Hollen v. State

740 N.E.2d 149, 2000 WL 1839762
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 14, 2001
Docket13A01-0001-CR-6
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 740 N.E.2d 149 (Hollen 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
Hollen v. State, 740 N.E.2d 149, 2000 WL 1839762 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

OPINION

BAILEY, Judge

Case Summary

Howard O. Hollen ("Hollen") appeals his convictions of Battery of a Law Enforcement Officer, a class D felony, and Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, a class A misdemeanor.

Issues

Hollen raises three issues, restated as:

I. Whether the trial court should have granted Hollen's motion for mistrial after the arresting officer testified, in violation of the court's pre-trial order in limine, that he had been dispatched to Hollen's residence to investigate a complaint that Hollen had been threatening his neighbors;
II. Whether the trial court improperly admitted the arresting officer's Affidavit for Probable Cause, which contained the officer's handwritten notes indicating that Hol-len engaged in another fight with the officer after Hollen's arrest; and
III. Whether the trial court failed to properly consider and balance aggravating and mitigating factors when sentencing Hollen.

Facts and Procedural History

On August 29, 1998, Hollen drove to the Crawford County home of his neighbor, Joyee Jellison ("Jellison") to use Jellison's [153]*153telephone. Hollen parked his truck in the middle of the road adjacent to Jellison's home. As Hollen exited the vehicle, Jelli-son noticed that Hollen had a gun in his left pocket, and that a gun fell from the truck seat.1 Jellison noted that Hollen smelled of alcohol and slurred his words. Hollen called the phone company on Jelli-son's telephone and cursed and threatened to kill the phone company representative.2 He then advised Jellison that he was going to kill everyone on the right-hand side of the street, because "they was all out to get him." (R. 548.) Jellison called the Crawford County Sheriffs Department to report Hollen's threats. Hollen got back in his truck, spun his wheels in the gravel roadway, and drove toward his house.

Deputy Herman Polen ("Deputy Polen") was dispatched to Hollen's home, also in Crawford County. After Deputy Polen arrived, he observed Hollen driving toward the residence very slowly and on the wrong side of the road. Hollen stopped his vehicle and got out, and began cursing and shouting at the deputy. Deputy Polen smelled alcohol on Hollen's breath, and asked Hollen to accompany him to the Sheriff's department for a breathalyzer test. As Deputy Polen was reaching for Hollen's arm to escort him to the nearby police car, Hollen struck Deputy Polen in the jaw. He then violently grabbed the deputy's testicles, refusing to let go until Deputy Polen struck Hollen several times and choked him.

After subduing Hollen, Deputy Polen took him to the Sheriffs Department, where a breathalyzer measured Hollen's blood aleohol content to be .15%. Deputy Polen then took Hollen to a hospital outside of Crawford County for treatment of injuries Hollen sustained in the altercation. While in the hospital, Hollen struck Deputy Polen four more times before being strapped to a bed.

Hollen was charged with Battery of a Law Enforcement Officer and Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated. This ease proceeded to jury trial in the Crawford County Cireuit Court on November 1, 1999. The jury convicted Hollen, and the court entered judgment on those convictions on November 3, 1999. Hollen was sentenced on December 1, 1999. He now appeals.

Discussion

I. Mistrial

A. Issue

After the jury was selected, Hollen made a motion in limine, asking the court to forbid Deputy Polen from submitting "any testimony about somebody, neighbor waving a gun or something, anything in that nature...." (R. 479.) The judge ruled that the State could not present evi[154]*154dence regarding the specific reason Deputy Polen was dispatched to Hollen's house unless that information came from a 911 call log, duly established as a business record by an appropriate witness pursuant to Evidence Rule 808. (R. 484.) Rather, the court indicated that Deputy Polen was only to say that he went to Hollen's residence in response to a 911 call, (R. 487.)

During trial, the following exchange between the prosecutor and Deputy Polen took place:

[Prosecutor]: Did he, had you said anything to him to ellicit [sic] the cursing from [Hollen]?
Polen: No, we were just standing there and you know, I wouldn't want to use the words he was using, just telling me to get off his property. I had no business being there and I told Mr. Hollen, yes I have a reason for being there. I said you have been threatening your neighborhood with a handgun.

(R. 500.) Hollen promptly objected and asked for a mistrial. The court declined to grant a mistrial, but admonished the jury to disregard Deputy Polen's testimony.

B. Standard of Review

The decision to grant or deny a motion for mistrial is entrusted to the sound discretion of the trial court, because the judge is in the best position to evaluate the cireumstances of an allegedly prejudicial event, and to assess its impact on the jury. Kavanaugh v. State, 695 N.E.2d 629, 632 (Ind.Ct.App.1998). When reviewing a trial court's grant or denial of a mistrial, we look to whether the moving party was placed in a position of grave peril to which he should not have been subjected. Id. The gravity of the peril is a function of the probable persuasive effect of the statement or conduct, and not of the degree of the conduct's impropriety. Id. A mistrial is an extreme remedy warrant, ed only when no other curative measure, such as an admonishment, will rectify the situation. See Herrera v. State, 710 N.E.2d 9831, 987 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). Reversal is seldom required when the trial court has admonished the jury to disregard some statement or conduct. Kavanaugh, 695 N.E.2d at 632.

C. Discussion and Decision

Hollen recognizes that the trial court's ruling on his motion in limine did not determine the ultimate admissibility of this evidence. See Herrera, 710 N.E.2d at 936. Rather, a motion in limine is designed to prevent the disclosure of potentially prejudicial matters to the jury until the trial court has the opportunity to rule on its admissibility. Id. at 935. If the trial court errs by admitting evidence that the defendant sought to be excluded by a motion in limine, the error is in the admission of evidence, not in the violation of the court's pre-trial order. Id. at 9836. Hollen argues that Deputy Polen's testimony warranted a mistrial because it constituted inadmissible evidence of prior misconduct under Evidence Rule 404(b), and inadmissible hearsay. The State does not address the admissibility of Deputy Polen's testimony in its Brief, and we will assume for purposes of this discussion that the testimony was not admissible.

Error in the admission of evi-demce may be harmless when a conviction is otherwise supported by independent evidence. Mauricio v. State, 652 N.E.2d 869, 872 (Ind.Ct.App.1995). Here, Hollen's convictions for Battery of Deputy Polen, and for Operating While Intoxicated, were supported by considerable evidence. Indeed, Hollen does not dispute that the evidence was sufficient to sustain his convictions. Evidentiary errors may also be harmless when the evidence in question is merely cumulative of evidence admitted elsewhere. Cohen v.

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Bluebook (online)
740 N.E.2d 149, 2000 WL 1839762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hollen-v-state-indctapp-2001.