Gaunt v. State

457 N.E.2d 211, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1073
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 30, 1983
Docket1282S480
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 457 N.E.2d 211 (Gaunt 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
Gaunt v. State, 457 N.E.2d 211, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1073 (Ind. 1983).

Opinions

PRENTICE, Justice.

Following a jury trial, the Defendant was found guilty of Burglary, a class B felony, Ind.Code § 85-48-2-1 (Burns 1979), and Theft, a class D felony, Ind.Code § 35-483-4-2 (Burns 1979). He was sentenced to twelve (12) years imprisonment upon the Burglary charge and two (2) years imprisonment upon the Theft charge. The two year sentence upon the Theft charge was suspended, and the Defendant was placed [213]*213on four (4) years probation to run consecutively to the Burglary sentence.

This direct appeal raises six (6) issues:

1. Whether Defendant's conviction for Burglary, a class B felony, is contrary to law;

2. Whether the convictions are supported by sufficient evidence;

3. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Defendant's motion for the jury to view thé scene of the alleged crime;

4. Whether the trial court erred in sustaining the State's objection, on hearsay grounds, to the testimony of a defense witness;

5. Whether the trial court erred in allowing the State to use a witness' deposition to refresh his memory, inasmuch as the deposition had been taken thirteen months after the date of the crime;

6. Whether Defendant's sentence of twelve (12) years on the Burglary charge was manifestly unreasonable or constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

The record disclosed that Mrs. Diann Ferris left her home on May 22, 1980 at about 7:20 a.m. to go to work. At about 12:40 p.m. Mrs. Ferris' neighbor, Kathy Noll, noticed a "two-toned green Chevy Blazer" automobile parked in the Ferris driveway. She observed a medium-built young man with dark hair, wearing dark sweat pants and no shirt, walking around the house. She testified that, even though she was 400-500 feet away from the activity, nothing blocked her view. A few minutes later Noll again observed the vehicle, which had been backed into the driveway. She subsequently saw a person with dark hair and no shirt driving the vehicle away. A lawn mower handle was sticking out the back window of the vehicle. About twenty (20) minutes after the vehicle left the Ferris' residence, Noll heard the squealing of tires, looked out her window, and saw a beige "Buick" automobile with a dark vinyl top. She observed a person with dark hair, sweat pants, and no shirt get out of that automobile and run toward the Ferris house. Moments later, after that automobile had been turned around, its driver stopped the vehicle, and the same person who had gotten out, now carrying a gray tool box, reentered.

Noll reported the incidents to the police, who investigated immediately and found that a window in the garage door had been broken and that a lawn mower and two tool boxes, all of which had been in the garage the previous night, were missing. On the same afternoon, they found the Defendant at his home, dressed in dark sweat pants and no shirt, mowing his lawn with the stolen mower. A green "Blazer" was parked in his driveway, and the missing tool boxes were in his garage.

ISSUE I

Defendant argues that his convie tion for Burglary, a class B felony, is contrary to the law. The Burglary Statute, Ind.Code § 385-48-2-1 provides:

"A person who breaks and enters the building or structure of another person, with intent to commit a felony in it, commits burglary, a class C felony. However, the offense is a class B felony if it is committed while armed with a deadly weapon or if the building or structure is a dwelling, and a class A felony if it results in either bodily injury or serious bodily injury to any other person."

Defendant contends that the attached garage which had been entered was not a "dwelling" within the meaning of the statute, but his argument is without merit.

In Abbott v. State, (1978) 175 Ind.App. 365, 371 N.E.2d 721, the Court of Appeals held that it was clear from the evidence that the garage which was broken into, in that case, was part and parcel of the family dwelling. The Court reasoned:

"The garage in question was attached to the house. -An interior door permitted entrance and exit from the house to the garage. A freezer full of food for use by the family was situated in the garage, as well as a pool table for the family's [214]*214recreation." Id. at 370, 371 N.E.2d at 724.

Defendant argues that the fact that the garage contained a freezer full of food and was a place for family recreation was of great significance to the court in reaching its decision and that the State, in the case at bar, presented no evidence of such use of the garage. However, the court placed no greater emphasis on those two factors than it did upon the facts that the garage was attached to the house and that an interior door connected them. In fact, the court stated in Abbott that the "garage was as much a part of the house as the basement was in the house in Burgett, ... and probably more so, since there was an interior door which allowed direct access from the house to the garage." Id. at 371, 371 N.E.2d at 725.

In Burgett v. State, (1974) 161 Ind.App. 157, 814 N.E.2d 799, the Defendant had broken into a basement which had no direct access to the house. In upholding the conviction for first degree burglary the court said:

"Basements are located directly under the living area of a residence and are used for a variety of purposes connected with family living, such as storage of various household items, location of heating and mechanical equipment, and laundering of clothing. Being under the same roof, functionally interconnected with and immediately contiguous to other portions of the house, it requires considerable agility to leap over this fulsome interrelationship to a conclusion that a basement is not part of a dwelling house because no inside entrance connects the two." Id. at 161, 314 N.E.2d at 803.

In the case at bar, the garage was attached to the house, contained an interior connecting door and was used for household storage-a purpose connected with family living. That the breaking into the garage did not afford the Defendant immediate access to the actual living quarters is immaterial. It is enough that he entered a private part of the Ferris' dwelling. Davis v. State, (1978) 176 Ind.App. 564, 376 N.E.2d 545, 546 (reh. denied).

ISSUE II

The defendant next argues that the evidence did not establish that he was the perpetrator of the crime or that he had the requisite intent to commit a felony. We first note our standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence:

"Upon a review for sufficient evidence, this Court will look only to the evidence most favorable to the State and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. If the existence of each element of the crime charged may be found therefrom, beyond a reasonable doubt, the verdict will not be disturbed.

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Bluebook (online)
457 N.E.2d 211, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 1073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaunt-v-state-ind-1983.