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A trial court didn’t abuse its discretion when it did not find a man’s autism spectrum disorder diagnosis to be a mitigating circumstance in his 2022 sentencing for sex crimes against a minor, the Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed in rejecting the man’s appeal Monday.
In the case, Harrison Raymond Addis took K.B. into his room three times in July 2020 and engaged in sexual acts with K.B.
Addis, who was 23 years old at the time, knew K.B. was only 14 years old.
Police began an investigation in August 2020 after being alerted by K.B.’s father, who found letters in a notebook between K.B. and Addis.
On April 9, 2021, the state charged Addis in Noble Circuit Court with two counts of Level 4 felony sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of Level 5 felony sexual misconduct with a minor.
According to court records, questions arose regarding Addis’s sanity and competence to stand trial, so the trial court appointed Stephen Ross and Rebecca Mueller to conduct evaluations of Addis.
Ross found Addis to be sane and competent to stand trial.
During Addis’s evaluation with Mueller, Addis admitted acts of sexual misconduct with K.B. going back to June 8, 2019. Mueller determined that Addis was competent to stand trial, but “unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time of the alleged offense due to suffering from a Pervasive Development Disorder, Autism. He was insane.”
Addis’s attorney requested a third psychological evaluation because the first two evaluators had different opinions. The trial court appointed James Cates.
Cates found Addis to be “sane . . . at the time of the commission of the alleged crime(s) and competent to stand trial.”
A jury found Addis guilty in September 2022 of all three charges.
As sentence aggravators, the trial court found that Addis was “grooming [K.B.] over a number of years” and it was a “relationship with the position of trust.”
The trial court also noted Addis lacked remorse and “blamed [K.B.] for [his] crime,” noting that Addis also intended to continue the relationship even though K.B. was his first cousin.
As mitigators, the trial court found Addis’s lack of criminal history and cooperation with law enforcement during interviews at his home and the jail.
Ultimately, the court found the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating ones.
It sentenced Addis to nine years for each of the Level 4 felonies and four years for the Level 5 felony, and it ordered all three sentences served concurrently.
Addis appealed and argued the trial court abused its discretion at sentencing because it did not recognize his ASD as a mitigating circumstance.
Writing for the court, Judge Melissa May noted that, in argument at the sentencing hearing, Addis did not request his ASD be considered as a mitigating circumstance.
However, Addis did present testimony at sentencing from his mother, who discussed the impact ASD had on Addis’s life and asked the court to show leniency on Addis.
May wrote that, although Addis’ ASD could have been seen as a mitigating circumstance, the divergent evidence in the record did not conclusively demonstrate ASD made it impossible for Addis to control his actions or behavior.
There was not a connection between his ASD and his crimes against K.B., May wrote.
“Due to the divergent evidence from mental health professionals who evaluated Addis, we conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it failed to identify Addis’s ASD as a mitigating factor during sentencing,” May wrote.
Judges Paul Mathias and Cale Bradford concurred.
The case is Harrison Raymond Addis v. State of Indiana, 22A-CR-2645.
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