Eberle v. State

942 N.E.2d 848, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 97, 2011 WL 265326
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 28, 2011
Docket58A01-1003-CR-105
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 942 N.E.2d 848 (Eberle 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
Eberle v. State, 942 N.E.2d 848, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 97, 2011 WL 265326 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Keith Eberle appeals his convictions, after a jury trial, for class D felony intimidation,1 class C felony stalking,2 and two counts of class B misdemeanor harassment.3

We affirm and remand with instructions.

ISSUES

1. Whether the State established that Ohio County was a proper venue for trial.

2. Whether the trial court properly refused Eberle’s proposed venue instructions.

3. Whether sufficient evidence supports Eberle’s convictions.

4. Whether the trial court’s failure to vacate lesser-included offenses that were merged for purposes of sentencing violated Indiana’s prohibition against double jeopardy.

FACTS

V.L. resides in Rising Sun, Ohio County, Indiana. At all times relevant herein, she was the Ohio County jail matron. On September 7, 2008, while she was visiting her sister in Dearborn County, Indiana, she received a picture of an erect penis on her employer-issued cell phone. The attached text message read: “Tara, thanks for the killer head. Call me.” (Tr. 185). The sender’s phone number appeared on the display of V.L.’s cell phone. Moments later, her cell phone rang with an incoming call from the same phone number. When V.L. answered, the male caller asked for “Tara.” V.L. responded that she was not “Tara,” that her name was V, and that the caller had made a mistake. V.L. later testified, “He changed his demeanor instantly and asked me if I liked the picture ... and he wanted to meet me later and he could show it to me in person.” (Tr. 188). V.L. asked the caller to stop calling her and hung up.

In the ensuing minutes, the caller telephoned V.L. “[rjoughly four or five” more times. (Tr. 185). After ignoring multiple calls, V.L. answered her phone and pleaded with the caller to stop calling her. She warned that she would call the police if he persisted. The caller ignored her and stated, “I want you to suck my d* * * and I’m going to stick it up in your wet p* * * (Tr. 184). V.L. hung up and called her boyfriend, who is a deputy with the Ohio County Sheriffs Department.

On September 19, 2008, V.L. received a second photograph of an erect penis on her cell phone. The attached text message read, “[Hjere’s that picture.” (Tr. 189). V.L. reported the incidents to the Rising Sun Police Department and provided the caller’s phone number to Detective Norman R. Rimstidt. At approximately 2:00 p.m., Rimstidt called the phone number and left a message

identifying [him] self, ... [and stating that] the reason why [he] was calling was that the communication[s] that w[ere] being received from that handset or that target telephone number ... w[ere] unwanted communications, that they needed to stop and [he] also re[853]*853quested that [the caller] contact [him] at the published telephone number for [the Rising Sun Police] department.

(Tr. 280). Rising Sun Police Department phone records for September 19, 2008 indicated that “there was contact to the department published telephone number from the target telephone number”; however, Rimstidt never spoke to the caller. (Tr. 281).

Two days later, on September 21, 2008, while V.L. was in Florence, Boone County, Kentucky, she received “[r]oughly five or six” private or caller-ID blocked calls. (Tr. 193). The calls were “one after the other within maybe a five minute period.” (Tr. 196). She later testified that the caller “sounded similar to [the] September 7th caller.” (Tr. 194). The caller told V.L., “[Y]ou better watch your back; you don’t know who you’re messing with.” (Tr. 195). “Scared,” V.L. asked the man to “stop calling my phone,” and hung up. (Tr. 195). Approximately one minute later, the man called back and said, “I’m going to f* * * you up, b* * * (Tr. 195). Again, V.L. hung up. The man called back and said, “[Y]ou know you want this c* * *, b* * * *; I’m going to ram my d* * * so far up in you.” (Tr. 196). V.L. later testified, “And I hung up on that one. I said — I asked him to stop calling my phone. At that point, I was upset, I was scared and that was the last private phone call I got.” (Tr. 196). She also testified that she worried that the caller might be watching her.

On September 22, 2008, V.L. reported the September 21 incidents to Detective Rimstidt. Rimstidt obtained an investigative subpoena for the target phone number for the period from September 1-30, 2008. Rimstidt’s investigation revealed that the target phone was a Verizon prepaid wireless cell phone purchased by a person named “David Deckard.”4 (Tr. 262). Rimstidt compared the time stamps from V.L.’s phone to those of the target phone. He determined that the lewd pictures, text messages, and unwanted series of calls to V.L.’s cell phone had been “generated by this same target telephone.” (Tr. 265). Rimstidt then identified various other phone numbers that the target phone had also contacted using blocked caller-ID. In so doing, Rimstidt reached Melinda Nelson, Eberle’s ex-wife. Nelson revealed that Eberle resided in southern Indiana, and provided Eberle’s cell phone number to Rimstidt. Eberle’s phone number was identical to the target phone number that had contacted V.L. on September 7, 19, and 21.

Subsequently, Rimstidt established contact with Eberle. Eberle agreed to submit to an interview. On November 10, 2008, Rimstidt advised Eberle of his rights before conducting the interview, wherein

[Eberle] stated that he had sent the picture messages. However, he stated that [the pictures] went to the wrong recipient. And then he had also stated that yes, indeed, he did make the phone calls, that they were pranks, that when he was asked to stop, he did and that he had never threatened anyone during those phone conversations.

(Tr. 295-96). During the interview, Eberle also released his cell phone to Rim-stidt. Rimstidt later retrieved lewd photographs from Eberle’s cell phone that were “consistent” with the lewd photographs that had been sent to V.L. from Eberle’s phone. (Tr. 317).

On December 4, 2008, the State charged Eberle with the following offenses: count 1, class D felony intimidation of V.L.; count 2, class A misdemeanor intimidation [854]*854of D.S.5; count B, class B misdemeanor harassment of D.S.; count 4, class B misdemeanor harassment of V.L.; and count 5, class B misdemeanor harassment of V.L. On August 6, 2009, the State filed additional counts six and seven — two counts of class C felony stalking of V.L. and D.S., respectively. On August 20, 2008, the trial court conducted hearing on Eberle’s motions, wherein Eberle orally moved for a change of venue, which was denied. On August 27, 2009, Eberle moved for severance of counts for trial to reflect only those counts that pertained to V.L. The trial court granted Eberle’s motion to sever on August 31, 2009, and renumbered the counts as follows: count 1, class D felony intimidation; count 2, class B misdemeanor harassment; count 3, class B misdemeanor harassment; and count 4, class C felony stalking, all pertaining to V.L.

Eberle’s three-day jury trial commenced on September 1, 2009. Before the State presented its case-in-chief, Eberle moved twice for a change of venue, alleging prejudice from V.L.’s relationship with the trial court and prosecutor due to her position as an Ohio County jail matron.

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Eberle v. State
942 N.E.2d 848 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
942 N.E.2d 848, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 97, 2011 WL 265326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eberle-v-state-indctapp-2011.