People v. Henderson

35 N.E.3d 840 (2015)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D, his cousin, and a friend broke into an apartment looking for two individuals who the men suspected had robbed them of drugs and money. When D broke down the door to the apartment, the victim and his girlfriend were in an upstairs bedroom. When the victim heard the downstairs door being kicked in, he opened the door to the bedroom and saw the men coming up the stairs. D was screaming and asking for the whereabouts of the individuals he believed had stolen the drugs. The victim told D to leave. D then punched the victim in the face and a fistfight ensued. The victim's girlfriend hit D over the head with a bottle. She heard sirens and stated that the police were coming. D and the other men ran out of the apartment. D grabbed a knife and returned to the victim's apartment holding the knife in his hand. The victim told his girlfriend to run, and she ran out of the back door to a neighbor's apartment and called 911. As she ran out of the apartment, she heard glass shattering. She ran back to the apartment and saw the victim exit the door and slump down on the stoop with shards of glass protruding from his scalp and blood pouring from his back. The victim told his girlfriend that he thought he had been stabbed, and he thereafter lost consciousness. D fled the apartment, got into a vehicle with his friend, and sped off just as the police arrived. D and his friend were arrested. The victim was pronounced dead. D was convicted of felony murder, first-degree manslaughter, first-degree burglary, two counts of second-degree burglary, and second-degree assault. D appealed and the court affirmed the conviction. D appealed.