Blair, PA. ⁸ Suspect's Girlfriend Testifies
Discrepancies explored in story of how bodies found

PERU - Rhonda K. Sailors, David Beecher's girlfriend at the time of his parents' death, testified Monday that while David was being held in Miami County Jail, he told her that he called the police about his dead parents from his bedroom.

The testimony, however, was in direct opposition to the information provided by David when police found him in the Beecher residence Jan. 10. On that night, according to authorities, David said he called police from the basement.

Defense attorney James H. Grund presented evidence which indicated that Sailors didn't remember what David told her.

Grund, referring to an Indiana State Police transcript of a statement taken from Sailors Jan. 15, 1988, told Sailors that she said she didn't remember where David made the call.

"So what you're telling the jury is that your recollection is getting better as the days go on?" inquired Grund, who showed Sailors a photograph of David's bedroom taken at the scene with the receiver off the hook on his telephone.

"Yes,"' said Sailors, who also testified that she visited David in jail during the early morning hours of Jan. 11.

When asked by Prosecuting Attorney Wil Siders about the conversation, Sailors said she asked what tune he arrived home.

"David said, 'My attorney told me not to answer any questions,' and I said 'To hell with the attorney,'"

Sailors said. "David said he went into the house and turned on no lights.'' Sailors testified that when she asked David how he could tell his parents were dead without lights, he said "I don't know. I don't know. I was in shock." Sailors also testified that the brown Jersey gloves found on the seat of her 1985 Black Camero presented into evidence last week were similar to those found in the Folger's coffee bag with Wayne Beecher's wallet. "They look like the same gloves David wears when he works on my car," Sailors said.

Along with identifying the gloves found in her car, Sailors indicated that her relationship with David continued from one weekend to the next, but that he never stayed at the Ruby L. Weir residence, where Rhonda resides, while she was working.

Sailors testified that David and she went to Red Lobster in Kokomo on Jan. 8, the same day police suspect his parents were murdered.

While consuming steamed lobster and rice pilaf, Sailors testified, that David said his mother's purse had been stolen earlier that week, either at Service Merchandise or Big R.

Sailors said that when she suggested they go to Service Merchandise to find out if the purse had been found, David refused to go. "He didn't want to call his parents to find out about the purse either," Sailors said. "He said they wouldn't be home, anyway."

After arriving at the Weir residence sometime around 9:20 p.m., Sailors testified, she went to work and left David in the living room watching television. Sailors testified she had no idea David decided to spend the night until she arrived home from work.

While at work, Sailors testified she took a one-hour-and-eight- minute break with "boyfriend" Tim Robinson, a mold technician at United Technologies in Peru. Sailors testified she and Robinson took a ride to Red Bridge in Wabash County.

"David had no idea about Tim," Sailors said. "I'd do anything to make sure he didn't find out."

And then there is the question of David's blue truck.

Timothy Curtis Nutt, 12, who lives down the street from the Beecher residence and is David's cousin, testified that he saw David's truck on Jan. 9 while he was watching television in his living room.

Nutt, who is familiar with the vehicle because he passes it every other day while on the school bus, said the truck drove by sometime during the morning, but that he couldn't tell who was driving the vehicle.

8. Newspaper: Pharos-Triubune: Witness Testifies He Heard Shots From Beecher Home, 5 May 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ⁹ Witness Testifies He Heard Shots From Beecher Home

(photo of David Beecher and deputy Larry Mooney leaving court)

Curtis Nutt, who lives one house away from the Beecher residence on the same side of CR 550N, testified in court Wednesday that he heard gunshots coming from the house on Jan. 8.

Nutt, Wayne Beecher's half brother, testified that after he arrived home from work, around 5:15 p.m., he changed his clothes to change the oil in his truck.

Nutt said that he heard the shots around 5:50 p.m. because his wife arrived home from work and that it was getting dark outside;

Beecher is on trial in Miami Circuit Court for allegedly murdering his parents, Wayne and Lydia Beecher, in their residence on CR 550N sometime on Jan. 8.

Although it has been established that the murderer fired the gun from the Beecher kitchen into the living room, Nutt testified he believed the shots might have been fired outside.

"I heard a series of shots. They were very loud," Nutt said. "They were rapid in succession, but not all in the same time span."

When asked by Prosecuting Attorney Wil Siders what kind of gun he believed had been fired, Nutt said a .22-caliber rifle, the same kind of weapon police believe was used to murder Wayne and Lydia Beecher.

Nutt, familiar with guns and who hunted with Wayne Beecher on occasion, but not during the last five or six years, testified that he could distinguish between how different guns sounded when fired.

When Siders asked if he had ever heard shots being fired at the Beecher residence previous to Jan. 8, Nutt said yes, but only one or two shots at a time

"I heard shotguns, but never a dozen shots, that many, that fast." Nutt testified that he was aware of the gun rack Wayne Beecher kept in the back of the house in the hallway near the Kitchen. When asked by Siders if it was likely that Wayne would have kept a loaded gun in the house, Nutt said it was very unlikely.

"He always told me never to take a loaded gun into the house, so I can't see him doing that," Nutt said.

During the course of questioning Nutt, Siders attempted to bring- out information the witness knew about, the disharmony that existed in the Beecher household between David and his parents.

The information was based on conversations Nutt had with Wayne Beecher, but defense attorney James H. Grand objected on the basis of hearsay.

Miami Circuit Court Judge Bruce Embrey sustained the objection.

The defense opened its case late in the afternoon, and with only one witness - Mary Fisher, who lives in a trailer at the Sunset Lodge trailer court, Rt.3, Peru.

Fisher, who was unable to identify the defendant sitting in the courtroom, testified that she does not know David Beecher.

The information Fisher testified to is in direct opposition with information Anita Mseis testified to the previous day.

Mseis, who at one time lived in the trailer court and who saw someone emerge out of David's truck on Jan. 9 while parked at the Beecher residence, testified Tuesday that she "knew of David" and his truck because she saw both over at the Fisher trailer court.

Grund also announced that Beecher, after hearing testimony and reviewing the presented evidence, decided not to testify on his own behalf.

During the past two weeks of testimony, Beecher, cordial with passers-by, appeared calm. While in court, the defendant, attired in a gray suit each day, has taken notes on a yellow legal pad, and during breaks, conversed and laughed with family members.

9. Newspaper: Pharos-Tribune: Beecher Trial Goes To Jury, 6 May 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. Beecher Trial Goes To Jury

PERU - The jury in the David Beecher murder trial deliberated Thursday at 3 p.m. after listening to three hours of closing arguments.

Prosecuting Attorney Wil Siders told the jury that given the evidence, there is no other person who could have murdered Wayne and Lydia Beecher.

"We start with the presumption of innocence, but who else was around?" Siders inquired of the jury.

Siders then asked the jury to put themselves in the defendant's position, beginning with the telephone call to the Indiana State Police Beecher made on Jan. 10 after he saw his parents dead in the living room.

"Imagine, you come through the back door, turn on the foyer light switch, go up the steps, look into the living room and see the bodies on the floor," Siders said. "First thing to do would be to check it out. How would you know it was your parents? And are you immediately going to make a phone call? Is it logical that someone is going to stay in the house?"

"Wouldn't you go to them? Shake them to see if they were alive?" Siders inquired. "Is it logical to retreat down in the basement? How do you know the perpetrator isn't still in the house? If so, what is your route of escape?"

"If you haven't seen the wounds, wouldn't you call the ambulance, or do you just conclude, whoops, they're gone," Siders said. "After 31 years of living with your parents, you've already written them off? Is this logical?"

"If you consider all the evidence, the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this man was there and he did, in fact, shot and kill his parents."

On the topic of evidence, both circumstantial and direct, Siders once again talked about Wayne Beecher's wallet, which was found in the Ruby Weir residence where David's girlfriend resides, and where David spent the weekend of Jan. 8. Siders said Beecher was the only link between the two houses.

"You will be convinced that this man did exactly what he is charged with,'' Siders said.

Grund, on the other hand, told the jury there was no evidence whatsover, and that all the items that were presented into evidence did not proove that David murdered his parents.

"You may be asking why we haven't presented any evidence?" Grund inquired of the jury. "There's not a lot of evidence from us because there is no case."

With that, Grund preceded to throw away in a large cardboard box every piece of evidence presented by the state, including the Folgers coffee bag containing Wayne Beecher's wallet.

"No one has even showed you that David touched the wallet," Grund said.

Grund asked the jury to think about the happenings and the individuals at the Ruby Weir residence the weekend Wayne and Lydia were murdered.

"Everyone at that household should have been a suspect," Grund said. "Everyone should, have been investigated."

With that, Grund replayed the Jan. 10 tape of Beecher calling the Indiana State Police to report that his parents were dead.

At the end of the tape, with the courtroom silent, and tears running down David's face, Grund asked the jury if the sounds of "agony and distress" sounded like the voice of a man who murdered his parents. "

And what does that leave us? No evidence and no case," Grund said. "We can't bring Wayne and Lydia back, but we can end the tragedy for David, for Nancy and for Gloria."

10. Newspaper: Pharos-Tribune: Beecher Found Guilty In Murder of Parents, 8 May 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ¹⁰ A jury has convicted a Peru man of murdering his parents.
(photo of David Beecher)
David Beecher, 31, was charged with killing Wayne Beecher, 63, and Lydia Beecher, 59, Jan. 8. He called state police Jan. 10 and said he had returned home and found his parents dead.
Miami Circuit Judge Bruce Embrey ordered a presentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for May 2.
Beecher's attorney James H. Grund said he planned to appeal the murder conviction.
Beecher, held in the Miami County Jail, could face a maximum of 60 years in prison. He showed no emotion upon hearing the verdicts Friday in the crowded courtroom, but later broke down crying.

11. Newspaper: Kokomo Tribune: Sentencing is scheduled June 2 for David W. Beecher, 9 May 1988, Kokomo, Howard, IN. ¹¹ PERU, Ind. - Sentencing is scheduled June 2 for a Peru man who was found guilty Friday in the Jan. 8 shotgun murders of his parents.
David W. Beecher, 31, Peru R.R. 3, faces up to 120 years in prison for killing his father, Wayne Beecher, 63, and his mother, Lydia, 59, in their Miami County home. A jury of seven women and five men found the younger Beecher guilty of his parents' murders late Friday after a week-long trial in the Miami Circuit Court of Judge Bruce C. Embrey.
The jury acquitted Beecher on a robbery charge for allegedly taking his father's billfold after the slayings.
Beecher, who had been in custody on a $225,000 bond since formal charges were filed against him Jan. 14, remains in the Miami County Jail awaiting sentencing.
The elder Beecher had been employed at Chrysler Motors' Kokomo Transmission plant, according to authorities.
The younger Beecher's trial began April 25 with jury selection, a process that continued into the next day. Testimony began April 27 and continued through last Wednesday, with jurors receiving the case the next afternoon.
Deliberations thursday continued until almost 10 p.m. and resumed at 9:35 a.m. the next day. The verdict was returned about 1:30 p.m. Friday and read late in the afternoon in a packed courtroom.
Beecher, who lived with his parents, told investigators initially he returned to the home and found his parents' bodies. According to authorities, the couple were found on a couch in their living room, each iwth multiple shotgun wounds to the head.
Autopsies concluded the elder Beecher had been shot four to five times in his chest and head, while his wife had been shot fiv eot six times in the chest and head.
David Beecher maintained his innocence throughout the investigation and his trial. HIs attorney, James H. Grund, said he will appeal the verdict.

12. Newspaper: Logansport Pharos-Tribune: PERU - Sentencing for David Beecher has been rescheduled to July 20 at 9 a.m. in Miami Circuit Court. Beecher, 31, Rt. 3, was found guilty last month of murdering his parents, Wayne and Lydia Beecher, in their home., 24 Jun 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ¹²

13. Newspaper: Pharos-Tribune: Beecher Gets 60 Years, 1 Jul 1988, Logansport, Cass, IN. ¹³ PERU -- David Beecher was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison for killing his parents, Wayne and Lydia Beecher.
Beecher, 31, who was found guity of murder by a 12-member jury in May, will serve 30 years for each count of murder, to be served consecutively.
Circuit Judge Bruce Embrey ordered medium security for Beecher, who will receive jail time credit form Jan. 11, the day he was arrested.

14. Court: Appeal trial: convicted for murdering his parents, Wayne and Lydia Beecher. on 13 Mar 1991 in Indianapolis, Marion, IN. BEECHER v. STATE
NO. 52A02-8902-CR-0067.
567 N.E.2d 861 (1991)
David Wayne BEECHER, Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
Court of Appeals of Indiana, Second District.
March 13, 1991.
Rehearing Denied April 29, 1991.
J.J. Paul, III, James H. Voyles, Jr., Indianapolis, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Louis E. Ransdell, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
SHIELDS, Presiding Judge.
David Wayne Beecher appeals his convictions and sentence for two counts of murder.
We affirm.
ISSUES
1. Whether Beecher was illegally detained by police so as to require the suppression of his statement and all evidence derived therefrom.
2. Whether the trial court erroneously instructed the jury.
3. Whether the evidence is sufficient to support Beecher's convictions.
4. Whether the trial court erroneously sentenced Beecher to consecutive sentences.
FACTS
Beecher called the Indiana State Police post near Peru on Sunday, January 10, 1988 at 11:42 p.m. He stated he had just returned home and discovered the bodies of his parents, Wayne and Lydia Beecher, who had been shot. He was still talking on the phone when Trooper Richard Kirk arrived at the scene.
Beecher told police he had last seen his parents on Friday, January 8 at approximately 5:30 p.m. He stated he spent the weekend at his girlfriend's home and discovered his parents' bodies when he returned home, at approximately 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
The evidence indicates the murders most likely occurred on Friday evening. Wayne had a shopping list and coupons in his pocket and both he and Lydia were wearing their coats. The victims usually went grocery
[567 N.E.2d 863]
shopping on Friday night. A pill case with compartments for each day of the week was found at the scene holding pills for Friday and Saturday. The days of the month prior to Friday had been crossed off a wall calendar. Wayne and Lydia were shot thirteen times by .22 caliber ammunition. A neighbor heard several rapid shots from what he believed was a.22 caliber rifle at about 5:40 p.m. Friday from the direction of the Beecher house.
DISCUSSION
I.
Beecher claims he was seized for questioning without probable cause in violation of the fourth amendment of the United States Constitution. Therefore, he argues, the trial court erred in refusing to suppress his statement and all evidence derived from it.
The appropriate inquiry into whether a person has been seized for fourth amendment purposes is whether, considering all circumstances, the defendant entertained a reasonable belief he was not free to leave. Heald v. State (1986), Ind., 492 N.E.2d 671. As a court of review we are limited to a determination of whether there is sufficient evidence to support the trial court's conclusion on this issue. Heald.
Citing Zook v. State (1987), Ind., 513 N.E.2d 1217, the trial court found Beecher voluntarily accompanied the police and voluntarily gave a statement. Thus, the trial court ruled, probable cause was not required. The evidence supports this conclusion.
When Trooper Kirk arrived at the Beecher house he helped Beecher outside because Beecher stated he needed air and wanted to get away from things. He appeared to be getting sick. The house was secured and only investigators were allowed inside. Because it was very cold outside Beecher was placed inside an ambulance while officers continued their investigation.
The police later wanted a recorded statement from Beecher. Beecher testified he was very upset and did not wish to return to the house. Because neither the ambulance nor the police cars were equipped to record a statement, the police asked Beecher to accompany them to the state police post a few miles away. Trooper Kirk testified that he did not believe Beecher was able to drive safely because of his condition.
Although officers helped Beecher from the ambulance to a police car, he was not handcuffed, held at gunpoint or restrained in any way. He sat with Deputy Rodney Mygrant, whom he had known for several years, in the front seat of the deputy's police car. No other officers rode in the car. No guns were displayed and many of the officers were not in uniform. Although Beecher testified he did not believe he could refuse to go to the police post, the trial court found his belief was not reasonable; he also testified he voluntarily went with the police to assist them in their investigation. Record at 1835-36.
At the post Beecher was given coffee and seated in an interview room. He testified he was not coerced to give the statement. At Beecher's request, Beecher spoke with Trooper Carlos Pettiford after his interview. After the interview Beecher remained in the interview room until his relatives decided who would take him home. The door between the room and the post's office was left open. Indiana State Police Sergeant Kenneth Roland testified no one was guarding Beecher and Beecher could have left if he so desired. He stated if the police intended to confine Beecher, he would have been placed in a holding cell located a few feet away and not left in the interview room with access to the office.
While Beecher was still at the police post, Wayne Beecher's wallet was discovered at his girlfriend's home and Beecher was placed under arrest.
The evidence is more than adequate to support the trial court's ruling that Beecher voluntarily accompanied police and gave a statement. Therefore, probable cause was not required and the trial court properly denied Beecher's motion to suppress.
[567 N.E.2d 864]
II.
Beecher claims the trial court's final instruction number 15 created an impermissible presumption which relieved the State of its burden of persuasion and contravenes Sandstrom v. Montana (1979), 442 U.S. 510, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 and Francis v. Franklin (1985), 471 U.S. 307, 105 S.Ct. 1965, 85 L.Ed.2d 344.
The questioned instruction reads:
You are instructed that where a specific intent is required to make an act an offense, such as in the charge preferred against the defendant, the State is not required to make proof of specific intent by direct evidence, for purpose and intent are subjective facts. That is, they exist within the mind of man, and since you cannot delve into a person's mind and determine his purpose and intent, you may look at all the surrounding circumstances, including what was said and done in relation thereto. The State is only required to produce such evidence as will satisfy the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime charged was committed by the Defendant with the degree of culpability charged in the Information. Everyone is presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of his voluntary acts, unless the circumstances are such to indicate the absence of such intent. A determination of the Defendant's intent may be arrived at by the jury from a consideration of the Defendant's conduct and the natural and usual sequence to which such conduct logically and reasonably points.
When an unlawful act, however, is proved to be knowingly done, no further proof is needed on the part of the State in the absence of justifying or excusing facts, since the law presumes a criminal intent from an unlawful act knowingly done.
Record at 461.
This same instruction was considered by the supreme court in Van Orden v. State (1984), Ind., 469 N.E.2d 1153, cert. denied (1985), 471 U.S. 1104, 105 S.Ct. 2335, 85 L.Ed.2d 851. In Van Orden, decided before Francis, our supreme court held the subject instruction did not have the limited and mandatory language rejected by Sandstrom and, therefore, the instant instruction was properly given. After Francis that court found a similar instruction did not violate a defendant's due process rights.
It is not necessary that an express intention be proved, it may be inferred. The law presumes that every man intends the legitimate consequences of his own acts. The intent may be presumed and inferred from the result of the action. It is not always possible to prove an intent by direct evidence for intent is a subjective fact. In determining intent, you may look to all the surrounding circumstances, bearing in mind the presumption in law, that everyone of sound mind is presumed to intend the natural results of his voluntary acts.
Blackburn v. State (1988), Ind., 519 N.E.2d 554, 556. Although at best the instruction is inartfully worded and confusing, and its use should be discouraged, a reasonable juror would not have understood the subject instruction considered in its entirety, along with the instruction that "[t]he Defendant is not required to present any evidence to prove his innocence or to prove or explain anything[,]" Record at 409, 458, to have shifted the State's burden of proof to Beecher.
III.
Beecher claims the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions. This court will not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses. We will review the evidence most favorable to the verdict and any reasonable inferences which may be drawn therefrom. If there is evidence of probative value from which a reasonable trier of fact could find the existence of each element beyond a reasonable doubt the conviction will be affirmed. Bartruff v. State (1990), Ind., 553 N.E.2d 485.
The evidence shows Beecher was the last person to see his parents alive. His truck was seen at the house after a neighbor heard a series of gun shots from the direction of the house. Beecher was seen at or near the home on both Saturday and Sunday. There was no forcible entry and a rifle of the same caliber used to kill the victims was missing from the home. A
[567 N.E.2d 865]
fisherman later found the rifle in the Mississinewa River. Wayne had cashed his paycheck on Friday and received $149.00 cash back. Beecher who was unemployed, spent substantial money over the weekend and had $102.00 cash in his possession when he was arrested. Wayne's wallet was discovered at his girlfriend's house where Beecher spent the weekend. It contained no cash and was found in the trash in an empty coffee bag which Beecher had bought. Finally, investigators testified that under the lighting conditions described by Beecher, Beecher could not have seen the bodies from the kitchen as he said he did. Although the evidence against Beecher is circumstantial, it is sufficient to support Beecher's murder convictions. See Allen v. State (1986), Ind., 496 N.E.2d 53.
IV.
Beecher was sentenced to two thirty-year terms of imprisonment to be served consecutively. He claims the trial court erred in assessing aggravating factors and in mitigating the individual sentences and yet ordering them served consecutively.
A.
Beecher argues three of the aggravating factors are restatements of one meaningful factor. We disagree because we perceive the victims being Beecher's parents as distinct from the "cold-blooded" aspect of the shooting occurring in a face to face manner, which in turn is distinct from the multiple (14) shots that were "individually and consciously fired." Record at 636. The fourth factor, the extensive cover-up, Beecher concedes is a valid factor. These four factors, without regard to the fifth factor, sufficiently support the trial court's exercise of sound discretion in ordering consecutive sentences.
Next, Beecher argues the court failed to enumerate a mitigating factor supported by the record, the evaluation of the Department of Correction:
"For the most part one could expect highly conforming and socially conventional behavior from this individual. He might even impress others as being pollyannish. Neither testing or interview revealed any psychotic trends."
Record at 602. The trial court has discretion to determine whether any particular factor is indeed mitigating. The opinion that Beecher is not psychotic is not necessarily mitigating; many crimes are committed by only anti-social personalities. Further, most behavior is not all behavior; and, finally, the opinion is only an opinion.
B.
Beecher also argues the trial court erred when it both mitigated and enhanced his sentences. The trial court enumerated five mitigating factors which it considered to mitigate the individual sentence and then enumerated five aggravating factors it used to order Beecher's individual sentences served consecutively. A trial court balances mitigating and aggravating factors whether it concludes the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors or whether it considers the mitigating factors alone, and mitigates part of the sentences, and then considers the aggravating factors alone and enhances part of the sentences. The result is the same.
Judgment affirmed.
BARTEAU and GARRARD, JJ., concur.
.