Derrick Morris v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

• Court: Indiana Court of Appeals
• Decided: March 9, 2015
• Docket: 49A02-1408-CR-544
• Status: Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Mar 09 2015, 9:28 am Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any court except for the purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Patricia Caress McMath Gregory F. Zoeller Marion County Public Defender Agency Attorney General of Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana Jesse R. Drum Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Derrick Morris, March 9, 2015

Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 49A02-1408-CR-544 v. Appeal from the Marion Superior Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Linda E. Brown, Judge Appellee-Plaintiff Case No. 49F10-1403-CM-13602

Crone, Judge.

Case Summary [1] Derrick Morris was found guilty of class C misdemeanor public nudity. He

challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction and claims

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1408-CR-544 | March 9, 2015 Page 1 of 4 that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of intoxication. Finding that the

evidence was sufficient to support his conviction and that any error in the

admission of intoxication evidence was harmless, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [2] On March 15, 2014, Officer Todd Scroggins with the Indianapolis Metropolitan

Police Department was working undercover, “looking for homeless people

engaged in drinking, lewd behavior and disorderly conduct.” Tr. at 9. At

around 10:00 p.m., Officer Scroggins was in his unmarked police car when he

observed Morris standing near a building in the 800 block of North Illinois

Street. The officer got out of his vehicle and approached Morris. As the officer

got closer, he saw that Morris was holding his penis in one hand and urinating.

Morris was subsequently arrested and charged with class C misdemeanor public

nudity. After a bench trial, the trial court found Morris guilty as charged. This

appeal ensued.

Discussion and Decision

Section I. The evidence was sufficient to support Morris’s conviction. [3] Morris claims that the evidence is not sufficient to support his conviction of

public nudity. When reviewing a sufficiency of evidence claim, we neither

reweigh the evidence nor judge witness credibility. Pillow v. State, 986 N.E.2d

343, 344 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013). “We consider only the evidence most favorable

to the trial court’s ruling and affirm the conviction unless no reasonable fact-

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1408-CR-544 | March 9, 2015 Page 2 of 4 finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Id. (quoting Lock v. State, 971 N.E.2d 71, 74 (Ind. 2012)) (quotation marks

omitted).

[4] A person commits class C misdemeanor public nudity when he “knowingly or

intentionally appears in a public place in a state of nudity.” Ind. Code § 35-45-

4-1.5. Nudity is defined as the “showing of the human male or female genitals,

pubic area, or buttocks with less than a fully opaque covering.” Ind. Code § 35-

45-4-1(d). Morris acknowledges that he was in a public place, but he argues

that he was not nude because he did not “show his penis” and that his hand

was holding his penis and thus acted as an “opaque covering.” Appellant’s Br.

at 3, 5.

[5] In support of his argument, Morris cites Townsend v. State, 750 N.E.2d 416, 417

(Ind. App. Ct. 2001), in which we held that the evidence was insufficient to

support Townsend’s conviction for public indecency (now defined as public

nudity) because the officer did not see the defendant’s penis after he urinated on

a building. Here, however, Officer Scroggins testified that he “saw [Morris’s]

penis in his right hand” and that “[t]here was nothing covering it, nothing in the

way.” Tr. at 8. In sum, we conclude that the State proved beyond a reasonable

doubt that Morris knowingly or intentionally showed his penis in a public

place. Cf. Townsend, 750 N.E.2d at 418 (“Townsend did not cause his penis to

be seen or otherwise put it on view.”).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1408-CR-544 | March 9, 2015 Page 3 of 4 Section II. Any error in the admission of intoxication evidence was harmless. [6] Finally, Morris argues that the trial court erred when it admitted Officer

Scroggins’s testimony that he exhibited signs of intoxication. We review a trial

court’s admission or exclusion of evidence for an abuse of discretion and will

reverse if the decision is “clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and

circumstances. Even if the trial court’s decision was an abuse of discretion, we

will not reverse if the admission constituted harmless error.” Jackson v. State,

996 N.E.2d 378, 382-83 (Ind. App. Ct., 2013) (citation omitted), trans. denied

(2014).

[7] Morris argues that the testimony regarding his intoxication was irrelevant

because he was not charged with public intoxication. But he does not

specifically contend that the admission of the evidence was reversible error, and

we would not find it to be such in light of the overwhelming evidence that he

showed his penis in a public place. See Ind. Trial Rule 61 (“[N]o error in either

the admission or the exclusion of evidence … is ground for reversal on appeal…

unless refusal to take such action appears to the court inconsistent with

substantial justice. The court at every stage of the proceeding must disregard

any error or defect in the proceeding which does not affect the substantial rights

of the parties.”). Therefore, we affirm his conviction.

[8] Affirmed.

Friedlander, J., and Kirsch, J., concur.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1408-CR-544 | March 9, 2015 Page 4 of 4