Tonya L. Gordon v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
35A02-1605-CR-1172
| Ind. Ct. App. | Nov 9, 2016Background
- On November 14, 2015, Tonya L. Gordon lost control of her vehicle on I-69; the car flipped and her stepfather, Dewayne Ingram, later died from crash-related injuries. Gordon’s BAC was .128; alcohol containers and drug paraphernalia were found in the vehicle.
- Gordon was charged with multiple offenses, including Level 5 felony operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death.
- At trial Gordon proposed jury instructions on intervening cause (claiming another vehicle “bumped” them) which the trial court rejected; she did not object to the court’s final instructions.
- The jury convicted Gordon of the felony causing death and other DUI counts; the court sentenced her to six years (two suspended).
- Gordon appealed, arguing the trial court abused its discretion by refusing her intervening-cause instructions and that the given instructions constituted fundamental error.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the court abused discretion by refusing Gordon’s intervening-cause instructions | State: no abuse; proposed instructions lacked evidentiary support | Gordon: instructions correctly stated law and were supported by testimony (mother said they were “bumped”) | No abuse — instructions were unsupported by evidence of another vehicle impact and were properly refused |
| Whether the jury instructions caused fundamental error | State: no fundamental error; instructions read as a whole required proximate/substantial cause | Gordon: Instructions 9 and 10 conflicted, lowering State’s burden by defining cause too broadly | No fundamental error — instructions read together correctly required the operation to be a substantial/proximate cause; no evidence of an intervening cause |
Key Cases Cited
- McCowan v. State, 27 N.E.3d 760 (Ind. 2015) (standard for reviewing jury-instruction refusals and considering instructions as a whole)
- Lampkins v. State, 778 N.E.2d 1248 (Ind. 2002) (trial court may refuse self-defense or other instructions lacking evidentiary support)
- Abney v. State, 858 N.E.2d 226 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006) (operation causing death requires proof of substantial, proximate cause)
- Pattison v. State, 54 N.E.3d 361 (Ind. 2016) (fundamental-error standard for unpreserved instruction objections)