Isom v. State

479 N.E.2d 61, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2500
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 11, 1985
Docket4-884A236
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 479 N.E.2d 61 (Isom 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
Isom v. State, 479 N.E.2d 61, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2500 (Ind. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

MILLER, Presiding Judge.

After failing a breathalyzer test administered at the Chesterfield, Indiana, police station, David Isom, defendant-appellant, was arrested for drunk driving and placed into a police car for transport to the Madison County Jail, accompanied by two officers of the Chesterfield Police Department. While the police vehicle was stopped at a traffic signal near the jailhouse, Isom opened the car door and fled from the officers. One of the officers caught up with Isom but was overpowered and injured by him, allowing Isom to escape. Isom was discovered four days later at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and he eventually was returned to Madison County for trial on charges of escape resulting in bodily injury, a Class C felony, IND.CODE § 35-44-3-5 (1982), and battery of a law enforcement officer, a Class A misdemeanor, id. § 35-42-2-1(1). Following his conviction by jury on both charges, Isom was given concurrent sentences of five years on the Class C felony and one year on the Class A misdemeanor. He now brings this appeal, raising the following issues:

I. Whether the trial court erred in denying Isom's motion for a directed verdict on the Class C felony escape charge?
II. Whether the trial court erred in denying Isom's motion for a mistrial based on the alleged introduction of evidence of other criminal activity?
III. Whether Isom was denied a fair trial because of allegedly improper comments made by the prosecutor during final argument?
IV. Whether the trial court erred by imposing an excessive executed sentence of five years for Class C felony escape?
V. Whether the trial court erred in entering sentence based on a pre-sentence investigation report that failed to include statutorily required information?

Inasmuch as the state admits error with respect to Issue V, requiring that this case be remanded for further sentencing proceedings, we shall not address Issue IV. In all other respects, the trial court is affirmed. The facts relevant to each issue will be related where appropriate.

I.

At about 1:30 on the morning of January 6, 1988, Chesterfield Police Department Officer Robert Bennett and Reserve Officer Dennis O'Dell were patrolling Old State Road 67 in Madison County, Indiana, near the town of Chesterfield. They observed an automobile driven by David Isom cross the center line of the highway at least three times and pulled the vehicle to the side of the road on suspicion that the driver was operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Officer Bennett asked Isom for his *64 driver's license, but Isom was able to produce only a paper indicating his license was suspended. Isom also produced a military identification and a document showing he was on authorized leave from the army base at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Officer Bennett detected the odor of alcohol and Isom's bloodshot eyes and asked Isom to step from his vehicle to perform two field sobriety tests, which he failed. Isom consented to take a breathalyzer test and was taken in the patrol car to the Chesterfield police station where Officer Bennett administered the test. The results showed that Isom's blood-aleohol content was over .10%, and he was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

Isom became angry and abusive upon his arrest but agreed not to cause any trouble if the officers would not handcuff him. Officer Bennett agreed, and Isom was placed in the front passenger seat of the patrol car for transport to the Madison County Jail in Anderson, Indiana. Officer Bennett drove the vehicle and Officer O'Dell rode in the back seat behind Isom.

As the police vehicle approached the front entrance of the jail, which is not where prisoners are taken for processing and lockup, Isom opened the car door and began to step out. Officer Bennett ordered him back into the car, and Officer O'Dell got out of the back seat to push Isom back into the vehicle while Officer Bennett pulled him back in from the inside. Officer Bennett proceeded to drive around the block toward the lock-up entrance to the jail, but when he stopped at a red light, Isom opened the door and fled down the street.

Officer O'Dell jumped out of the back seat and pursued Isom on foot while Officer Bennett drove his patrol car in the direction Isom was running. When Isom ran across the street and tripped and fell on the curb on the other side, Officer Bennett was able to stop the car, get out, and catch up to him where he lay. Officer Bennett got on top of Isom, but Isom threw him off, got on top of Bennett and twice banged the officer's head on the sidewalk, breaking Bennett's glasses. The seuffle continued until Isom got up off of Officer Bennett and ran back across the street toward the patrol car and Officer O'Dell. Officer Bennett caught up with Isom again, grabbed him by the arm, and yelled to Officer O'Dell for assistance. Bennett was "in a groggy state" (R. 286), and Isom was able to pull free from his grasp, shove him down on one knee and again flee the two officers. They got back into the patrol car and summoned assistance from the Anderson Police Department in their search for Isom, which proved fruitless.

Officer Bennett later went to a hospital emergency room where he was treated for contusions and abrasions on his face and lacerations of the knuckles of his hand. Isom was discovered on January 10, 1983, back at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to which he had returned from leave. Isom was later extradieted for trial on charges of Class C felony escape and Class A misdemeanor battery. 1

The above statement of facts summarizes the relevant evidence presented in the state's case-in-chief, at the conclusion of which Isom moved for a directed verdict, 2 see Ind.Rules of Procedure, Trial Rule 50(A)(1), on the ground that the evidence showed the bodily injury was inflicted on Officer Bennett only after Isom's escape was completed and that the intent of the escape statute, IC 85-44-8-5, is to make escape a Class C felony only when bodily injury is inflicted during the actual *65 escape or the events leading up to the escape. Because he had momentarily gained his freedom at the time of the injury to Officer Bennett, Isom argued, the escape was complete at that time, and the bodily injury was not inflicted while committing it, as required by the escape statute, which states:

"A person who intentionally flees from lawful detention or intentionally fails to return to lawful detention following temporary leave granted for a specified purpose or limited period commits escape, a Class D felony. However, the offense is a Class C felony if, while committing it, the person draws or uses a deadly weapon or inflicts bodily injury on another person."

IC 85-44-8-5.

As our supreme court has stated, in reviewing the denial of a criminal defendant's motion under Trial Rule 50, we will reverse only where "there is a total absence of evidence on some essential issue required to convict, or where the evidence is without conflict and susceptible of but one inference, that being in favor of the accused." Lonson v. State (1980), 273 Ind. 581, 406 N.E.2d 256, 259.

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Bluebook (online)
479 N.E.2d 61, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/isom-v-state-indctapp-1985.