| On January 22, 2009, 65-year-old Jerry Kindred was charged with two counts of sexual assault, based on allegations brought by A.G., the 9-year-old biological granddaughter and adoptive daughter of his girlfriend, Barbara Grissom. The crimes were alleged to have occurred in May and June of 2008.
The events that led to the filing of charges began in 2001 when Kindred and Barbara first met. Barbara and her then-husband, David Grissom, adopted A.G. since Christy Gratzer, A.G.’s biological mother and Barbara’s biological daughter, could not properly care for her.
In 2002, when A.G. was 2 or 3 years old, Barbara and David divorced. That same year, Kindred and Barbara became romantically involved and began living together in Kindred’s apartment in Worthington, Indiana.
After the divorce, David became A.G.’s primary custodial parent. Barbara shared custody on weekends. At the end of May 2008, A.G. went to spend six consecutive weeks with Barbara and Kindred in Worthington. During this time, A.G. shared a bed with Barbara and Kindred because she was scared to sleep alone and did not like the dark. Barbara would sleep in the middle of the bed, with A.G. on one side and Kindred on the other.
Barbara worked at a local restaurant and would wake up at 3:30 am to prepare for her 4:30 am shift. Before leaving the bedroom to get ready, Barbara would wrap A.G. in blankets and put a blanket in between A.G. and Kindred. Once she was dressed and ready to leave for work, Barbara would wake A.G. and drop her off at the babysitter’s house on her way to work.
On June 21, 2008, Gratzer picked A.G. up from Barbara and Kindred’s apartment to take her to Bedford, where David resided. During the car ride, A.G. asked Gratzer if Barbara would live with David again if Barbara had nowhere else to live. Christy asked A.G. why she had asked such a question. A.G. told Christy that when Barbara would get out of bed to get ready for work, Kindred would put his hands down her panties.
Christy informed David that A.G. had been molested. They contacted law enforcement and said that A.G. had accused Kindred of touching her. No medical examination was performed on A.G.
On June 23, 2008, the alleged incident was referred to Don Fish, a caseworker for Greene County Child Protective Services. Fish contacted Julie Martin, a sex crimes investigator employed by the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office.
On June 24, 2008, a forensic interview of A.G. was conducted primarily by Fish. A.G. told Fish and Martin that Kindred had put his finger in her vagina on more than one occasion. After A.G.’s interview, Fish and Martin contacted Kindred who, later in the day, came voluntarily to the Child Protective Services’ office. During the interview, Kindred admitted that he slept in the same bed as A.G., but denied ever touching A.G. in a sexual manner. Both A.G. and Kindred’s interviews were audio recorded.
On October 17, 2008, a second videotaped interview of A.G. was conducted by Martin. On December 17, 2008, a third unrecorded interview of A.G. was conducted.
Prior to the trial, Kindred planned to impeach A.G. with a past false accusation. When A.G. was three or four years old, she had accused one of Christy’s boyfriends of putting his fingers in her vagina. During a pretrial deposition, A.G. denied making this accusation, but Christy and Barbara both testified that she did make the accusation and then recanted it. The State sought to preclude this impeachment, but the trial court ruled there was sufficient evidence of a false accusation and allowed it.
On April 19, 2010, Kindred went to trial in Greene County Superior Court. The state’s first witness, Martin, described her role in determining whether charges are filed when a sex crime is alleged. When asked by the prosecution if charges are filed automatically when a victim makes an accusation, she answered no and elaborated by saying “We need some kind of [corroboration,] either DNA evidence, medical evidence or possibly a confession by the suspect.”
The prosecution then asked Martin if people ever got mad at her for deciding not to file charges. Kindred’s trial counsel, Ronald Chapman, objected but was overruled. The prosecution circled back and, to clarify, asked Martin if she needed evidence other than a victim’s accusation before filing charges. Martin replied yes and said that she decided to file charges after speaking to A.G. on three occasions.
Martin stated that from the interviews, “We learned that [A.G.] had been molested by … Jerry Kindred,” and that Kindred had touched her on more than one occasion. Martin admitted that no medical examination was conducted. Martin explained that this was because the last time the alleged molestation occurred was about two weeks prior to A.G. telling her mother about it, so no evidence would have been found due to the amount of time that had passed. Lastly, Martin testified that A.G.’s demeanor and story had been consistent every time she told it.
The state’s next witness was A.G. She stated that she was there in court because Kindred had sexually abused her. When questioned about her word choice she denied that anyone told her to use the term “sexual abuse.”
When asked why she decided to tell Christy about the abuse, A.G. stated “Well, I kind of had to, I was making plans to see if [Barbara] would live with [David] after it happened.” A.G. explained that when the conversation occurred, Christy asked why she was wondering where Barbara would live, so she felt like she had to tell Christy about the abuse.
Fish also testified. Fish elaborated on Martin’s testimony about no medical examination needing to be done, because after 72 hours, he testified, most evidence would be gone. Fish described A.G.’s demeanor as “matter of fact.” Fish also testified that in his professional opinion, he did not believe A.G. had been coached on what to say.
Additionally, without objection from Kindred's counsel, the prosecution introduced the entire forty-minute unredacted audio recording of Kindred’s interview. In the interview, Fish can be heard making statements describing A.G.’s story of the alleged molestation as truthful, detailed, and believable.
Barbara, Christy, and David testified and repeated A.G.’s allegations, along with describing her as a truthful kid.
On April 22, 2010, the jury acquitted Kindred of the May 2008 molestation charge, but convicted him of the June 2008 molestation charge. On June 1, 2010, Kindred was sentenced to 35 years in prison with five years suspended.
On June 28, 2010, Kindred appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals. However, on October 25, 2010, Kindred sought a stay of that appeal to file a motion for post-conviction relief. Kindred's motion for post-conviction relief, filed with the Greene County Superior Court, was based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Kindred alleged that Chapman failed to object to the admission of “drumbeat” hearsay evidence from Martin, Fish, Barbara, Christy, and David’s testimony relaying the victim’s story of the incident during the trial. He also failed to object to testimony vouching for A.G.’s credibility. This included Fish’s remarks during Kindred’s recorded interview that was played at the trial, which claimed A.G. was “truthful” and “believable,” testimony that he did not believe that A.G. had been “coached,” and David’s testimony that he knew she “wouldn’t lie.”
On July 19 and 20, 2011, a post-conviction evidentiary hearing was held. Clinical psychologist Dr. Richard Lawlor testified about Martin’s questioning of A.G. Lawlor found the change in A.G.’s demeanor from the first interview to the second to be significant. He found that in the second interview, A.G. “demonstrated signs of discomfort” and gave “equivocal answers to direct and often highly leading questions.” Lawlor found Martin to have contaminated the interview with leading questions, stating that she was “too pushing and just conveying almost a desperation, give me an answer, I need an answer.”
On January 25, 2012, Kindred's motion for post-conviction relief was denied.
On February 6, 2012, Kindred’s new attorney, Frederick Schornhorst, filed a notice of appeal and a new motion with the Indiana Court of Appeals asking to consolidate his direct and post-conviction appeals and pursue them simultaneously. The court granted the motion on February 17, 2012.
On April 9th, 2012, Schornhorst filed his combined direct and post-conviction appeal brief. In it, he argued that, as a matter for direct appeal, the trial court made an error by overruling a defense objection to Martin’s testimony in which she implied that she decided to charge Kindred based on her personal belief that he was guilty. Additionally, Schornhorst argued that the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed hearsay evidence in the form of Fish and Martin testifying about what A.G. said rather than introducing her recorded statements, admitted Fish’s vouching testimony as to A.G.’s honesty, and let the jury hear and read along with the unredacted audio tape of Kindred’s interview with investigators. Schornhorst asked the court to reverse the trial court’s decision to deny Kindred’s initial post-conviction relief petition and to remand the case for a new trial.
In the post-conviction portion of the combined appeal, Schornhorst asserted ineffective assistance of counsel on a number of grounds, including Chapman’s failures to object to the prosecution’s use of hearsay and opinion evidence, to object to prosecutorial misconduct, and to introduce any expert testimony in Kindred’s favor. Schornhorst also alleged prosecutorial misconduct on the grounds that the prosecutor failed to correct false and misleading testimony given by Martin and Fish regarding Kindred’s body language during his interrogation, and then relied on that improper testimony in their closing argument.
On September 12, 2012, the Court of Appeals of Indiana reversed Kindred’s conviction. The court concluded that Martin’s testimony may have been prejudicial and that the admission of hearsay evidence, vouching testimony, and “drumbeat” repetition of A.G.’s story cumulatively resulted in a fundamental error that denied Kindred his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. Because the court felt A.G.’s testimony alone could have been enough to convict Kindred, they ruled that Kindred could be retried.
Kindred, now represented by attorney Samuel Shapiro, was released from prison on February 14, 2013. On June 10, 2013, the State of Indiana dismissed the charges.
On November 20, 2019, Kindred applied for compensation from the prisoner exoneration fund through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
– Heather Ann Davis, Felicia Klijian, Claudine Mekhail, Elysia Rios, & Maytheli Sharma
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