Ives v. State

418 N.E.2d 220, 275 Ind. 535
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1981
Docket580S118
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 418 N.E.2d 220 (Ives v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ives v. State, 418 N.E.2d 220, 275 Ind. 535 (Ind. 1981).

Opinions

PRENTICE, Justice.

Defendant (Appellant) was convicted after trial by jury of Rape, Ind.Code § 35-42-4-1 (Burns 1979), and of being an Habitual Offender, Ind.Code § 35-50-2-8 (Burns 1979). He was sentenced to ten (10) years imprisonment on the Rape charge and to an additional thirty (30) years imprisonment as an Habitual Criminal, for a total of forty (40) years. This direct appeal presents the following issues:

(1) Whether the evidence was sufficient to support the rape conviction.

(2) Whether errors occurred concerning the defendant’s rights relative to the discovery had and evidence admitted on the habitual offender charge.

(3) Whether the trial court erred with respect to jury instructions given and refused.

(4) Whether the trial court erred in admitting the victim’s pants into evidence over the defendant’s objection that the chain of custody had not been adequately established.

(5) Whether the trial court erred in allowing the alternate juror to sit in the jury room during deliberations.

* * * * * *

ISSUE I

The defendant contends that the rape conviction is improper for want of evidence of a forcible penetration. Dobrzykowski v. State (1978) 269 Ind. 604, 382 N.E.2d 170.

The prosecutrix and two of her friends drove to Indianapolis to attend the Indy 500 time trials. One of her friends had arranged for the girls to stay at the home of her future employer and had also arranged to meet one, Douglas White, and his friends, who would show the girls around the city. The girls met White and two of his friends, including the defendant, at the Holiday Inn on Shadeland Avenue as prearranged. The group of six persons spent the night partying and dancing and then went to a restaurant at about 2:00 a. m. for breakfast.

After leaving the restaurant, the prosecu-trix rode in the defendant’s automobile, with the understanding that he would take her back to the Holiday Inn to pick up her own, after which they would go to the house where the girls planned to stay. They followed White’s car until it turned, after which he proceeded independently, stating that he had to stop for gasoline but a few minutes later stating that he was going directly to the house where the girls planned to stay.

They drove around for fifteen to twenty minutes, and she suggested that they stop to make a telephone call to get directions, but the defendant parked the vehicle off the road near Eagle Creek Park and pulled her toward him and kissed her. She neither encouraged nor resisted, but told him that they should find a telephone booth, make a call, and leave.

The defendant suggested that she relax. He continued to kiss her and she pulled away. She said that she thought that they should leave to find the others, but he told her to relax, that he wasn’t going to do anything.

The defendant then attempted to remove her pants. She told him to stop and that she was menstruating, whereupon he grabbed her waist and pulled her down. The victim’s testimony continues:

“Q. And then what happened?
“A. And then I was trying to get his hands away from me, and he reached around behind me and grabbed a hold of my right hand so that my left arm was pinned underneath me and my — he had a hold of my right hand, and he continued to try to get my pants undone.”

This struggle continued until the defendant completed the rape. During the struggle the prosecutrix cried and screamed and tried to pull her pants back up as the defendant was trying to pull them down.

[223]*223“Upon a review for sufficient evidence, this Court will look only to the evidence most favorable to the State and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. If the evidence of each element of the crime charged may be found therefrom beyond a reasonable doubt, the verdict will not be disturbed. (Citation omitted). In such a review, we will not weigh conflicting evidence nor will we judge the credibility of the witnesses.” Loyd v. State (1980) Ind., 398 N.E.2d 1260, 1264.

The uncorroborated testimony of the victim is sufficient to sustain a rape conviction. Geisleman v. State (1980) Ind., 410 N.E.2d 1293, 1295. As related above, the record shows that the defendant used force to accomplish the penetration of the victim.

ISSUE II

Defendant assigns an assortment of alleged errors related to the habitual offender determination phase of the bifurcated trial, the totality of which, he contends, denied him representation by competent, informed counsel and the right to- confront his accusers.

The rape information was filed on June 12, 1979. On June 21st, Defendant was arraigned, proper counsel was appointed and discovery ordered completed within thirty days.

On September 11th, Defendant filed a speedy trial motion, and a trial date of October 17th was set. We are not apprised as to why the trial did not commence on that date, but on October 31st, an amended information adding the habitual offender count was filed.

On November 5th, the defendant was again arraigned, the case was set for trial for November 12th; and both sides were ordered to comply with discovery orders within thirty days.

On November 9th, the State, pursuant to discovery orders, supplied the defendant with documents to be offered into evidence supporting the rape charge and others supporting the habitual offender charge. Defendant filed a motion in limine, seeking to preclude introduction of the documents, which motion was subsequently sustained as to the evidence of rape but overruled as to the evidence of the habitual offender status; and the latter was subsequently admitted into evidence, over defendant’s timely objection.

The case was called to trial and the jury impaneled and sworn. The defendant then moved orally for a continuance, which was refused.

There is no merit to Defendant’s claim that he was harmed by the State’s tardy compliance with the original discovery order. The evidence that was tardily disclosed was excluded.

Neither is there merit to the claim that the documentation of his habitual offender status came late. It was furnished nine days following the amendment which added his offender status as an issue, four days following the order and three days prior to the commencement of the trial. The evidence merely related to his identity; and there is no indication that the defendant was surprised by the disclosure. Neither is there any showing of how he would have benefited from an earlier disclosure or by the grant of a continuance. There has been no claim that the records introduced did not relate to him.

The later amendment and election by the State to try the defendant as an habitual offender may well have entitled the defendant to reassess his prior determination to seek an early trial. Abstractly, such a late change could well be valid grounds for a continuance, in which case it would behoove a defendant to act promptly.

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Bluebook (online)
418 N.E.2d 220, 275 Ind. 535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ives-v-state-ind-1981.