Correll v. State

486 N.E.2d 497, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 1065
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1985
Docket1084S398
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 486 N.E.2d 497 (Correll 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
Correll v. State, 486 N.E.2d 497, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 1065 (Ind. 1985).

Opinion

PIVARNIK, Justice.

Defendant-Appellant Robert Lee Correll was convicted at the conclusion of a jury trial (C.R. 83-6) in the Putnam County Circuit Court on April 18, 1984 of escape, a class D felony. In a separate cause (C.R. 83-8) on the same day he was convicted of criminal confinement, a class B felony; burglary, a class B felony; burglary, a class C felony; and two counts of theft, class D felonies. On May 21, 1984 Appellant was sentenced to four (4) years for escape, twenty (20) years for criminal confinement, twenty (20) years for class B felony burglary, and eight (8) years for class C felony burglary, all to be served consecutively. Appellant was also sentenced to serve four (4) years for each class D felony theft to be served concurrently with the burglary sentences, for a total sentence of fifty-two (52) years. Each of these sentences represents the presumptive sentence aggravated by the maximum amount allowed.

*499 Appellant directly appeals and his arguments raise the following issues:

1. whether the trial court erred in giving Final Instruction Number 9;
2. whether the evidence was sufficient to support Appellant's convictions; and,
3. whether the sentences imposed were manifestly unreasonable.

Appellant escaped from the Indiana State Farm on January 26, 1983. Police officers discovered Appellant's prison clothes in the basement of a house belonging to Donald Blue located one and one quarter (1%) miles from the State Farm. Blue's house was broken into and clothes, food, and a shotgun were taken. A chair was found overlooking the house trailer of Mary Jo Kellam, located across the street from Blue's house. Kellam arrived home from work at about 1:00 a.m. that night. Shortly thereafter Appellant, armed with the stolen shotgun, broke into Kellam's trailer and demanded beer and a ride to Indianapolis. At Indianapolis, while the temperature was below freezing, Appellant forced Kel-lam into the trunk of the car, from which she eventually escaped.

I

Appellant claims the trial court erred in giving Final Instruction Number 9 over his objection because it failed to properly define the element of intent. He argues it was thus an incorrect statement of law which confused the jury and resulted in an erroneous sentence. The instruction at issue reads:

The Court further instructs the jury a person may be convicted of Burglary if he breaks and enters with the intent to commit a felony even though he does not actually commit a theft or any other felony. Hughes v. Hughes, 458 N.E.2d 275, 276 (Ind.83) [sic].

Appellant maintains this instruction erroneously states the intent to commit any felony is sufficient to support his conviction for burglary. He argues that since the charged underlying felony here was theft, the instruction should not have ended with the phrase, "or any other felony." Appellant contends that while the evidence at trial could have supported a finding that he broke and entered Kellam's trailer with the intent to confine her, it does not support a finding that he did so with the intent to steal from her. Appellant concludes the jury could have convicted him of burglary with confinement as the underlying felony due to erroneous instruction when he was not charged with that crime.

We have long held that no single jury instruction should be evaluated separate from all the instructions given to the jury. Hughes v. State (1983), Ind., 458 N.E.2d 275, 276. If all the instructions together state the law correctly and fully they are not erroneous and should not be the basis of reversing the verdict. Bigler v. State (1984), Ind., 471 N.E.2d 1093, 1102, reh. denied (1985). In the present case the trial court gave the jury forty (40) final instructions which must be viewed in toto in reviewing this issue. The jury was told to construe all instructions together rather than any single instruction alone. The court read to the jury the informations which charged Appellant with burglary. These informations clearly set forth theft as the underlying felony. The jury was instructed on the specific elements of both burglary and theft, and was further told the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every essential element of the crimes charged. At this point their attention was once again drawn to the formal charges. Additionally, the jury was told that to overcome the presumption of Appellant's innocence the State must prove him guilty of each essential element of the crimes charged.

These instructions, read together, clearly show the jury was informed that Appellant was charged with burglary with theft as the underlying felony, and furthermore, that the State bore the burden of proving precisely that beyond a reasonable doubt. This same instruction was upheld by us in Hughes, Ind., 453 N.E.2d at 276. Given the facts of the present case and in light of all *500 the instructions given the jury we find no error on this issue.

II

Appellant maintains there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions of burglary and theft of Kellam's property. He argues that while there may have been sufficient evidence to find he broke and entered Kellam's trailer with the intent to confine her, evidence was lacking of an intent on his part to steal from her. He claims all he sought from Kellam was a ride to Indianapolis and that his refusal to take Kellam's car keys and leave her behind is further proof that he lacked an intent to steal from her.

Where sufficiency of the evidence is challenged on review this Court will neither weigh the evidence nor determine the credibility of witnesses, but rather, will look to the evidence most favorable to the State together with all reasonable inferences therefrom. We will then determine if there is substantial evidence of probative value from which the trier of fact might reasonably infer guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Harris v. State (1985), Ind., 480 N.E.2d 982, 987. It is within the province of the jury to draw reasonable inferences from facts established by either direct or circumstantial evidence. A conviction may be based solely on circumstantial evidence. Watkins v. State (1984), Ind., 468 N.E.2d 1049, 1052. We have further held that the "intent to commit a felony" element of burglary can be inferred from the time, force, and manner of entry if there is no evidence the entry was made with lawful intent. Id. Here there was no evidence that Appellant entered Kellam's trailer lawfully. He broke through a locked door in the middle of the night when it was clear to him that Kellam would not let him in. In addition, he would not let her telephone for help, he brandished a shotgun, and he demanded beer and transportation. There is sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that Appellant intended to steal from Kellam.

Appellant also argues there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that he did in fact steal anything from Kellam. He contends the evidence proved only that he confined her. The Indiana Code defines theft as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
486 N.E.2d 497, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 1065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/correll-v-state-ind-1985.