Clifford v. State

474 N.E.2d 963, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 753
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 22, 1985
Docket1282S511
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 474 N.E.2d 963 (Clifford v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clifford v. State, 474 N.E.2d 963, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 753 (Ind. 1985).

Opinion

PRENTICE, Justice.

Following a trial by jury, Defendant (Appellant) was convicted of Criminal Deviate Conduct, a class B felony, Ind.Code § 385-42-4-2 (Burns 1979) and was sentenced to twelve (12) years imprisonment. His direct appeal presents fourteen (14) issues for our review, one of which compels us to reverse his conviction.

The record discloses that on December 22, 1981, the Defendant and his wife reported to the police that their twelve (12) year old daughter, R.C., was missing. Subsequently, at approximately 9:80 that evening, Police Officer Dennis McGraw received a dispatch which informed him of R.C.'s whereabouts. When Officer McGraw located R.C., she told him that she would not go home to a father who abused her sexually and a mother who hated her.

At the police station McGraw spoke with the Defendant and his wife, and it was determined that R.C. would go home with her parents. McGraw then prepared his report which was forwarded to the county welfare department. Thereafter, on February 24, 1982, McGraw, Captain George Ballard, and Debra Corn of the welfare department met with R.C. and took a taped statement from her. R.C. told them that the Defendant, her father, had inserted his finger into her vagina a few days before she had run away from home on December 22. She further detailed a two to three year history of sexual abuse of her by her father. Specifically, she described incidents when he had shown her sexually explicit movies and magazines and had inserted sexual devices into her vagina. Upon receiving this information, Officer Ballard sought a search warrant which was issued on March 2, 1982. As a result of the search, police officers seized sexually explicit books, magazines, films, rubber sexual devices, and other sexual paraphernalia.

On March 3, 1982, the State filed its information, charging the Defendant with child molesting, a class D felony, Ind.Code § 85-42-4-8, as follows:

"On or about the 21st day of December 1981, at the County of Gibson, in the State of Indiana. (sic) Jackson A Clifford Jr. being at least 16 years of age, did perform fondling and touching with [R.C.] twelve (12) years of age, by inserting his finger into her vagina with intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desires of Jackson A. Clifford, Jr."

After the Defendant had been arraigned and had pled not guilty, the State amended its information, charging Defendant with unlawful deviate conduct, a class B felony, Ind.Code § 35-42-4-2, as follows:

"On or about the 21st day of December 1981, at the County of Gibson, in the State of Indiana, Jackson A. Clifford, Jr. knowingly and intentionally cause (gic) penetration, by his finger, of the sex organ of [R.C.],,a child of twelve (12) years of age and being so mentally deficient, by reason of her age, that she could not consent to such conduct."

Defendant argues that the amendment was prohibited by Ind.Code § 85-8.1-1-5(e) (Burns 1979) (since repealed) which provides:

"Notwithstanding any other provision in this section, an indictment or information shall not be amended in any respect which changes the theory or theories of the prosecution as originally stated, or changes the identity of the offense charged; nor may an indictment or information be amended after arraignment for the purpose of curing a failure to charge or state an offense or legal insufficiency of the factual allegations."

Defendant argues that the amendment was prohibited by the above statute because it altered the potential penalty and claimed a separate and distinct statutory *966 violation. The State, on the other hand, argues that the Defendant "was apprised at all times that he was accused of inserting his finger into the vagina of the twelve-year-old [R.C.] on or about December 21, 1981."

We agree with the State that Defendant was aware of the facts upon which he was charged; however, we find that the disposi-tive issue is whether a change in the potential penalty upon conviction of the crime charged changes the theory of the case or the identity of the offense charged.

Defendant was initially charged with child molesting, a class D felony. The penalty upon conviction of a class D felony is imprisonment for two years with not more than two years added for aggravating circumstances and a potential fine of not more than $10,000. The court also has the alternative of entering judgment of conviction of a class A misdemeanor and sentencing accordingly. Ind.Code § 85-50-27 (Burns 1979). When the information was amended, Defendant was charged with criminal deviate conduct, a class B felony, the penalty for which is ten years imprisonment with not more than ten years added for aggravating circuinstances nor more than four years subtracted for mitigating circumstances and a possible fine of not more than $10,000. Ind.Code § 85-50-2-5 (Burns 1979). Hence, while the factual allegations underlying the two informations in the case at bar were the same, the potential penalties were not.

In Marts v. State, (1982) Ind., 432 N.E.2d 18, this Court held that a post arraignment amendment of the information did not violate Ind.Code § 35-8.1-1-5, noting, "Both before and after the amendment Defendant was charged with the delivery of cocaine in the amount of three grams or more. The amendment did not alter the potential penalty, the offense charged, or the available defenses, and the trial court committed no error in allowing it." Id. at 20-21. {(emphasis added). In Trotter v. State, (1981) Ind., 429 N.E.2d 637, 640, we held that amending an information for a class B robbery to a class A robbery after arraignment was improper inasmuch as to do so changed the theory of the prosecution. In Tolbert v. State, (1982) Ind.App., 442 N.E.2d 718, 720, a second amendment of the charging information was held not improper inasmuch as it merely returned the information to its original form. The court therein, however, noted that the first amendment, changing the charge from a class B robbery to a class C robbery, did change the theory of the case from that originally charged. We find these cases to be persuasive and hold that changing the potential penalty by amending the charging information constituted a change in the theory of the case and in the identity of the offense. See also Gillie v. State, (1984) Ind., 465 N.E.2d 1380.

The cases cited by the State in support of its position are distinguishable from the case at bar. In Carson v.

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Bluebook (online)
474 N.E.2d 963, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clifford-v-state-ind-1985.