Chiszar v. State

936 N.E.2d 816, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1961, 2010 WL 4263738
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 29, 2010
Docket91A04-1004-CR-290
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 936 N.E.2d 816 (Chiszar 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
Chiszar v. State, 936 N.E.2d 816, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1961, 2010 WL 4263738 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

NAJAM, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Sean Chiszar appeals his convictions for two counts of Voyeurism, as Class D felonies; three counts of Possession of Child Pornography, Class D felonies; Possession of Paraphernalia, as a Class A misdemean- or; Possession of Marijuana, as a Class A misdemeanor; and Battery, as a Class A misdemeanor, following a bench trial. He presents five issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as four issues:

1. Whether the voyeurism statute is void for vagueness.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it admitted evidence obtained during a warrantless search.
3. Whether a subsequent search warrant was supported by sufficient probable cause.
4. Whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support two of his convictions.

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On April 24, 2009, Chiszar's fiancee, L.G., was spending the night at Chiszar's house in White County. L.G. had fallen asleep with her clothes on in Chiszar's bedroom. At approximately 2:00 a.m. on April 25, LG. awoke to find that Chiszar had removed her clothes and was attempting to have sexual intercourse with her. L.G. immediately heard "beeping sounds" coming from a video camera sitting next to the television, and she realized that Chis-zar was recording her. Transcript at 226. L.G. asked him, "Why are you videotaping me?" Id. at 227. Chiszar responded that he was not videotaping her. L.G. then stated, "There is a camera. I'm looking at the camera. It is right there." Id. at 228. Chiszar again denied that he was videotaping her.

L.G. got up and tried to grab the video camera, but Chiszar got it first and ran out of the house and into the garage. L.G. chased him and confronted him in the garage. LG. tried repeatedly to get the video camera from Chiszar, but he would not give it to her, and he ultimately threw it underneath a chair in the garage. When L.G. tried to retrieve it, Chiszar grabbed L.G. by her hair and "threw [her] into the car." Id. Chiszar retrieved the camera and ran inside to the kitchen, and L.G. followed.

Chiszar's minor son, who had been sleeping in his bedroom, was awake and standing in the kitchen. Chiszar put the video camera inside a cupboard, and L.G. continued to struggle with Chiszar in an effort to get the camera. At one point, Chiszar threw L.G. against a kitchen island. Chiszar then went back to the garage, with the video camera, and locked himself inside the garage. L.G. instructed Chiszar's son to call the police, which he did.

White County Sheriffs Deputy Aaron Page arrived a short time later and found Chiszar and L.G. in the front yard. L.G. was "crying" and "pacing and screaming." Id. at 115. Deputy Page approached L.G. first and asked her to calm down, and he directed her to go "up by the house," but L.G. went inside the house. Id. at 118. Deputy Page began talking to Chiszar, who explained that L.G. "was just crazy, and she thought she had seen something that really wasn't there." Id. Deputy *820 Page asked Chiszar to explain what he meant, to which he responded that

his ex-wife had left him because he had been taping her in a sexual nature without her permission, and he had told [LG. about] that prior to them getting engaged, and she thought that she had [seen] a video camera [that night], and that he was possibly taping her, and she freaked out and went crazy and started hitting him and whatnot.

Id. at 119. Deputy Page explained to Chiszar that he was going to go inside to talk to L.G., and Chiszar asked whether he could also go inside the house to be with his children, and Deputy Page assented.

Onee inside the house, Deputy Page found L.G. in Chiszar's bedroom packing her belongings. L.G. was still very upset, but she was able to tell Deputy Page about the video camera and the ensuing struggle with Chiszar. A short time later, two other sheriffs deputies arrived and entered the house.

White County Sheriff's Deputy Jared Baer and Reserve Deputy Matt Banes arrived, knocked on the door, and entered Chiszar's house. They found Chiszar sitting with his daughter in the living room just inside the front door. Deputy Baer asked Chiszar where the other deputy was, and he directed Deputy Baer to his bedroom. After Deputy Baer spoke briefly with Deputy Page, Deputy Baer returned to speak to Chiszar to get his version of events.

Deputy Baer and Chiszar went outside to talk,. Chiszar denied having videotaped L.G. Deputy Baer advised Chiszar that he was not under arrest, and he asked Chis-zar for consent to search the garage for the alleged video camera and/or tape. Chiszar gave his consent to search the garage.

The three deputies began searching the garage. Deputy Banes found a brown paper bag inside a file cabinet, and the bag contained a baggie with a "green, brown, leafy substance[;]" a lighter; a "red metal smoking device[;}" some rolling papers; and a cigarette roller. Id. at 178-74. Deputy Banes pulled the baggie out and asked Chiszar what it was. Chiszar responded that it was marijuana and that it belonged to him. The deputies then resumed searching for the video camera. Deputy Baer found a locked toolbox and asked Chiszar to unlock it, but Chiszar said that he did not have the key. At some point, L.G. stated to Chiszar, "Just give me the tape, Sean, just give me the tape. Give me the tape, and this will all go away." Deposition of Jared Baer at 15. To which Chiszar responded, to the deputies, "You hear her, if I give her the tape, nothing will happen[.]" Id. at 16. Deputy Baer told Chiszar that they "do not make deals and that if he had the tape [they] needed the tape." Id.

At that point, Chiszar walked over to the refrigerator, reached up above it, and pulled a tape out from behind a piece of wood. Chiszar gave the tape to L.G. and said, "Here's the tape." Id. Deputy Baer asked Chiszar, "How do we know ... this is the tape of her? Where's the video camera?" Id. Chiszar replied, "She asked for the tape, I gave her the tape." Id. Deputy Baer asked, "How are we supposed to know that this is the tape that was taped tonight? When was this taped?" Id. Chiszar did not answer. Deputy Baer asked Chiszar where the video camera. was, and he eventually stated that he would "take [them] to it." Id.

Chiszar went outside, and Deputy Page and Deputy Baer followed. Chiszar took them to a sink hole near the edge of his property, retrieved a video camera out of the hole, and gave the video camera to *821 Deputy Baer. Deputy Baer confirmed that there was a videotape inside the camera and asked Chiszar whether he had used that camera and tape to videotape L.G. earlier that night, and Chiszar responded in the affirmative. Deputy Baer then took a recorded statement of L.G., who reported that Chiszar had battered her while she was struggling to get the video camera from him. Deputy Page then arrested Chiszar for battery.

Later that day, Tony Lantz with the White County Prosecutor's Office executed an affidavit seeking a search warrant to recover videotapes, video equipment, computers, modems, a laptop computer, and related equipment from Chiszar's residence. -In his affidavit, Lantz stated

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
936 N.E.2d 816, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 1961, 2010 WL 4263738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chiszar-v-state-indctapp-2010.