Gallagher v. State

922 N.E.2d 588, 2010 WL 623658
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 23, 2010
Docket15S04-0909-CR-405
StatusPublished

This text of 922 N.E.2d 588 (Gallagher 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
Gallagher v. State, 922 N.E.2d 588, 2010 WL 623658 (Ind. 2010).

Opinion

922 N.E.2d 588 (2010)

Stephan M. GALLAGHER, Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 15S04-0909-CR-405.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

February 23, 2010.

*589 Leanna Weissmann, Lawrenceburg, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Ian McLean, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

On Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 15A04-0806-CR-326

DICKSON, Justice.

We granted transfer in this case and in Griffin v. State, ___ N.E.2d ___ also decided today, to address the meaning and application to be given to the statutory provisions that preclude, in limited circumstances, the penalty enhancement that ordinarily results from drug offenses committed within 1,000 feet of school property, a public park, a family housing complex, or a youth program center.

Appealing his conviction and sentence for Dealing in a Schedule II Controlled Substance Within One Thousand Feet of School Property, a class A felony, the defendant claims errors related to (1) the adequacy of the State's rebuttal of the statutory defense concerning the location of the drug sale, (2) the admissibility of a digital recording, (3) the correctness of an instruction regarding aiding and inducing, and (4) the appropriateness of the sentence. The Court of Appeals addressed and rejected the defendant's claims with respect to issues (2) and (3), and, as to issue (1), it reversed and remanded with instructions to enter a conviction for the offense as a class B felony and to resentence the defendant accordingly and thus did not address issue (4). Gallagher v. State, 906 N.E.2d 272, 277 (Ind.Ct.App. 2009). We granted transfer to consider issue (1) and now summarily affirm the Court of Appeals as to issues (2) and (3).[1] Addressing issues (1) and (4) below, we affirm the defendant's conviction and sentence.

1. Statutory Defenses

The defendant contends that he raised, and the State failed to adequately rebut, two statutory defenses. Seeking to reduce his conviction from a class A felony to a class B felony, he argues that the State failed to rebut: (a) that he was within 1,000 feet of school property only "briefly" at a time when no children were present; and (b) that his presence within the proscribed zone resulted from the request or suggestion of law enforcement.

In response, the State contends that there was sufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt: (a) that the defendant was within the proscribed zone for twenty minutes for the purpose of retrieving, dividing, and delivering a controlled substance; and (b) that the defendant selected the meeting place thus placing himself in the proscribed zone.

*590 The offense of Dealing in a Schedule I, II, or III Controlled Substance is classified as a class B felony. But if the offense is committed by delivery or financing of the delivery of the controlled substance (a) to certain persons under eighteen years of age, (b) on a school bus, or (c) within one thousand feet of school property, a public park, a family housing complex, or a youth program center, then the offense is a class A felony with substantially greater penal consequences. Ind.Code § 35-48-4-2.

As to offenses requiring proof of delivery, financing the delivery, or possession of a controlled substance within one thousand feet of school property, a public park, a family housing complex, or a youth program center, the legislature has provided:

(b) It is a defense for a person charged under this chapter ... that:
(1) a person was briefly in, on, or within one thousand (1,000) feet of school property, a public park, a family housing complex, or a youth program center; and
(2) no person under eighteen (18) years of age at least three (3) years junior to the person was in, on, or within one thousand (1,000) feet of the school property, public park, family housing complex, or youth program center at the time of the offense.
(c) It is a defense for a person charged under this chapter ... that a person was in, on, or within one thousand (1,000) feet of school property, a public park, a family housing complex, or a youth program center at the request or suggestion of a law enforcement officer or an agent of a law enforcement officer.

Ind.Code § 35-48-4-16. Once the defendant raises either of these two defenses and supporting evidence is presented, the burden passes to the State to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at least one element of the defense. See Harrison v. State, 901 N.E.2d 635, 642 (Ind.Ct.App. 2009), trans. denied (as to the Section 16(b) defense for "briefly" in the proscribed zone with the absence of children); Bell v. State, 881 N.E.2d 1080, 1086 (Ind. Ct.App.2008), trans. denied (as, to the Section 16(c) defense for presence at the request or suggestion of law enforcement). The State correctly acknowledges its burden of proof. Appellee's Br. at 10.

In the appellate review of claims that the State has failed to present sufficient evidence to rebut a defense, the same standard applies as to other challenges to the sufficiency of evidence. See Dockery v. State, 644 N.E.2d 573, 578 (Ind.1994). A conviction must be affirmed "if the probative evidence and reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence could have allowed a reasonable trier of fact to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." McHenry v. State, 820 N.E.2d 124, 126 (Ind.2005) (quoting Tobar v. State, 740 N.E.2d 109, 112 (Ind.2000)). Thus, here we must evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence from which the jury could have found that the State rebutted both of the claimed defenses beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense under Indiana Code § 35-48-4-16(b) contains two components, "briefly" and the absence of children, both of which must exist for the defense to apply. This defense is defeated if the State disproves either component beyond a reasonable doubt. Separate and independent from this Section 16(b) defense is the one under Section 16(c), which will apply unless the State disproves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was within the proscribed 1,000 feet "at the request or suggestion" of a law enforcement officer or agent.

The evidence establishes that in the summer of 2005, Dearborn County Sheriff Department Detective Shane McHenry began *591 having conversations with Danny Goodpaster, an acquaintance from high school and prior employment, regarding the selling of illegal drugs in the area. Goodpaster eventually agreed to attempt a drug buy from the defendant, and on November 29, 2005, he called the defendant and inquired about purchasing drugs. The defendant and Goodpaster agreed to meet behind a particular pharmacy in Aurora, Indiana, where the defendant would be in a green Ford Thunderbird with two females.

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Related

McHenry v. State
820 N.E.2d 124 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2005)
Tobar v. State
740 N.E.2d 109 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2000)
Bell v. State
881 N.E.2d 1080 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2008)
Gallagher v. State
906 N.E.2d 272 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2009)
Harrison v. State
901 N.E.2d 635 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2009)
Dockery v. State
644 N.E.2d 573 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
922 N.E.2d 588, 2010 WL 623658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gallagher-v-state-ind-2010.