Baird v. State

440 N.E.2d 1143, 1982 Ind. App. LEXIS 1445
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 21, 1982
Docket2-582A136
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 440 N.E.2d 1143 (Baird 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
Baird v. State, 440 N.E.2d 1143, 1982 Ind. App. LEXIS 1445 (Ind. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

SHIELDS, Judge.

S. Kirk Baird (Baird) appeals his conviction under I.C. 7.1-5-7-8 (Burns Code Ed., Supp.1982) of furnishing an alcoholic beverage to a minor. Baird raises two issues on appeal:

1) whether there was sufficient evidence to rebut the defense of entrapment, and
2) whether Baird was denied a fair trial.
We affirm.

I

The appellate standard of review of sufficiency of the evidence in criminal cases is well established. This court will not reweigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of the witnesses, but will consider only the evidence most favorable to the state and all reasonable inferences which may be drawn therefrom. If we find substantial evidence of probative value from which a reasonable trier of fact could conclude guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, then we must affirm. Bray v. State, (1982) Ind., 430 N.E.2d 1162.

Viewed most favorably to the state, the evidence shows Baird, a clerk in a Nobles-ville package liquor store, sold a six-pack of beer to a nineteen-year-old youth. Operating in cooperation with a Noblesville police undercover operation, the underage youth entered the Mr. G’s liquor store without identification for the purpose of purchasing alcoholic beverages. The police made no efforts to alter the youth’s appearance. Prior to his entering the store, police officers had removed the youth’s identification and instructed him that if his age were questioned or if he were asked to produce identification, he was to simply explain that he had no identification with him and to leave the store. However, Baird neither questioned the youth’s age nor requested identification before selling him the beer.

Since 1977 the defense of entrapment has been governed by I.C. 35-41-3-9 (Burns Code Ed., Repl. 1979) which provides:

“(a) It is a defense that: (1) The prohibited conduct of the person was the product of a law-enforcement officer, or his agent, using persuasion or other means likely to cause the person to engage in the conduct; and (2) The person was not predisposed to commit the offense.
(b) Conduct merely affording a person an opportunity to commit the offense does not constitute entrapment.”

Before the enactment of I.C. 35-41-3-9, the Indiana Supreme Court expressly adopted the approach to entrapment formu *1145 lated by the majority of the United States Supreme Court in Sorrells v. United States, (1932) 287 U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413, and reaffirmed in Sherman v. United States, (1958) 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848. Hardin v. State, (1976) 265 Ind. 635, 358 N.E.2d 134. Although commentators differ in their interpretation of the Sorrells majority approach, 1 the key to the majority stance, which has been termed the subjective approach, is a focus on the propensities of the particular defendant to commit the offense. The subjective approach has been described as

“predicated on an unexpressed intent of Congress to exclude from its criminal statutes the prosecution and conviction of persons, ‘otherwise innocent’, who have been lured to the commission of the prohibited act through the Government’s instigation. The key phrase in this formulation is ‘otherwise innocent’ for the entrapment defense is available under this approach only to those who would not have committed the crime but for the Government’s inducements. Thus, the subjective approach focuses on the conduct and propensities of the particular defendant in each individual case.”

Whitham v. State, (1977) 173 Ind.App. 63, 66, 362 N.E.2d 486, 488 (quoting United States v. Russell, (1973) 411 U.S. 423 at 440-441, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 1647, 36 L.Ed.2d 366) (Stewart, J. dissenting)). In a purely subjective approach, law enforcement conduct is irrelevant other than as an operative fact.

In contrast, the objective approach embraced by the Sorrells minority focuses on “whether the police conduct revealed in this particular case falls below standards, to which common feelings respond, for the proper use of governmental power.” Sherman, 356 U.S. at 380, 78 S.Ct. at 824. In a purely objective analysis of entrapment, there is no room for a determination of the defendant’s predisposition.

Prior to the codification of entrapment, when a proper entrapment defense was raised, our review, following the subjective approach, focused upon the propensities or predisposition of the accused to commit the crime once law enforcement involvement was shown rather than the nature and extent of the police officer or his agent’s participation in the crime. Whitham, 173 Ind.App. at 67, 362 N.E.2d at 489.

However, the enactment of I.C. 35-41-3-9 in 1977 necessarily alters our consideration of entrapment. The first element of the defense, that the conduct of the accused is a result of persuasive efforts of law enforcement, 2 necessitates an objective examination of law enforcement conduct while the second element, that the accused was not predisposed to commit the offense, requires a subjective determination of the defendant’s predisposition to commit the crime.

Thus, the statutory comments, quoted in their draft form in Hardin, 265 Ind. at 689, 358 N.E.2d at 136, which state that “the phrase ‘a person not predisposed to commit the offense’ was added to that section to insure that Indiana would follow the subjective approach to the defense” must be limited in their application to the second element of the defense because, in addition to this subjective approach, the first element of our statute contains an objective factor.

When the source of our statute is examined, the dual nature of I.C. 35-41-3-9 is apparent. With the exception of the predisposition language, the statute was substantially adopted from Section 702 of the proposed Federal Criminal Codé. Criminal *1146 Law Study Commission Comments to I.C. 35-41-3-9 (West Code Ed. 1978), commentary at 286. Examination of the study draft and comments reveals that the drafters intended in the proposed federal code to require a purely objective approach to entrapment. 3 Therefore, by adding a second element concerning the defendant’s predisposition, the Indiana legislature could not have intended to transform what was a totally objective approach into a totally subjective one. 4

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Rivera v. State
846 P.2d 1 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1993)
State v. Johnson
606 A.2d 315 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1992)
Baird v. State
446 N.E.2d 342 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1983)
Whalen v. State
442 N.E.2d 14 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1982)

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440 N.E.2d 1143, 1982 Ind. App. LEXIS 1445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baird-v-state-indctapp-1982.