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A woman’s 30-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter is appropriate given the nature of the offense and her criminal history, the Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed Friday.
In the case, Peggy Sue Higginson and her husband, Troy, had an extensive history of domestic violence incidents during which law enforcement responded to their home, according to court records.
One such call came in October 2013, when Troy called 911 claiming Higginson “had gone crazy and attacked him with a whiskey bottle and that he was bleeding.”
Peggy Sue was subsequently charged with Class A misdemeanor domestic battery in the incident.
As part of a pretrial diversion agreement, Higginson agreed to attend anger management and all recommended services, which she successfully completed. The charge against Higginson was then dismissed in April 2014.
Roughly four years later in March 2018, Troy petitioned for an order of protection and a request for a hearing in which he claimed that he had been a victim of domestic violence. He claimed Peggy Sue had destroyed their house on Nov. 23, 2014, and March 13, 2018, and had hit him in the face with a liquor bottle in October 2013.
The Posey Circuit Court issued an ex parte order for protection. But that order expired, and neither party showed up for a hearing set by the court.
Troy filed for divorce on April 30, 2018.
Shortly after filing for divorce, Troy filed another petition for an order of protection and a request for a hearing, offering the same examples of abuse he offered in his prior petition.
On June 21, 2018, Peggy Sue called 911 and said she had shot Troy. He was found unresponsive in his vehicle not far from the couple’s home.
Troy died at the scene from a gunshot wound in the upper chest area.
A deputy attempted to question Peggy Sue, but she appeared to be under the influence of narcotics and was transported to the hospital.
Four days after the incident, the state charged her with murder and later sought a sentencing enhancement for the use of a firearm.
Peggy Sue filed a notice of intent to raise a claim of self-defense through Dr. Polly Westcott’s testimony diagnosing her with post-traumatic stress disorder. Westcott testified Higginson’s PTSD symptoms arose “as a result of her marriage to Troy.”
In August 2022, Higginson entered into a plea agreement with the state in which she agreed to plead guilty to Level 2 felony voluntary manslaughter, and the state dismissed the murder charge and firearm sentence enhancement. The trial court accepted the plea and sentenced Higginson to the maximum 30-year sentence.
The appellate court affirmed that sentence, finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion and that the 30-year sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of Higginson’s offense and her character.
Writing for the appellate court, Judge Patricia Riley said Higginson’s argument on appeal about the appropriateness of her sentence was entirely focused on whether the trial court abused its discretion at sentencing.
But Riley said there was no error in the trial court’s consideration of the circumstances leading up to Higginson’s shooting of her husband as an aggravating factor.
Also, Higginson’s dismissed charge, while only appearing as a record of arrest, was relevant and a proper aggravating factor.
“In identifying Higginson’s dismissed charge as an aggravating factor, the trial court noted that Higginson’s dismissed charge was not a conviction but was a ‘history of behavior’ toward Troy and considered the behavior to be ‘significant’ as she was the ‘aggressor’ in that past domestic incident and had not been deterred from engaging in further ‘anti-social behavior,’” Riley wrote.
The appellate court acknowledged Higginson’s PTSD, but Riley noted other evidence strongly suggested Higginson deliberately engaged in violent behavior and demonstrated the ability to control her actions without limitation.
“In sum, Higginson has failed to meet her burden of persuading us that her overall 30-year sentence, which we do not find to be an outlier, is inappropriate in light of her character and the nature of her offense,” Riley wrote.
Chief Judge Robert Altice and Judge Rudolph Pyle concurred.
The case is Peggy Sue Higginson v. State of Indiana, 22A-CR-2634.
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