Christopher J. Hamman v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 4, 2019
Docket17A03-1708-CR-1870
StatusPublished

This text of Christopher J. Hamman v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) (Christopher J. Hamman v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)) 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
Christopher J. Hamman v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED regarded as precedent or cited before any Sep 04 2019, 6:21 am court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK the defense of res judicata, collateral Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals estoppel, or the law of the case. and Tax Court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Kimberly A. Jackson Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Indianapolis, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

Caryn N. Szyper Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Christopher J. Hamman, September 4, 2019 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 17A03-1708-CR-1870 v. Appeal from the DeKalb Superior Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Monte L. Brown, Appellee-Plaintiff Judge Trial Court Cause No. 17D02-1610-FA-2

May, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A03-1708-CR-1870 | Septmeber 4, 2019 Page 1 of 18 [1] Christopher J. Hamman appeals his convictions of Class A felony child

molesting 1 and Class B felony incest. 2 Hamman raises several arguments on

appeal, which we restate as:

1. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support Hamman’s convictions;

2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting some testimony of K.H. and Detective Rice;

3. Whether Hamman’s right to be free from double jeopardy was violated;

4. Whether Hamman’s sentence was appropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character; and

5. Whether the trial court erred in imposing Probation Condition 26.

We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions.

Facts and Procedural History [2] K.H. is the child of Hamman and his wife. In November 2007, when K.H. was

eleven, Hamman’s wife left the family. In December 2007, Hamman began

molesting K.H. One night, Hamman laid down beside K.H. in her bed and

1 Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3(a)(1) (2007). 2 Ind. Code § 35-46-1-3(a) (1994).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A03-1708-CR-1870 | Septmeber 4, 2019 Page 2 of 18 cuddled her as she tried to fall asleep. Hamman then moved his hand under

K.H.’s pajamas and inserted his fingers into her vagina. K.H. felt Hamman get

an erection as he touched her. The encounter lasted between ten and twenty

minutes.

[3] This kind of encounter occurred two or three times a month for several years.

Hamman would sometimes be naked. K.H. recalled waking up naked on

multiple occasions but having no recollection of what had happened. Hamman

often spoke with K.H. about keeping the molestations a secret. Hamman

would manipulate K.H. to stay silent by buying her gifts, including a pony, and

by giving her money. Once in middle school, K.H. told a counselor what was

happening, but Hamman told K.H. to drop the report, and the next day K.H.

told the counselor she had lied because she wanted attention.

[4] The molestations continued until 2010, when Hamman’s girlfriend moved in.

In 2016, when K.H. was nineteen years old, she moved in with her boyfriend.

K.H. returned to Hamman’s house to retrieve some of her belongings while

Hamman was on vacation. Hamman believed K.H.’s boyfriend had broken

into his home and damaged his truck, so Hamman reported the incident to the

police. The police interviewed K.H., who showed Detective Rice text messages

between herself and Hamman regarding what had happened at Hamman’s

house. After seeing the messages, Detective Rice became concerned and

questioned K.H. about her relationship with Hamman. K.H. became

withdrawn, but eventually told Detective Rice about the molestations.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A03-1708-CR-1870 | Septmeber 4, 2019 Page 3 of 18 [5] In September 2017, Detective Rice interviewed Hamman. The interview began

with discussion of Hamman’s truck, but shifted to Hamman’s relationship with

K.H. Initially, Hamman admitted cuddling with K.H. in her bed but denied

ever touching her inappropriately, and he also denied ever being naked while

cuddling with K.H. Then, Hamman admitted to touching K.H.’s vagina once,

but he claimed he did so to check if it was swollen after K.H. complained that it

was. Hamman denied ever digitally penetrating K.H. Finally, Hamman

confessed he rubbed K.H.’s vagina a few times because he was curious what it

felt like. Hamman also admitted he became aroused and went to his bedroom

to masturbate.

[6] The State charged Hamman with Class A felony child molesting and Class B

felony incest. A jury found Hamman guilty of both counts. The trial court

imposed a forty-year aggregate sentence with five years suspended to probation.

Discussion and Decision 1. Sufficiency of Evidence [7] Hamman argues there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions.

When considering the sufficiency of evidence, “a reviewing court does not

reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of the witnesses.” McHenry v.

State, 820 N.E.2d 124, 126 (Ind. 2005). We must affirm “if the probative

evidence and reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence could have

allowed a reasonable trier of fact to find the defendant guilty beyond a

reasonable doubt.” Id. at 126 (internal citation omitted). Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 17A03-1708-CR-1870 | Septmeber 4, 2019 Page 4 of 18 [8] In particular, Hamman claims the evidence was insufficient because K.H. was

the sole witness and K.H.’s testimony was incredibly dubious. “Under the

incredible dubiosity rule, a court will impinge upon the jury’s responsibility to

judge the credibility of witnesses only when confronted with inherently

improbable testimony or coerced, equivocal, wholly uncorroborated testimony

of incredible dubiosity.” Tillman v. State, 642 N.E.2d 221, 223 (Ind. 1994).

“Application of this rule is limited to cases . . . where a sole witness presents

inherently contradictory testimony [that] is equivocal or the result of coercion

and there is a complete lack of circumstantial evidence of the appellant’s guilt.”

Id.

[9] Hamman draws attention to a journal wherein K.H. wrote about the things that

occurred in her childhood. In these entries, K.H. wrote about how she lied to

get Hamman in trouble. (Ex. A.) Although K.H.’s trial testimony is

inconsistent with the journal entries, she did not contradict herself on the stand.

Trial testimony is not incredibly dubious simply because it contradicts pre-trial

statements. See Davenport v. State, 689 N.E.2d 1226, 1230 (Ind. 1997) (although

witness contradicted his pre-trial statements, his testimony was not incredibly

dubious because he did not contradict himself while testifying), clarified on reh’g

on other grounds 696 N.E.2d 870 (Ind. 1998).

[10] The jury was made aware of the inconsistencies between K.H.’s testimony and

her journal entries. The jury is to weigh the evidence and assess the credibility

of witnesses in light of such inconsistencies. See id at 1231 (jury allowed to

evaluate testimony inconsistent with pretrial statements, and inconsistencies do

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