Emmanuel Joseph Cain v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

• Court: Indiana Court of Appeals
• Decided: May 26, 2015
• Docket: 53A01-1406-CR-242
• Status: Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION May 26 2015, 8:26 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 Kimberly A. Jackson Gregory F. Zoeller Indianapolis, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

Michael Gene Worden Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Emmanuel Joseph Cain, May 26, 2015

Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 53A01-1406-CR-242 v. Appeal from the Monroe Circuit Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Marc R. Kellams, Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge

Cause No. 53C02-1308-FB-797

Bailey, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 1 of 10 Statement of the Case [1] Emmanuel Joseph Cain appeals his convictions for two counts of Dealing in

Cocaine, each as a Class B felony,1 following a jury trial. Cain presents three

issues for our review:

1. Whether the trial court committed fundamental error when it admitted recordings of Cain’s drug transactions and testimony regarding those recordings;

2. Whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support Cain’s convictions; and

3. Whether Cain’s twenty-year sentence is inappropriate under Indiana Appellate Rule 7(B).

[2] We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [3] On July 18, 2013, confidential informant C.H. contacted Bloomington Police

Department Detective Erich Teuton. Detective Teuton arranged to have C.H.

buy drugs from Cain at a hotel in Bloomington and met her there at 8:30 p.m.

Detective Teuton searched C.H. for drugs and money, and he provided her

with a video recording device and money to buy drugs. C.H. then bought two

1 Ind. Code § 35-48-4-1.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 2 of 10 half-gram bags of crack cocaine from Cain. The resulting buy video was of

poor quality, and C.H. had entered another room before locating Cain.

[4] In order to obtain better quality, recorded evidence, C.H. and Detective Teuton

conducted two similar controlled buys from Cain the following day, this time

using a different recording device. The first buy on July 19 yielded two bags

containing .27 grams and .19 grams of crack cocaine, and the second buy

yielded two more bags containing .27 and .23 grams of crack cocaine. The

Indiana State Crime Lab tested the larger bags from each buy and confirmed

that both contained a cocaine base.

[5] On August 15, 2013, the State charged Cain with three counts of dealing in

cocaine, all as Class B felonies, each of which related to one of the three sales of

crack cocaine that transpired on July 18 and 19. At his ensuing jury trial on

April 14, 2014, the trial court admitted into evidence the video recordings of

Cain’s sales to C.H. and Detective Teuton’s related testimony. Cain did not

object to the admission of this evidence. However, after the jury had returned

its verdicts, Cain for the first time complained that the State’s video evidence

violated his Sixth Amendment rights.

[6] The jury found Cain not guilty as to Count I, the alleged July 18 sale of crack

cocaine to C.H., but found him guilty as to Counts II and III, which related to

the two sales that took place on July 19. The court sentenced Cain to twenty

years executed for each of his two convictions, which the court ordered to run

concurrently. The court ordered Cain’s twenty-year sentence to be served

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 3 of 10 consecutively to a prior ten-year sentence on another offense. This appeal

ensued.

Discussion and Decision Issue One: Admission of the Recordings and Testimony

[7] Cain first contends that the trial court violated his Sixth Amendment right to

confront the witnesses against him by allowing the State to submit the buy

videos into evidence without presenting C.H. for cross-examination. He also

argues that the court admitted testimony by Detective Teuton in violation of

Indiana Evidence Rule 701.

[8] We generally review a trial court’s decision to admit evidence for an abuse of

discretion, and we will not disturb that decision unless it is “clearly against the

logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before it.” Hoglund v. State, 962

N.E.2d 1230, 1237 (Ind. 2012). However, where, as here, no contemporaneous

objection is made to the admission of evidence, any error in that admission is

waived unless the error constitutes fundamental error. Fundamental error

requires “a substantial, blatant violation of due process that must be so

prejudicial to the rights of a defendant as to make a fair trial impossible.”

Rosales v. State, 23 N.E.3d 8, 11 (Ind. 2015) (quotations omitted).

A. Admission of the Buy Videos

[9] Cain first asserts that the admission of the buy videos violated his Sixth

Amendment right to confront C.H.. In Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 59

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 4 of 10 (2004), the Supreme Court of the United States held that out-of-court,

testimonial statements are admissible at trial only if the declarant is unavailable

to testify and the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross examine the

declarant. “However, the Confrontation Clause ‘does not bar the use of

testimonial statements for purposes other than establishing the truth of the

matter asserted.’ Thus, if a statement is either nontestimonial or nonhearsay,

the federal Confrontation Clause will not bar its admissibility at trial.” Williams

v. State, 930 N.E.2d 602, 607-08 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010) (quoting Crawford, 541

U.S. at 59 n.9), trans. denied.

[10] Statements are hearsay under Indiana Evidence Rule 801 if they were made out

of court and are offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. But this Court

has held that a confidential informant’s statements recorded in the course of a

controlled drug buy are not offered by the State for the truth of those

statements, but merely to prompt responses from the defendant being recorded,

and, therefore, those statements are not hearsay. Lehman v. State, 926 N.E.2d

35, 38 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010), trans. denied. See also Vaughn v. State, 13 N.E.3d

873, 880 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014) (concluding that videos of drug transactions

merely showed the conduct of the CI and defendant and that a detective’s

testimony regarding the videos was not hearsay because it was based on the

detective’s personal observation and did not relay an out-of-court statement),

trans. denied. Therefore, despite Cain’s assertions to the contrary, C.H.’s

statements were not inadmissible hearsay and were not subject to the

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 5 of 10 Confrontation clause. Thus, the trial court did not commit fundamental error

when it admitted C.H.’s statements at Cain’s trial.

B. Admission of Detective Teuton’s Testimony

[11] Cain next asserts that Detective Teuton gave a lay opinion as to what the video

recordings demonstrated in violation of Indiana Evidence Rule 701. In Groves

v. State, 456 N.E.2d 720, 723 (Ind. 1983), our supreme court held that, because

photographs and videos admitted as substantive evidence speak for themselves,

lay witnesses’ opinions of that evidence invade the province of the jury.

However, Groves predated the adoption of Evidence Rule 701. As we have

explained:

More recently, however, this court has held that the lay opinion of a police officer familiar with the defendant was admissible under Indiana Evidence Rule 701 as being helpful to the jury in reaching a decision about the identification of the person depicted in a videotape admitted as a silent witness. See Gibson v. State, 709 N.E.2d 11, 15 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999) (citing United States v. Stormer, 938 F.2d 759, 762 (7th Cir. 1991)), trans. denied. At first blush, the holding in Gibson seems inconsistent with the above-quoted portion of Groves. However, Groves was decided before the adoption of Evidence Rule 701, upon which Gibson relied. Furthermore, the holding of Groves was that the State had failed to lay a sufficient evidentiary foundation for the photograph. 456 N.E.2d at 723.

Goodson v. State, 747 N.E.2d 1181, 1184 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001), trans. denied; see

also Keller v. State, 25 N.E.3d 807, 814 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) (recognizing that a

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 6 of 10 police officer’s identification of a defendant, with whom the officer is familiar,

in a video can be helpful to the jury and is admissible), trans. pending.

[12] Here, Detective Teuton’s descriptions of the videos helped the jury identify

Cain in the videos and understand the language used in the videos with respect

to the transaction. Thus, Cain cannot demonstrate fundamental error on this

issue.2

Issue Two: Sufficiency of the Evidence [13] Cain also contends that the State presented insufficient evidence to support his

convictions. Our supreme court has held that, when there is substantial

evidence of probative value to support a conviction, it will not be set aside.

Jones v. State, 783 N.E.2d 1132, 1139 (Ind. 2003). When reviewing the

sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, we must consider only the

probative evidence and reasonable inferences supporting the conviction. See

Dallaly v. State, 916 N.E.2d 945, 950 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009). We do not assess

witness credibility or reweigh the evidence. Id. We consider conflicting

evidence most favorably to the trial court’s ruling. Id. We affirm the conviction

unless “no reasonable fact finder could find the elements of the crime proven

beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (quoting Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268, 270

2 We note that pages 99-120 are missing from the trial transcript, which contain portions of Detective Teuton’s testimony on cross-examination on redirect. Regardless, their absence does not affect the outcome here.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 7 of 10 (Ind. 2000)). Evidence is sufficient if an inference may reasonably be drawn

from it to support the conviction. Id.

[14] To prove Dealing in Cocaine under Indiana Code Section 35-48-4-1(a)(1), the

State was required to show that Cain knowingly or intentionally delivered

cocaine to C.H.. Cain contends that he was not identified by any admissible

evidence, that no hand-to-hand delivery from Cain to C.H. was recorded, and

that the State did not prove that the drugs C.H. turned over to Detective Teuton

for testing were the same ones sold to her by Cain.

[15] As was discussed above, the trial court did not err by admitting either the

recordings or the testimony of Detective Teuton. Thus, insofar as Cain’s

argument here is premised on the exclusion of this evidence, Cain’s argument

must fail. In light of that evidence, the State presented sufficient evidence to

support the jury’s finding that Cain sold crack cocaine to C.H. We affirm

Cain’s convictions.

Issue Three: Sentencing [16] Finally, Cain contends that his aggregate sentence of twenty years executed is

inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character, and he

instead requests that we impose an aggregate term of thirteen years executed.

Article 7, Sections 4 and 6 of the Indiana Constitution “authorize[] independent

appellate review and revision of a sentence imposed by the trial court.” Roush v.

State, 875 N.E.2d 801, 812 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007) (alteration original). This

appellate authority is implemented through Indiana Appellate Rule 7(B). Id.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 8 of 10 Revision of a sentence under Rule 7(B) requires the appellant to demonstrate

that his sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of his offense and his

character. See Ind. Appellate Rule 7(B); Rutherford v. State, 866 N.E.2d 867, 873

(Ind. Ct. App. 2007). We assess the trial court’s recognition or non-recognition

of aggravators and mitigators as an initial guide to determining whether the

sentence imposed was inappropriate. Gibson v. State, 856 N.E.2d 142, 147 (Ind.

Ct. App. 2006). “[A] defendant must persuade the appellate court that his or

her sentence has met th[e] inappropriateness standard of review,” Roush, 875

N.E.2d at 812, and we recognize the special expertise of the trial court in

making sentencing decisions, Davis v. State, 851 N.E.2d 1264, 1267 (Ind. Ct.

App. 2006).

[17] Indiana’s flexible sentencing scheme allows trial courts to tailor an appropriate

sentence to the circumstances presented, and the trial court’s judgment “should

receive considerable deference.” Cardwell v. State, 895 N.E.2d 1219, 1222, 1224

(Ind. 2008). The principal role of appellate review is to attempt to “leaven the

outliers.” Id. at 1225. Whether we regard a sentence as inappropriate at the

end of the day turns on “our sense of the culpability of the defendant, the

severity of the crime, the damage done to others, and myriad other facts that

come to light in a given case.” Id. at 1224.

[18] Cain asserts that his sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the

offenses and his character because he earned his GED while incarcerated in

2011, he is writing and hopes to publish a book, he has struggled with a drug

problem, and he would like to return to Michigan to be with his family. But the

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 9 of 10 trial court accounted for those facts and found them to be insignificant.

Moreover, Cain committed the instant offenses while on probation for another

crime, just three months after he had been placed on that probation. Further,

Cain has four prior convictions, including three felonies, two of which were for

dealing in cocaine. Thus, we cannot say that Cain’s sentence is inappropriate.

[19] Affirmed.

Riley, J., and Barnes, J., concur.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 53A01-1406-CR-242 | May 26, 2015 Page 10 of 10