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Text messages and rap lyrics introduced over a man’s hearsay objections were admissible and there was sufficient evidence for his murder and attempted murder convictions and 143-year aggregate sentence, the Court of Appeals of Indiana ruled Monday in affirming a trial court’s decision.
On a mid-December afternoon in 2020, Freddie “Duce” Hegwood and Victor “VJ” Griffin sat in a parked car in a Brownsburg neighborhood when gunshots rang out from a black car passing by. Hegwood was shot and killed.
According to court records, a bullet passed through the hood of Griffin’s sweatshirt, but he escaped unharmed and told police four men were in the black car.
Several months of investigation led to the identification of four suspects: Tyreontay Tyrin Jackson, Antonio Lane, Kamarion Moody and Jeremy Perez.
This incident arose out of a feud between rival gangs: Davo, a subgroup of the Insane Money Gang, and My Brother’s Keeper, a subgroup of the Kutthroat Gang.
Jackson, Lane, Moody and Perez, among others, were “linked together in numerous social media posts, photographs and videos, and conversations[] and music videos on social media and YouTube” and identified as IMG/Davo members.
In July 2020, an IMG associate was shot at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
From then until mid-December, members of the two gangs exchanged messages over text and posted taunting and threatening content on social media.
An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detective explained it is common for gang members to post rap lyrics and music videos on Instagram and Facebook “talking about the other group” or share photos “with words on it disrespecting the other group” as a form of “rivalry behavior.”
In the early morning hours of Dec. 15, a video was recorded on Perez’s phone of several people — including himself, Jackson, Lane and Moody — standing around a black vehicle armed with AR-15 rifles and handguns.
Jackson is seen holding an AR-15 that can fire .223-caliber ammunition, and a magazine loaded with .223-style rounds is displayed.
Jackson was not immediately on the police radar after Hegwood’s murder; police had a phone number that was communicating with Hegwood in the weeks before his murder, but it took some time to connect that phone number to Jackson.
Once Jackson was identified, analysis of his Instagram account revealed multiple images and videos referring to Davo.
Jackson was in possession of some type of firearm in many images.
He appeared in the Davo Story video and also in another video.
DNA analysis of a lighter found in the black car provided “very strong support” for inclusion of Jackson as a contributor of DNA obtained from it.
Cell phone location data placed Jackson, along with Lane and Moody, in the Branches neighborhood in Brownsburg around the time of the shooting.
Jackson, Moody and Perez were located at Perez’s girlfriend’s apartment in Speedway and arrested in July 2021.
The state charged Jackson with murder, Level 1 felony attempted murder, and two counts of Level 5 felony criminal recklessness as an accomplice.
The state also sought sentencing enhancements for use of a firearm and participation in a criminal organization.
A jury found Jackson guilty as charged in Hendricks Circuit Court for his participation in the shooting and determined he was subject to the criminal organization enhancement, but not the firearm enhancement.
Jackson was sentenced to an aggregate term of 143 years.
He appealed, claiming the trial court erred in admitting certain evidence over his hearsay objection and there was insufficient evidence to convict him of murder and attempted murder.
The Court of Appeals affirmed Jackson’s convictions, finding that the trial court did not commit reversible error in admitting exhibits over Jackson’s hearsay objections.
The appellate court also found there was sufficient evidence to support Jackson’s convictions of murder and attempted murder.
Judge Dana Kenworthy wrote the opinion for the appellate court.
Over Jackson’s objection, the trial court admitted an exhibit containing text messages between Hegwood and Ramonte Scruggs that were shared with Jackson and others as part of an Instagram group conversation.
According to Kenworthy, Jackson contends the trial court abused its discretion in admitting these messages because “threats are hearsay when the threatening statement is being offered for the truth of the matter asserted.”
Kenworthy wrote that Jackson did not analyze the threats contained in Hegwood’s messages to show they were offered for that purpose.
“To the contrary, these messages were not offered to prove the truth of Hegwood’s statements but for their effect on Jackson and as an explanation of his subsequent conduct. Hegwood’s statements contain no assertions of fact, and the messages were used to prove only that the statements were made and communicated to Jackson,” Kenworthy wrote, citing Phillips v. State, 25 N.E.3d 1284, 1288–89 (Ind Ct. App. 2015).
Also over Jackson’s hearsay objection, the trial court admitted three separate text message conversations as non-hearsay statements made by Jackson’s co-conspirators during and in furtherance of a conspiracy pursuant to Indiana Evidence Rule 801(d)(2)(E).
Kenworthy wrote that the bar for admitting a statement under Rule 801(d)(2)(E) is relatively low — the trial court only needs to determine the state has proven by a preponderance of the evidence the existence of a conspiracy between the declarant and the defendant and that the statement was made during and in furtherance of this conspiracy.
“Despite Jackson’s argument to the contrary, by the time the challenged exhibits were offered, there was sufficient circumstantial evidence before the trial court to establish a common criminal purpose from which a conspiracy could be inferred between Jackson and the other identified Davo members directed at KTG members,” Kenworthy wrote.
Because none of the pieces of challenged evidence, individually or cumulatively, had a direct bearing on Jackson’s guilt or innocence, the probable impact of these three exhibits on the jury was sufficiently minor as to not affect his substantial rights, Kenworthy wrote.
The trial court also admitted rap lyrics written and performed by Moody as statements of a co-conspirator over Jackson’s hearsay objection.
Kenworthy wrote that Moody’s rap should not have been admitted under Rule 801(d)(2)(E) because it was not a statement made in furtherance of the conspiracy.
“However, as above, any error in admitting the written and spoken lyrics was harmless because the rap, to the extent it is intended to claim responsibility for the shooting, does not implicate Jackson,” Kenworthy wrote.
The evidence and reasonable inferences from the evidence supported Jackson’s murder and attempted murder convictions, Kenworthy wrote.
Chief Judge Robert Altice and Judge Nancy Vaidik concurred.
The case is Tyreontay T. Jackson v. State of Indiana, 22A-CR-2679.
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