Garner v. State

646 N.E.2d 349, 1995 Ind. App. LEXIS 90, 1995 WL 37357
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 2, 1995
Docket49A04-9407-CR-261
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 646 N.E.2d 349 (Garner 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
Garner v. State, 646 N.E.2d 349, 1995 Ind. App. LEXIS 90, 1995 WL 37357 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Jermann S. Garner appeals his conviction for resisting law enforcement as a class D felony and his sentencing. We affirm.

ISSUES

1. Whether the trial court erred in ordering that Garner's sentences be consecutive to other sentences.

2. Whether sufficient evidence supported Garner's conviction for resisting law enforcement as a class D felony.

FACTS

At about 1:00 a.m. on June 9, 1998, Indianapolis Police Department Officer Paula Irwin observed a near collision at the intersection of 88th and Capitol in Indianapolis. Irwin drove her marked police vehicle onto the parking lot of 500 Liquor, where the two cars involved had proceeded after the incident. Irwin observed the passenger in the car driven by Jermann Garner exit the car, walk over to the other car and strike an individual in the second car. The attacker then "jumped back in" Garner's car, and the car "took off" eastbound on 838th Street. Irwin activated her lights and siren, following Garner, but Garner did not stop. The Garner vehicle ran through seven red lights on 38th Street. There was traffic on the streets; traffic often had to stop as Garner ran the red lights; several times collisions were just barely avoided; and at 38th and Fall Creek, several cars "had to pull off to the head on lane to avoid him." R. at 54.

After stopping the car, Garner and his passenger fled on foot. Garner entered a stranger's apartment, where he was found and arrested.

An information filed June 10, 1993, charged Garner with resisting law enforcement as a class D felony 1 for operating a vehicle "in a manner that created a substantial risk of bodily injury to other motorists," and with residential entry as a class D felony 2 . The State also filed a petition for "de-tainer and/or greater than standard bond" stating that Garner had been on probation effective May 20, 1998, for a felony burglary charge. R. at 15.

A bench trial was held November 80, 1998. Garner was found guilty on both charges. The presentence report, which Garner agreed to having read and to which he made no corrections when asked, showed 1) a B felony burglary for which Garner had been placed on probation for two years beginning May 20, 1998; and 2) two pending charges of possession and one of criminal trespass. R. at 27-28. At sentencing on April 19, 1994, *351 the court ordered Garner to serve one and one-half years for the resisting charge and one and one-half years for residential entry, concurrently. However, the court further provided that the instant one and one-half years sentences run consecutive to any sentences Garner might receive on both the pending probation violation charge and the pending possession of cocaine charge.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION 1. CONSECUTIVE SENTENCE

Garner claims the court erred in ordering his sentence arising from these convictions to "run consecutive to sentences to be imposed in other courts which had not yet been imposed." Appellant's brief at 5.

In the absence of express statutory authority, the trial court cannot order consecutive sentences. Kendrick v. State (1988), Ind., 529 N.E.2d 1311. Express authority for the trial court to so sentence is found in Ind.Code 35-50-1-2. More importantly, the legislature has directed that

"lf, after being arrested for one (1) crime, a person commits another crime:
(1) before the date the person is discharged from probation, parole, or a term of imprisonment imposed for the first crime; or
(2) while the person is released:
(A) upon the persons's own recognizance; or
(B) upon bond;
the terms of imprisonment for the crimes shall be served consecutively, regardless of the order in which the crimes are tried and sentences are imposed."

1.C. 85-50-1-2(b) (emphasis added). Hence, in certain circumstances the legislature has mandated consecutive sentencing.

Garner challenges "authority as to whether the Court could impose a sentence consecutive to any future sentence for a probation violation," and asserts "there is no authority to support the Court's sentence as to future sentences for charges which are still pending." Appellant's brief at 6. For these propositions, and in sole support of his claims of sentencing error, Garner refers us to Scott v. State (1994), Ind.App., 632 N.E.2d 761.

As to sentencing consecutive to a probation violation, Scoff is directly on point. Scott was convicted of battery. The presentence investigation report filed before his sentencing disclosed that at the time Scott committed the battery, he was on probation for two separate prior offenses. We acknowledged the dissent's concern about "how the court in this case can order this sentence to be served in consecutive order when at the time of sentencing it is uncertain what action will be taken in any probation revocation proceeding," but we found a "clear legislative mandate for the execution of consecutive sentencing" in 1.C. 85-50-1-2(b). We concluded that because the statute

"required that Scott's sentence for the instant offense be served consecutively to the sentences for any offenses for which he had been convicted at the time he committed the instant offense and from which he had not been discharged from probation at the time of sentencing for the instant offense,"

there was no error in ordering Scott's sentence be consecutive to any violation of probation imposed. Id. at 768.

In addition to the two documents (described in the FACTS section) before the court indicating Garner's status as having been on probation beginning twenty-one days before the commission of these offenses, Garner and his counsel admitted at the sentencing hearing that he had been on probation and had a pending probation violation. Consistent with Scoff, the order that Garner's instant sentence be served consecutive to any sentence imposed in the probation proceedings was proper.

As to the authority to support the court's order that Garner's instant sentence be served consecutive to any possible sentence on the pending cocaine possession charge, we-refer again to the statute. If one is arrested for one crime, and commits another crime while being released either on the person's own recognizance or on bond, consecutive sentencing is mandatory. I.C. 35-50-1-2(b)(2). According to the presentence *352 report, Garner had a pending charge of possession. When asked about this at the sentencing hearing, Garner affirmed that he had "picked up" the cocaine possession charge "after this case." R. at 120. Our review of the record indicates that from the time of the June 9th incident until the January presen-tence report, Garner had only five days jail credit. Thus, Garner had been released either on his own recognizance or on bond. As we observed in Douglas v. State (1994), Ind.

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Related

Jones v. State
777 N.E.2d 1 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2002)
Ridley v. State
690 N.E.2d 177 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1997)
Harris v. State
671 N.E.2d 864 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
646 N.E.2d 349, 1995 Ind. App. LEXIS 90, 1995 WL 37357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garner-v-state-indctapp-1995.