Craig v. State

379 N.E.2d 490, 177 Ind. App. 278, 1978 Ind. App. LEXIS 990
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 17, 1978
DocketNo. 3-977A235
StatusPublished

This text of 379 N.E.2d 490 (Craig 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
Craig v. State, 379 N.E.2d 490, 177 Ind. App. 278, 1978 Ind. App. LEXIS 990 (Ind. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

Staton, J.

Thomas Jackson Craig, Jr., was convicted of assault and battery with intent to gratify and sodomy. He raises two questions for our examination:

(1) Did the trial court err in admitting Craig’s confession?
(2) Does Craig’s sentence constitute cruel and unusual punishment?

We find no reversible error, and we affirm.

I.

Evidence

Craig’s wife, Nancy Craig, babysat for K.O., a boy of nine years of [279]*279age. K.O. became ill at school on March 17,1976, and since his parents worked during the day in Chicago, K.O. was sent to the Craig home. K.O. had fever, and therefore his parents decided not to take him out into the cold, but rather to leave him at the Craig residence until he was better. K.O. was lying on the Craig sofa after dinner on March 17, 1976. He testified at trial that Thomas Craig, who had been sitting next to him on the sofa, rubbed K.O.’s thigh and put his lips on K.O.’s penis. K.O. went home to his parents’ house on March 20,1976, and, at that time, told his parents about the incident.

Craig was telephoned and was told that K.O.’s parents had given a statement to the police about the incident. Craig was requested to come to the police station. He did, and he was taken to the interrogation room. Craig was read his rights, he was asked if he understood the waiver form, and then Craig signed a waiver. Craig’s statement was tape recorded. Several days later, Craig returned to the police station and signed the transcribed statement. In addition to signing the back page of the statement, Craig made corrections and initialed the third page of the four-page statement. Craig was photographed, fingerprinted, and released. Still later, an officer came to the Craig home and asked Craig to reread the statement and sign pages one, two, and three. Craig did so while sitting in a police car in front of his home.

Craig testified at trial. He admitted that the incident with K.O. took place. He stated that he did not dispute the charges. He did maintain that K.O. at no point objected, or he would not have continued. K.O. stated that he did not try to stop Thomas Craig’s actions. Evidence was admitted without objection at trial that at least one similar incident had occurred the previous summer when K.O. went camping with the Craigs. K.O. allegedly had told his parents about that incident, but his parents had not confronted Thomas Craig. K.O.’s mother averred that they had determined to try to keep K.O. away from Thomas Craig; they hoped “he’d get the idea.” K.O.’s mother did not confront Nancy: “I didn’t know if she knows about it or not. I didn’t want to upset her.”

Thomas Craig admitted at trial that what he did was wrong. Craig is a high school graduate, was employed as a supervisor in an engineering test lab, and had been involved in his community with scouting. He testified that K.O. was the only person toward whom his “weakness” [280]*280had manifested itself. Along with the guilty verdicts, the jury passed a handwritten note to the judge:

“May we the jury make a recommendation? We would like to recommend professional help for both Thomas Jackson Craig, Jr. and [K.O.].”

Craig moved that he be examined as a possible criminal sexual deviant. The trial court granted the motion, and Craig was committed to the Indiana Department of Mental Health for observation and treatment. The court then held a full medical hearing. Evidence was admitted at that hearing that Craig was a treatable criminal sexual deviant, that Craig was not violent, that rehabilitation through outpatient therapy was recommended, and that group therapy in an enclosure like maximum security could cause Craig’s condition to worsen — “decompensate as psychotic.”

At the close of the medical hearing, the trial court made the following finding and judgment:

“[TJhis is State of Indiana versus Thomas Jackson Craig Jr. Show appearances of parties involved. The defendant tendered defendant’s Exhibit A which is a revision of the report of the staff at Dr. Norman M. Beatty Memorial Hospital indicating to the court that their assessment of the defendant has been revised to find that the defendant is a criminal sexual deviant within the meaning of the act that he is treatable as a criminal sexual deviant at a facility maintained and supervised by the Department of Mental Health in the State of Indiana, and therefore meets the two (2) part qualifications for treatment as a criminal sexual deviant. The defendant is now committed to the Indiana Department of Mental Health for a period of time not to exceed an indeterminate prison sentence, or not to exceed an indeterminate prison sentence of not less than 2 nor more than 14 years and he is placed in the care of the Department of Mental Health for assignment to the proper state institution to be either confined in a state psychiatric institution or treated by an approved facility consistent with the report previously submitted to the court. .. . This is a final judgment as I understand the act.”

II.

Voluntariness of Confession

Craig’s argument concerning the admission of his confession is premis[281]*281ed in the notion that it was not given voluntarily in the strict legal sense of that word. Craig concedes that his rights were read to him prior to the time his statement was tape-recorded at the police station. Craig admits that he signed the waiver form. An officer testified that Craig stated that he understood the import of the waiver. However, Craig points out that the record is completely silent as to any advisement of rights directly before the transcribed statement was signed. He particularly argues that the lapse of several days between the original warnings and the signing of the confession (along with the even later corrections and signing of individual pages) rendered the confession inadmissible.

The issue presented by Craig’s argument is whether a second Miranda warning is necessary immediately before the signing of a written statement which had been given orally and recorded on tape. Our examination of this issue must begin with Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436. Most of Craig’s appellate argument focuses upon the signing of the waiver form. Craig undertakes to convince this Court that he did not knowingly waive his rights. The record convinces us that the contrary is true. The examining officer orally read the waiver of rights document to Craig. He asked Craig whether he understood the document. Craig responded that he did; Craig reread the document and signed it. We hold that the record discloses sufficient evidence to support a findng that the waiver was an intelligent one. Garrett v. State (1976), 265 Ind. 63, 351 N.E.2d 30, Hedgecough v. State (1975) 164 Ind.App. 224, 328 N.E.2d 230.

The waiver was signed and dated March 22,1977. The exact date that the confession was signed is not in the record, but the examining police officer testified that it was “several days later.” Craig was not re-advised of his constitutional rights at this later time. Before the trial court admitted the confession, the court considered the problem:

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Garrett v. State
351 N.E.2d 30 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1976)
Hedgecough v. State
328 N.E.2d 230 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1975)
Biggs v. State
338 N.E.2d 316 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1975)
McCray v. Sullivan
509 F.2d 1332 (Fifth Circuit, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
379 N.E.2d 490, 177 Ind. App. 278, 1978 Ind. App. LEXIS 990, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craig-v-state-indctapp-1978.