Beattie v. State

903 N.E.2d 1050, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 660, 2009 WL 973244
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 9, 2009
Docket82A01-0805-CR-247
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 903 N.E.2d 1050 (Beattie 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
Beattie v. State, 903 N.E.2d 1050, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 660, 2009 WL 973244 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

OPINION

MAY, Judge.

Shewanda Beattie was charged with dealing in cocaine, a Class B felony;1 possession of cocaine in a family housing complex, a Class B felony;2 and possession of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor.3 The verdict forms provided to the jury included simple possession of cocaine as a lesser-included offense. The jury found Beattie not guilty of dealing in cocaine and possession of cocaine, but found her guilty of possessing cocaine in a family housing complex and possession of marijuana. Because the jury's verdicts are inconsistent, we reverse her conviction of possession of cocaine in a family housing complex. However, the evidence seized from her apartment was properly admitted, and there was sufficient evidence to support a conviction of possession of cocaine in a family housing complex. Therefore, we remand for a new trial on that charge.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Evansville Police Officer Todd Seibert sometimes worked off-duty for the Evansville Housing Authority. Officer Seibert acted as "security" and investigated complaints. (Tr. at 128.) On May 3, 2007, he was assigned to Caldwell Homes, a public housing complex bordered by Cross Street [1053]*1053and Sweetser Avenue. On that day, Officer Seibert investigated a complaint of narcotics dealing in 669 Sweetser. Officer Seibert obtained Beattie's name from the lease.

Officer Seibert saw Beattie approaching 669 Sweetser, and he asked her if they could go inside and discuss the complaint he had received. Beattie agreed. When Beattie opened the door, Officer Seibert could smell burnt marijuana. Officer Sei-bert said he had received a tip that nareot-ics were being dealt from the apartment. Officer Seibert read Beattie her Miranda rights and asked for consent to search her apartment. Beattie signed a consent to search form, on which Officer Seibert had erroneously listed the address as 669 Cross.

With the help of other officers, Officer Seibert began searching Beattie's apartment. In a nightstand drawer, they found a bag of marijuana. Under a mattress, they found a coin purse that contained three individually-packaged cocaine rocks.

Once drugs were located, Officer Seibert called a narcotics investigator, Detective Brock Hensley. Detective Hensley advised Beattie of her Miranda rights and asked if she was willing to make a statement. Beattie agreed to make a statement, and she told Detective Hensley her supplier was a man named Dee Dee.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Beattie raises two issues: (1) whether the trial court erred by admitting the evidence obtained as a result of the search; and (2) whether the jury's verdicts are inconsistent.

1. Admission of Evidence

In reviewing the validity of a search, we consider the evidence most favorable to the ruling and any uncontradiet-ed evidence to the contrary to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support the ruling. Navarro v. State, 855 N.E.2d 671, 675 (Ind.Ct.App.2006). We do not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses. Primus v. State, 813 N.E.2d 370, 378 (Ind.Ct.App.2004).

"When a search is conducted without a warrant, the State has the burden of proving that an exception to the warrant requirement existed at the time of the search." Id. at 374. Consent to search is a well-recognized exception to the warrant requirement. Id. When an individual gives the State permission to search her property, the governmental intrusion is presumably reasonable. Id.

"The standard for measuring the scope of a suspect's consent under the Fourth Amendment is that of objective reasonableness, in other words, 'what would the typical reasonable person have understood by the exchange between the officer and the suspect?" Pinkney v. State, 742 N.E.2d 956, 960 (Ind.Ct.App.2001) (quoting Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 251, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991)), trans. denied 758 N.E.2d 10 (Ind.2001). Beattie argues a reasonable person would not construe the scope of her consent to include 669 Sweetser because the form she signed stated she was consenting to a search of 669 Cross.

Officer Siebert asked Beattie if he could talk to her in her apartment. After they entered her apartment, Officer Siebert explained he had received a complaint about narcotics dealing in her apartment. He testified he asked Beattie "for consent to search her apartment," (Tr. at 11), "the apartment we were in." (Id. at 152.) She responded by signing the consent to search form. She said nothing to the police that would indicate she was denying consent to search 669 Sweetser, and there [1054]*1054is no evidence she objected or interfered when they began searching 669 Sweetser.

Beattie asks us to conclude that the only reasonable understanding of her exchange with the police is that she consented to a search of some other apartment; however, that is a request to reweigh the evidence. It is clear from the context of their conversation that Officer Siebert was interested in searching Beattie's apartment, 669 Sweetser. Beattie did not deny the police consent to search her apartment, but instead signed a consent to search form that contained a serivener's error. A reasonable person could conclude Beattie had given consent to search her apartment, and the search does not run afoul of the Fourth Amendment.

Beattie also argues the search violated Article 1, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution. Under that provision, the burden is on the State to show the intrusion was reasonable under the totality of the circumstances. Primus, 813 N.E.2d at 373. Beattie again emphasizes the mistake in the consent to search form, but the facts do not compel a different outcome under Article 1, Section 11. Officer Sie-bert was clearly interested in searching Beattie's apartment-not some other apartment unrelated to the complaint he was investigating-and Beattie's actions were consistent with giving consent. The serivener's error does not make the search unreasonable.

2. Inconsistent Verdicts

The State devotes several pages of its brief to an argument that inconsistent verdicts should not be reviewed at all. The State argues in part that Indiana case law supporting review of inconsistent verdicts is based on federal case law that has since been undermined. In Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390, 393, 52 S.Ct. 189, 76 L.Ed. 356 (1932), the Supreme Court held consistent verdicts were not necessary. Over time, the federal circuit courts adopted exceptions to that rule. The United States Supreme Court later rejected those exceptions, holding consistency of verdicts was not reviewable on any ground. United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 69, 105 S.Ct. 471, 88 L.Ed.2d 461 (1984).

Some Indiana decisions have relied on federal case law; however, we conclude Indiana has an independent tradition of reviewing inconsistent verdicts. In Marsh v. State, 271 Ind. 454, 393 N.E.2d 757

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Related

Beattie v. State
924 N.E.2d 643 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2010)
Beattie v. State
903 N.E.2d 1050 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2009)

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903 N.E.2d 1050, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 660, 2009 WL 973244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beattie-v-state-indctapp-2009.