In Re Sh

969 N.E.2d 1048, 2012 WL 2366248
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 22, 2012
Docket73A01-1109-CR-468
StatusPublished

This text of 969 N.E.2d 1048 (In Re Sh) 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
In Re Sh, 969 N.E.2d 1048, 2012 WL 2366248 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

969 N.E.2d 1048 (2012)

In re Prosecutor's Subpoena Regarding S.H. and S.C.,
S.H., Appellant,
v.
State of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 73A01-1109-CR-468.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

June 22, 2012.

*1049 Cara Schaefer Wieneke, Wieneke Law Office, LLC, Plainfield, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Ian McLean, Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

MAY, Judge.

S.H. and S.C. (collectively, "Parents") appeal a trial court order granting the State's petition to compel their testimony by providing use immunity. Parents argue a prosecutor may not grant use immunity when there is no grand jury proceeding and the persons whose testimony is sought have not been charged with a crime.

We affirm.[1]

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 27, 2010, S.C. gave birth at her home. When the child's father, S.H., returned home, he found S.C. bleeding and took her and the infant to a hospital. The medical staff noted the baby showed signs of injury in the form of multiple puncture wounds. Police officers spoke with Parents and others, who offered differing accounts of the circumstances of the birth and the cause of the wounds. The police then searched Parents' apartment.

The prosecutor petitioned for subpoenas compelling Parents' testimony about the circumstances surrounding the birth, and they were issued. The parents asked the trial court to quash the subpoenas on the ground they violated Parents' constitutional privileges against self-incrimination.

The trial court granted the motions to quash and then the State asked the court to grant use immunity and compel Parents to testify. The parents objected on the same ground, but the trial court granted use immunity[2] and ordered Parents to testify. At this point, although Parents had not been formally charged with any crime, the trial court appointed *1050 public defenders to represent them[3] and directed the parties to agree to a date on which Parents would testify. The parents moved to correct error and the trial court denied the motion.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

The parents contend a prosecutor cannot circumvent the privilege against self-incrimination during a pre-charge investigation by granting use immunity. They argue the prosecutor has authority to compel testimony via use immunity in only two circumstances: (1) when there is a grand jury investigation; or (2) after charges have been filed. Because the prosecutor can compel testimony in grand jury proceedings by granting use immunity, the State argues the prosecutor has the same authority when conducting a pre-charge investigation without a grand jury. As a prosecutor's ability to investigate and accumulate evidence is coextensive with that of a grand jury, we agree with the State.

The trial court phrased the issue before it as "[w]hether a prosecutor investigating a crime precharge and without a grand jury has the same authority to grant use immunity as a prosecutor using a grand jury?"[4] (App. at 43.) It answered in the affirmative, relying on our Indiana Supreme Court's statement in In re Order for Ind. Bell Tel. to Disclose Records, 274 Ind. 131, 134-35, 409 N.E.2d 1089, 1091 (1980):

In 1973, prosecuting attorneys were given the power to initiate criminal prosecutions by filing an information. It should be noted this same general power was given under prior law but the instrument was called an affidavit filed by the prosecutor, rather than an information. Under the statute the prosecutor has the authority to charge an individual with the commission of a crime without first submitting the evidence to a grand jury. Along with this power to charge a person with the commission of a crime, we hold that the investigatory powers of the prosecutor now parallel those of the grand jury. A prosecutor has the same ability to accumulate evidence as the grand jury.

(Citation omitted) (emphasis added).

The parents correctly note the language of the statute governing use immunity, Ind.Code § 35-34-2-8, addresses such immunity only when there is a grand jury:

(a) Upon request by the prosecuting attorney, the court shall grant use immunity to a witness before the grand jury. The court shall instruct the witness by written order or in open court that any evidence the witness gives before the grand jury, or evidence derived from that evidence, may not be used in any criminal prosecution against that witness, unless the evidence is volunteered by the witness or is not responsive to a question by the grand jury or the prosecutor. The court shall then instruct the witness that he must answer the questions *1051 asked and produce the items requested.

(Emphasis added.) The trial court acknowledged that portion of the statute, but determined

the authority of the prosecutor to offer use immunity does not depend upon the existence of a grand jury or legislative action, but such authority is implicit in the office of the prosecutor itself. Even if use immunity authority is derived solely from legislative consent, the Indiana Supreme Court has already addressed that issue [in Indiana Bell].

(App. at 45.)

We decline to adopt the trial court's position that a prosecutor's authority to offer use immunity is "implicit in the office of the prosecutor itself." (Id.) We stated otherwise in Brune v. Marshall, 169 Ind. App. 637, 640, 350 N.E.2d 661, 663 (1976):

While the office of Prosecuting Attorney may have been created by the Constitution of Indiana, the rights and duties of that office are prescribed by statute.... (T)he Prosecuting Attorney has only such power as is enumerated within the four corners of the statutory enactment defining his duties, and he has no residual common law rights or powers.

In Brune, we were unable to find statutory authority for a pre-charging deferral program to be initiated and/or operated by a prosecuting attorney as an alternative to prosecution, and we therefore concluded the prosecutor was acting beyond the scope of his authority when he established such a program and charged Brune a fee for participating in it. Id. at 641, 350 N.E.2d at 663.

Only two Indiana Code chapters appear to address a prosecutor's authority to offer use immunity. Ind.Code §§ 35-37-3-1 through 3 provide for a grant of use immunity on a prosecutor's request, if a witness, in any hearing or trial occurring after an indictment or information has been filed, refuses to answer any question or produce any item.[5] Those sections do not authorize use immunity in the case before us, as *1052 there are no witnesses testifying at a trial or hearing occurring after an indictment or information was filed.[6] The second statutory provision that addresses use immunity is Ind.Code §

Related

Oman v. State
737 N.E.2d 1131 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2000)
Brune v. Marshall
350 N.E.2d 661 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1976)
State Ex Rel. Pollard v. Criminal Ct. of Marion Cty.
329 N.E.2d 573 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1975)
Bellows v. BD. OF COM'RS OF CTY. OF ELKHART
926 N.E.2d 96 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2010)
State v. Peters
637 N.E.2d 145 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1994)
Indiana Bell Telephone Co. v. State
409 N.E.2d 1089 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1980)
In Re Gardner
713 N.E.2d 346 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1999)
Jackson v. State
644 N.E.2d 607 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1994)
Lucas v. State
499 N.E.2d 1090 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1986)
Chanley v. State
550 N.E.2d 764 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
969 N.E.2d 1048, 2012 WL 2366248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sh-indctapp-2012.