Holloway v. State

773 N.E.2d 315, 2002 Ind. App. LEXIS 1289, 2002 WL 1839626
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 13, 2002
DocketNo. 49A04-0112-PC-550
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 773 N.E.2d 315 (Holloway 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
Holloway v. State, 773 N.E.2d 315, 2002 Ind. App. LEXIS 1289, 2002 WL 1839626 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Jefferson Holloway appeals from the denial of his petition for postconviction relief. We affirm in part, and reverse and remand in part.

ISSUE

Whether the postconviction court erred by denying Holloway’s request for relief directed to his separate convictions and sentences for rape and criminal deviate conduct, enhanced to class A felonies based upon the same injuries to the same victim.

FACTS

The facts and procedural history were set out in the memorandum decision by this court affirming Holloway’s convictions on direct appeal. (App. 130-35, Memorandum Decision, Holloway v. State, No. 49A02-9707-CR-444, 691 N.E.2d 524 (Ind. Ct.App.1998)). Holloway was charged in three counts: Count I, rape with serious bodily injury, as a class A felony; Count II, deviate sexual conduct with serious bodily injury, as a class A felony; and Count III, battery with serious bodily injury, as a class C felony. The charging information for all three counts specified the serious bodily injury to the victim as “bruises and cuts to the head and a broken nose.” (App. 147-48).

After a trial by jury, Holloway was convicted of all three charges. (Trial R. 531). The trial court “merged” the battery conviction with Holloway’s other convictions and did not enter a judgment of conviction or a sentence for battery.1 (Trial R. 532).

[317]*317Holloway was sentenced in April 1997. Holloway’s counsel did not explicitly contend that the two A felony convictions would violate double jeopardy. However, counsel did argue that the two separate sentences could not stand because the convictions were based upon the same injuries that were part of the separate offense of battery. Counsel argued that either 1) one of the convictions should be vacated, or 2) the convictions should be entered as class B felonies. Noting that the battery conviction had been merged .with the other offenses, the trial court rejected Holloway’s argument. Holloway was sentenced to 35 years each on the two class A felony convictions, and consecutive sentences were imposed.

Holloway did not raise any sentencing issues within his direct appeal. As noted, Holloway’s convictions were affirmed on direct appeal. Holloway filed a pro se petition for postconviction relief in April 1999. Counsel for Holloway amended the petition. In September 2001, an evidentia-ry hearing was held on the merits of Holloway’s amended petition. Holloway argued, consistent with this appeal, that both his rape and criminal deviate conduct charges could not be enhanced to class A felonies based upon the same acts or the same continuous episode, during which the victim sustained serious bodily injury. The postconviction court determined that multiple injuries would sustain multiple enhancements and rejected Holloway’s argument.

DECISION

“Indiana’s postconviction rules do not afford convicted persons an opportunity for a super appeal, but instead create a narrower remedy permitting the collateral challenge of convictions under certain enumerated circumstances.” Jones v. State, 693 N.E.2d 605, 607 (Ind.Ct.App.1998) (citing Weatherford v. State, 619 N.E.2d 915, 916 (Ind.1993)). A post-conviction petitioner bears the burden of establishing his claims by a preponderance of the evidence. Weatherford, 619 N.E.2d at 917.

An appeal from the denial of post-conviction relief constitutes an appeal from a negative judgment. Harrison v. State, 707 N.E.2d 767, 773. (Ind.1999). “To prevail on appeal from the denial of postcon-viction relief, the petitioner must show that the evidence as a whole leads unerringly and unmistakably to a conclusion opposite to that reached by the posteonviction court.” Weatherford, 619 N.E.2d at 917.

In the postconviction setting, conclusions of law receive no deference on appeal. Taylor v. State, 717 N.E.2d 90, 92 (Ind.1999). As to factual matters, courts on review examine only the probative evidence and reasonable inferences that support the postconviction court’s determination and do not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of the witnesses. Id.

Holloway contends that enhancing both his rape and criminal deviate conduct convictions to class A felonies for the same injurious conduct, under the faets of this case, violates both the Indiana Constitution’s double jeopardy provisions and the long-held Indiana common law tradition. Holloway urges that the error is fundamental and that his counsel was ineffective for failing to specifically raise the issue.

The State argues that Holloway is not entitled to postconviction relief because [318]*318the double jeopardy pronouncements within Richardson v. State, 717 N.E.2d 32 (Ind.1999), have prospective application only, and are not available on postconviction relief. See Taylor, 717 N.E.2d at 95 (the new methodology for analyzing a claim under the Indiana Double Jeopardy Clause, as announced in Richardson, “is not available for retroactive application in post-conviction proceedings.”). However, the State acknowledges, and we agree, that the basis for Holloway’s postconviction contentions is governed by Indiana common law. Recent analyses within our supreme court’s decisions support this determination.

In Pierce v. State, 761 N.E.2d 826, 830 (Ind.2002), the court stated:

[W]e have long adhered to a series of rules of statutory construction and common law that are often described as double jeopardy, but are not governed by the constitutional test set forth in Richardson. Among these is the doctrine that where a burglary conviction is elevated to a Class A felony based on the same bodily injury that forms the basis of a Class B robbery conviction, the two cannot stand.

Id. (citations omitted). The court in Pierce agreed that the defendant’s burglary and robbery convictions could not both be enhanced by the same bodily injury. Id. The court reduced the defendant’s robbery conviction from a class B felony to a class C felony. Id. In support of its determination, the court offered three examples in pre-Richardson cases decided in 1989 through 1993, wherein similar results were obtained. Id.

Quoting Pierce, and relying upon the pre-Richardson analysis in Kingery v. State, 659 N.E.2d 490, 495-96 (Ind.1995), the court in Gross v. State, 769 N.E.2d 1136, 1139 (Ind.2002), determined that a murder conviction and a robbery conviction enhanced to a class A felony based upon the same acts subsumed in the murder could not both stand. The court reduced the robbery conviction to a class B felony2 and remanded for a new sentence. Id.; see also Davis v. State,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

James Miske, Jr. v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2020
Porter v. State
935 N.E.2d 1228 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2010)
West v. State
907 N.E.2d 176 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
773 N.E.2d 315, 2002 Ind. App. LEXIS 1289, 2002 WL 1839626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holloway-v-state-indctapp-2002.