HAIRSTON v. STATE (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

[1] Jonathan Hairston was convicted of Level 3 felony aggravated battery after a shooting incident at the home of his estranged wife, Carol Taylor. One night, for largely unexplained reasons, Hairston fired a gun several times at Taylor's brother, Michael Williams. One of those shots struck Williams in his right hand, causing him protracted loss of his hand's function. Hairston then kept shooting while Taylor tried to wrestle the gun away.

[2] On appeal, Hairston challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his aggravated battery conviction. He argues that Taylor's intervention in the shooting necessarily affected the trajectory of the shots and, therefore, the State failed to prove he knowingly or intentionally shot Williams in the hand or proximately caused Williams's hand injury. We need not address these arguments, however, because the evidence most favorable to judgment shows that Hairston shot Williams in the hand before Taylor intervened in the shooting. We affirm.

Facts

[3] Taylor and Hairston were married but separated in 2023. The two remained cordial, however, and in March of that year, Taylor allowed Hairston to live with her for several weeks while he was undergoing financial hardship. At the time, Taylor lived in a two-story townhome with her two daughters and her brother, Williams. Taylor slept in one of the home's two upstairs bedrooms, and Hairston slept there, too, after moving in. Taylor's daughters slept in the other upstairs bedroom, and Williams slept in the downstairs living room.

[4] One night, after everyone but Hairston had gone to bed, Hairston began walking from room to room while talking on his phone. The commotion aggravated Taylor, and she repeatedly asked Hairston to stop moving around. When he did not, Taylor told Hairston he needed to leave. Hairston seemed unbothered by the demand; he simply said “f**k it” and started gathering his belongings at the top of the staircase. Tr. Vol. III, p. 179. While doing so, Hairston activated a flashlight that was mounted on his 9mm Beretta—one of two handguns he carried. This light awakened Williams, who asked Hairston what was going on. Hairston replied that he was getting “kicked out” but did not explain why. Id. at 132.

[5] Williams confirmed with Taylor that she wanted Hairston to leave; he then offered to help Hairston carry his belongings to his car. Hairston and Williams each grabbed several items from the top of the staircase and carried them down and out of the townhome. Williams initially followed closely behind Hairston, but the two separated when Williams dropped some of the items he was carrying. While Williams stopped to pick up the dropped items, Hairston continued to his car and loaded the items he was carrying. He then went back inside the home and proceeded upstairs, presumably for another load.

[6] Williams soon returned to the townhome for another load as well. But as he climbed the staircase, Williams encountered Hairston pointing his Beretta down the stairs and asking who was there. Williams identified himself, but Hairston began shooting anyway. The first shot struck Williams in his left shoulder, causing him to fall down the stairs. As he was falling, additional shots struck Williams in his back, chest, right arm, right hand, and lip. And after he landed at the bottom of the staircase, another shot struck Williams in his left hip.

[7] Taylor heard the initial shots and ran toward Hairston, arriving at the top of the staircase just as Williams landed at the bottom. She immediately began “tussling” with Hairston for the Beretta while trying to force its aim “to the roof.” Id. at 186. Hairston, however, did not stop shooting, and he continued “trying to aim directly down the stairs at [Williams].” Id. at 187. He also attempted to reach the second gun he was carrying but was unsuccessful.

[8] As Taylor and Hairston were tussling for the Beretta, Williams rolled himself out of the line of fire and escaped through the townhome's back door. Not long thereafter, Hairston ran downstairs and out the front door, leaving both of his guns behind. Taylor hid the guns and then went searching for Williams. She found him on her back patio, bleeding, and helped him back inside. After locking the doors and grabbing her own gun, Taylor called the police.

[9] The responding police officers detained Hairston in the townhome's parking lot. He was “highly erratic and combative,” stating “I didn't do sh*t” several times but later acknowledging, “[W]ell, obviously I shot someone.” Id. at 216, 219. Meanwhile, Williams was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his seven gunshot wounds. Taylor told police that Hairston was the shooter, and the nine spent shell casings found at the scene were all determined to have been fired from Hairston's Beretta.

[10] Williams survived his injuries but, among other things, suffered protracted loss of function in his right hand. The State charged Hairston with attempted murder, a Level 1 felony, and aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony. According to the charging information, Williams's right-hand injury specifically formed the basis for the latter charge. A jury found Hairston not guilty of attempted murder but guilty of aggravated battery, and the trial court entered judgment of conviction accordingly. The court later sentenced Hairston to a total of 9 years: 5 years in prison and 4 years on home detention.

Discussion and Decision

[11] On appeal, Hairston challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his aggravated battery conviction. When reviewing the sufficiency of evidence to support a criminal conviction, we neither reweigh evidence nor judge witness credibility. Bailey v. State, 907 N.E.2d 1003, 1005 (Ind. 2009). We consider only the evidence supporting the judgment and any reasonable inferences that can be drawn from such evidence. Id. We will affirm if there is substantial evidence of probative value such that a reasonable trier of fact could have concluded the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.

[12] To convict Hairston of aggravated battery, as charged, the State was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hairston “knowingly or intentionally inflict[e]d injury” on Williams that “cause[d] ․ protracted loss or impairment of” Williams's right hand. Ind. Code § 35-42-2-1.5(2). Hairston claims the State presented insufficient evidence to prove he knowingly or intentionally shot Williams in his hand or that he proximately caused Williams's hand injury. But Hairston bases both claims on his assertion that Williams was shot in the hand while Taylor was tussling with Hairston for the Beretta. The evidence most favorable to the judgment, however, shows that Williams was shot in the hand before Taylor ever intervened in the shooting.

[13] At trial, Williams testified that he was first shot in the shoulder, which caused him to fall down the stairs. He then testified as follows upon further questioning by the State:

Q And then you get hit a few more times when you're falling down the stairs, right?

A Yes.

Q Do you remember which -- where you were hit when you were falling down the stairs?

A I was hit in my shoulder, the back of my shoulder, my chest, I got hit in my right arm several times, my hand, and a bullet ran through my lip. Did I say my chest?

Q Yes.

A Okay.

Tr. Vol. III, p. 138 (emphasis added).

[14] Taylor later testified that she heard the initial shots, ran toward Hairston, and immediately began trying to wrestle the Beretta away from him. But as the State's redirect examination of Taylor reveals, Williams had already landed at the bottom of the staircase by the time Taylor intervened:

Q I just want to make sure I understand. Did you testify that you saw [Williams] fall down the stairs?

A No, I said he seen him at the bottom of the stairs. (Inaudible), when he was getting shot.

Q You never saw him fall down the stairs.

A Yeah. When I came -- he was falling when I came down the stairs. He landed at the bottom of the stairs. So yes, he was falling.

Q Okay.

A When I came to the thing he was just hitting the bottom of the stairs, I guess.

Tr. Vol. III, p. 207.

[15] Because the evidence shows that Hairston shot Williams in the hand as he was falling down the stairs and that Taylor did not intervene in the shooting until Williams landed at the bottom of the staircase, the premise for Hairston's appellate claims fails. Hairston's assertion that Williams was shot in the hand while Taylor was tussling with Hairston for the Beretta is, at best, a request for this Court to reweigh the evidence, which is not our role. Bailey, 907 N.E.2d at 1005. We therefore affirm Hairston's aggravated battery conviction.

Affirmed

Weissmann, Judge.

Bailey, J., and Brown, J., concur.