7th Circuit upholds Elkhart man’s attempted murder conviction

A man who nearly 15 years ago shot two friends — one fatally — could not persuade the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse his attempted murder conviction and 45-year sentence in a retrial. The man was found not guilty of murder at his first trial and the first jury deadlocked on the attempted murder charge.

Tyrus Coleman claimed he was a victim of double jeopardy when he was convicted of attempted murder in the March 2007 shooting of Anthony Dye. Coleman admitted he shot Dye and fatally shot Dye’s son Jermaine Jackson after a confrontation at Coleman’s recording studio in Elkhart. Coleman claims self-defense.

In his first jury trial, Coleman was found not guilty of Jackson’s murder, but the jury deadlocked on the attempted murder charge in Dye’s shooting. Coleman was convicted of attempted murder in a retrial — a verdict affirmed by the Indiana Supreme Court in 2011.

Coleman challenged his conviction in federal court, claiming his retrial was a violation of his double jeopardy protections and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. The 7th Circuit affirmed his conviction Thursday in Tyrus Coleman v. Ron Neal, 18-3264.

Noting the shootings were captured on surveillance video seen by the jury, “Coleman contends that the first jury must have found that he acted in self-defense when killing Jackson and that this conclusion necessarily applies to Dye as well,” the 7th Circuit wrote in a per curiam opinion. “… We need not resolve that debate, because it does not require even an ounce of deference to conclude that Coleman’s acquittal on the murder charge does not establish that he acted in self-defense when shooting Dye.

“Currier v. Virginia, 138 S. Ct. 2144, 2149–50 (2018), tells us to read acquittals for the least they must establish, not the most that they might represent. It is scarcely necessary to do more than reread the state court’s summary of the facts to conclude that the jury in the first trial readily could have found that Coleman tried to defend himself against Jackson but had no such justification for shooting Dye. By the time Coleman shot Jackson, his father Dye was on the ground with two bullets in him, and Jackson had opened fire at Coleman. A jury might well have thought that Coleman returned Jackson’s fire to defend himself. But that does not imply anything about Dye’s earlier shooting. Dye had a gun but was not pointing it at Coleman and did not pull the trigger. Coleman nonetheless shot Dye twice, including once after he was on the ground.

“… Given the rule of Currier, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not entitle Coleman to be acquitted on both charges,” the panel held.

Likewise, the 7th Circuit found no ineffective assistance of counsel. “And we add that the overall performance of counsel was admirable. The shootings were captured on video, yet counsel persuaded the first jury to acquit on one count and not reach a verdict on the other. That counsel could not do as well with the second jury does not demonstrate a violation of the Constitution,” the panel concluded.