Adcock v. State

933 N.E.2d 21, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1588, 2010 WL 3377634
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 27, 2010
Docket47A01-0912-CR-591
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 933 N.E.2d 21 (Adcock v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adcock v. State, 933 N.E.2d 21, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1588, 2010 WL 3377634 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

BAKER, Chief Judge.

Appellant-defendant Brian S. Adcock appeals his convictions for two counts of Child Molesting, 1 a class A felony, two counts of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, 2 a class B felony, and the finding that he was a Repeat Sexual Offender (RSO) 3 Specifically, Adcock argues that his convie-tions must be set aside because the trial court improperly permitted the prosecutor to analogize the standard of proof to a jigsaw puzzle during voir dire, that the trial court erred in allowing the State to amend its notice to have Adcock sentenced as an RSO, and that his convictions for both child molesting and sexual misconduct with a minor violated the prohibitions against double jeopardy.

Concluding that the trial court did not err in permitting the prosecutor to present the jigsaw puzzle analogy during voir dire and finding no other error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

*24 FACTS

L.P., her mother, and Adcock were living together in Bedford with L.P.'s brothers. Adcock and LP's mother married when LP. was twelve years old.

L.P. was born on September 21, 1988, and when she was a third grade student, Adcock would enter her bedroom in the morning approximately once a week and fondle her breasts. Adcock also touched L.P.'s "private area" on top of her clothes and would attempt to touch L.P. under her clothes. Tr. p. 440. However, LP. would roll around and prevent him from doing so.

When L.P. was a junior high school student, Adcock would rub L.P.'s back and "kind of go on [her] breasts." Id. at 441-42. Adcock would also fondle L.P.'s breasts "under her clothes" and touch L.P.'s "private area." Id. at 442-44. Ad-cock typically wore a bathrobe when he entered L.P.'s bedroom and was naked underneath the robe. At some point, L.P. told her friend, J.B., about the fondling incidents. J.B. would occasionally spend the night with LP. and witnessed Adcock walk into the room and touch L.P.'s breasts. Adcock would also enter LP's bedroom when her friend, H.F., slept over at the house. Adcock typically entered the bedroom around 8:00 a.m., stood over L.P.'s bed, and masturbated. On occasion, Adcock would reach over H.F. and grab L.P.'s breasts.

During L.P.'s high school years, Adcock would rub his penis against L.P.'s vagina for "about half an hour" while L.P. lay on the floor of her bedroom. Id. at 446-48. These incidents happened "a lot" and Ad-cock refused to stop even though L.P. requested him to do so. Id. When L.P. was in her junior year of high school, Adcock would "[gol towards [her] private area and butt" during back rubs and would fondle L.P.'s vagina with his hand underneath her clothing. Id. at 445-46. Adcock also placed his finger in LP's vagina and "massaged" it. Id. at 458-54. Although Adcock directed L.P. to "rub his penis," she refused. Id. at 454. These incidents occurred approximately twice a week.

On May 21, 2008, the State charged Adcock with the following offenses:

Counts I, II, and III, Child Molesting, a class A felony;
Counts IV, V, and VI, Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, a class B felony;
Count VII, Vicarious Sexual Gratification, a class D felony;
Counts VIII, XI, Child Molesting, a class C felony;
Count IX, Sexual Misconduct with a minor, a class D felony,
Count X, Attempted Child Molesting, a class A felony.

Appellant's App. p. 10-11 4 The child molesting and sexual misconduct with a minor allegations in counts VIII and IX pertained to Adcock's offenses against LP's friend, HF. And counts X and XI pertained to offenses that Adcock committed against J.B. The State also filed a Notice of Intent (Notice) to prove that Adcock was an RSO.

On May 23, 2008, Adcock filed a motion for severance of the counts. The trial court granted the motion and counts VIII and IX were removed. The State subsequently moved to dismiss count VII, which *25 the trial court granted. As a result, the State filed an amended charging information and the case was set to proceed to trial on Counts I-III, child molesting, a class A felony, and Counts IV-VI, sexual misconduct with a minor, a class B felony, with LP. listed as the victim of those offenses. 5

However, on February 2, 2009, the State filed a third amended information to correct a typographical error regarding LP age in Counts I-III. More specifically, the third amendment alleged that LP. was "age 13" at the time of the offense, whereas the prior amendment alleged that L.P. was "age 12" at the time. Appellant's App. p. 41-42, 65-66. Adcock did not object to the State's motion to amend.

Jury selection commenced on September 1, 2009, and Adcock's trial began the following day. During voir dire, the prosecutor analogized the case to a twenty-picce jigsaw puzzle that was missing two pieces to highlight the difference between "beyond a reasonable doubt and beyond all possible doubt." Tr. p. 277, 285. More specifically, the prosecutor asked one potential juror: "I put the jigsaw puzzle together and it's missing a few pieces, two (2) pieces.... [Within my jigsaw puzzle you can still see what the picture is supposed to be, is that the same as beyond a reasonable doubt or is that beyond all possible doubt?" Id. at 277. The prosecutor posed additional questions and explained that the purpose of the jigsaw puzzle analogy was that "if you have the whole puzzle that would be proof beyond all possible doubt because you could see the whole picture. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't going to hold me to that higher burden." Id. at 861. Although Adcock objected to the proseeutor's comments and this line of questioning, he did not request an admonishment or move for a mistrial. The trial court overruled Adcock's objection to the prose-eutor's comments and questions.

Adcock also questioned the potential jurors and emphasized that the trial judge would instruct as to the proper definition of the reasonable doubt standard and that the trial judge's definition was the proper one for the jurors to follow. Adcock questioned the jurors as to whether they would follow the trial judge's instruction over the jigsaw puzzle analogy.

At some point, Adcock moved for a directed verdict on Count II, child molesting, and Count V, sexual misconduct with a minor, which the trial court granted. Ad-cock was found guilty on all remaining counts. Thereafter, a jury trial com-. menced on the RSO count. However, af ter opening arguments, the State moved to amend the Notice to show that Adcock had previously been convicted of child molesting in May 1986. The Notice originally stated that Adcock's previous conviction had occurred in 1990 from an offense that was committed in 1984. However, it was determined that the 1990 date represented a modification of Adeock's conviction.

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Bluebook (online)
933 N.E.2d 21, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1588, 2010 WL 3377634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adcock-v-state-indctapp-2010.