Hale v. State

785 N.E.2d 641, 2003 Ind. App. LEXIS 462, 2003 WL 1564253
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 27, 2003
Docket49A02-0208-CR-656
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 785 N.E.2d 641 (Hale 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
Hale v. State, 785 N.E.2d 641, 2003 Ind. App. LEXIS 462, 2003 WL 1564253 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Judge.

Gregory Hale appeals his conviction for visiting a common nuisance as a class B misdemeanor. 1 He raises one issue, which we restate as whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain his conviction. We reverse.

The facts most favorable to the judgment follow. On May 29, 2002, three officers from the Indianapolis Police Department and Officer Jennifer Smith from the Marion Superior Court Probation Department went to the house of probationer James Blair on Park Avenue in Indianapolis Upon their arrival, Officer Smith peered through the screen door and saw Hale and two other individuals sitting around a coffee table. She asked them if she could enter the residence. Officer Smith and the three other officers entered the residence. Inside, the officers saw an open shoebox containing what they suspected was marijuana sitting on the coffee table. The officers handcuffed Hale and the other two individuals, read them their Miranda rights, and took them into custody. Hale and the other two individuals claimed that the suspected marijuana on the coffee table was Blair's and that he would be home soon. Hale was charged with possession of marijuana as a class A misdemeanor 2 and visiting a common nuisance as a class B misdemeanor. After a bench trial, the trial court found Hale guilty of visiting a common nuisance as a class B misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced Hale to 180 days in the Marion County Jail with two days credit.

The sole issue is whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain Hale's conviction for visiting a common nuisance as a class B misdemeanor. When reviewing a claim of sufficiency of the evidence, we neither reweigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of witnesses. Jordan v. State, 656 N.E.2d 816, 817 (Ind.1995), reh'g denied. Rather, we consider the evidence most favorable to the judgment and the reasonable inferences therefrom. Id. We will affirm a conviction if evidence of probative value exists from which the trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.

The offense of visiting a common nuisance as a class B misdemeanor is governed by Ind.Code § 35-48-4-18(a), which provides that:

A person who knowingly or intentionally visits a building, structure, vehicle, or other place that is used by any person to unlawfully use a controlled substance commits visiting a common nuisance, a Class B misdemeanor.

Here, Hale argues that the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew that Blair's residence was used for the unlawful use of a controlled substance and, further, that the evidence is insufficient to prove that Blair's residence constituted a common nuisance. We agree that the evidence is insufficient to prove that Blair's residence constituted a common nuisance; however, we do not agree that the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hale knew that Blair's residence was *643 used for the unlawful use of a controlled substance.

To convict a defendant of visiting a common nuisance, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the "defendant knew the building, structure, vehicle or other place which he visited was used for the unlawful use of a controlled substance." Bass v. State, 512 N.E.2d 460, 463 (Ind.Ct.App.1987), reh'g granted in part, 517 N.E.2d 1238, trans. denied. Moreover, the State must also prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the "place the defendant visited was used on more than one occasion for the unlawful use of a controlled substance." Id. at 464; see also Wells v. State, 170 Ind.App. 29, 34, 351 N.E.2d 43, 46 (1976). Specifically, the term "common nuisance" as used within the statute, necessarily requires proof of a continuous or recurrent violation. Wells, 170 Ind.App. at 33, 351 N.E.2d at 46.

We addressed these issues in Bass v. State, 512 N.E.2d at 461-465. There, the police arrived at a residence where the defendants were visiting. Id. at 461. One of the officers peered through the screen door and saw five adults, including the defendants, sitting around a coffee table. Id. The officers saw a bong and a pair of scissors with a burnt segment of a small white object sitting on the coffee table. Id. Upon entering the residence, the officers arrested the defendants for visiting a common nuisance, and the trial court con-vieted them of the same charge. Id. We reversed their convictions. In so doing, we reasoned that Ind.Code § 35-48-4-13(a) required the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants "knew the building, structure, vehicle or other place which [they] visited was used for the unlawful use of a controlled substance." Id. at 463. We concluded that "the state failed to present sufficient evidence of such knowledge in its case against [the defendants]." Id.; see also Sayre v. State, 471 N.E.2d 708, 716 (Ind.Ct.App.1984), reh'g denied, trans. denied, cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1027, 106 S.Ct. 1226, 89 L.Ed.2d 386 (1986). Further, we stated that a conviction for visiting a common nuisance requires that the State prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the "place the defendant visited was used on more than one occasion for the unlawful use of a controlled substance." Id. at 465; see also Wells, 170 Ind.App. at 34, 351 N.E.2d at 46. We acknowledged that evidence of paraphernalia did not "conclusively establish use and therefore cannot, in and of itself, conclusively establish repeated use." Bass, 512 N.E.2d at 465. Accordingly, we held that that State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendants knew that the residence "was used for the unlawful use of a controlled substance and that the building was used for that purpose on more than one occasion." Id.

Hale's reliance upon Bass for the proposition that the State failed to establish the knowing or intentional requirement of Ind. Code § 35-48-4-13(a) is misplaced. Specifically, in Bass, we held that while the existence of paraphernalia associated solely with the use of controlled substances might be probative of the issue of whether a controlled substance was used in the building, it is not conclusive with respect to the issue of whether the defendant knew of such use. Id. at 463. Here, however, the State presented more than mere evidence of the existence of paraphernalia associated with the use of controlled substance. Rather, it presented evidence of the presence of marijuana. We cannot say that Hale, who was sitting within plain view of the shoebox full of marijuana did not have knowledge that Blair's residence was being used for the unlawful use of a controlled substance.

*644

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Bluebook (online)
785 N.E.2d 641, 2003 Ind. App. LEXIS 462, 2003 WL 1564253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hale-v-state-indctapp-2003.