Joshua D. Gaunt v. State of Indiana

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 30, 2013
Docket90A02-1210-CR-847
StatusUnpublished

This text of Joshua D. Gaunt v. State of Indiana (Joshua D. Gaunt v. State of Indiana) 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
Joshua D. Gaunt v. State of Indiana, (Ind. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Pursuant to Ind.Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any Apr 30 2013, 9:31 am court except for the purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:

KIMBERLY A. JACKSON GREGORY F. ZOELLER Indianapolis, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

KATHERINE MODESITT COOPER Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

JOSHUA D. GAUNT, ) ) Appellant-Defendant, ) ) vs. ) No. 90A02-1210-CR-847 ) STATE OF INDIANA, ) ) Appellee-Plaintiff. )

APPEAL FROM THE WELLS CIRCUIT COURT The Honorable Kenton W. Kiracofe, Judge Cause No. 90C01-1204-FC-10

April 30, 2013

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION

FRIEDLANDER, Judge Joshua D. Gaunt pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to aiding, inducing, or

causing burglary, as a class C felony. The trial court sentenced Gaunt to six years, with two

years suspended to probation. Gaunt presents the following restated issues for review:

1. Is Gaunt’s sentence inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character?

2. Is Probation Condition 18 (Condition 18) overly broad, ambiguous, unreasonable, or impermissibly vague?

3. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in ordering Gaunt to pay restitution?

4. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in ordering Gaunt to pay a supplemental public defender fee?

We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions.

The facts of the underlying occurrence, as admitted by Gaunt, are that on October 17,

2011, Chase Starr asked Gaunt to drive him to a motel located adjacent to a restaurant.

Gaunt agreed. Once there, Gaunt assisted Starr, Brandon Hall, and Samantha Cole in loading

items stolen from the nearby restaurant into the back of a red Durango parked behind a

business near the motel. The items taken included a safe that contained over $7000.

As a result of his participation, the State charged Gaunt with class C felony aiding,

inducing, or causing burglary. Gaunt entered into a guilty plea that left his sentence to the

trial court’s discretion and provided that the State would not make a specific sentencing

recommendation. As a condition of his plea, Gaunt agreed to provide a statement to police

prior to sentencing that implicated his co-defendants in the burglary. He also agreed to

testify against all three at trial. The issue of restitution, “including whether to order it and the

2 amount of restitution,” was also left to the trial court’s discretion. Appellant’s Appendix at

50.

At sentencing, the trial court identified as aggravating circumstances Gaunt’s history

of juvenile delinquent and criminal behavior and his recent violation of “the conditions of his

probation, parole, or community corrections placement or any pretrial release that were

granted to him[.]” Transcript at 53. The trial court identified as mitigators the facts that

Gaunt pleaded guilty and that he cooperated with police. The trial court also noted at the

time of sentencing that Gaunt was serving a sentence in Allen County. Finally, the court

noted that Gaunt’s sentence was not suspendable. The trial court imposed a six-year

sentence, with two years suspended to probation. The trial court also determined that Gaunt

may serve two years of the four executed years on home detention through community

corrections, if he qualified and if he could pay the costs associated with the program. As

conditions of probation, the court ordered Gaunt to pay restitution in the amount of

$10,868.82, payable jointly and severally with his co-defendants, and ordered him to pay a

supplemental public defender fee of $300. The court also imposed Condition 18, which

stated that Gaunt “shall not associate with any person having a questionable reputation or

criminal record.” Appellant’s Appendix at 15.

1.

Gaunt contends his sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and

his character. Article 7, section 4 of the Indiana Constitution grants our Supreme Court the

power to review and revise criminal sentences. Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 7, the

3 Supreme Court authorized this court to perform the same task. Cardwell v. State, 895 N.E.2d

1219 (Ind. 2008). Per App. R. 7(B), we may revise a sentence “if, after due consideration of

the trial court’s decision, the Court finds that the sentence is inappropriate in light of the

nature of the offense and the character of the offender.” Wilkes v. State, 917 N.E.2d 675, 693

(Ind. 2009), cert. denied, 131 S.Ct. 414 (2010). “[S]entencing is principally a discretionary

function in which the trial court’s judgment should receive considerable deference.”

Cardwell v. State, 895 N.E.2d at 1223. Gaunt bears the burden on appeal of persuading us

that his sentence is inappropriate. Childress v. State, 848 N.E.2d 1073 (Ind. 2006).

We agree with Gaunt’s assertion that, considered by itself, the nature of his offense

does not support a sentence in excess of the advisory sentence. We do not agree, however,

with his claim that there are no grounds for enhancing his sentence based upon a

consideration of his character. He cites several unfortunate facets of his childhood as

mitigators. Although lamentable, those circumstances cannot be viewed as having played a

causal role in his later brushes with the juvenile and criminal justice systems and thus are of

negligible mitigating weight. By the time he was only nineteen years old, Gaunt had already

received seven juvenile-delinquency adjudications. These included adjudications for

residential entry, multiple acts of receiving stolen property, escape, resisting law

enforcement, and possession of paraphernalia. As an adult, Gaunt was recently convicted of

felony corrupt business influence, as a class C felony. He was arrested on that charge a mere

six months after his release from incarceration from the Indiana Department of Correction.

He committed the present offense less than seven months after he was released from

4 incarceration for violating the dispositional order on his adjudication for residential entry.

In view of his history of juvenile delinquent and criminal behavior, which is not

insubstantial when considered in relation to his relative youth, the sentence imposed by the

trial court is not inappropriate.

2.

As a condition of probation, the trial court ordered that Gaunt “shall not associate with

any person of questionable reputation or criminal record”, i.e., Condition 18. Appellant’s

Appendix at 15. Essentially, Gaunt challenges the portion of Condition 18 that forbids his

association with “persons of questionable reputation” on the ground that this aspect of

Condition 18 is overly broad, ambiguous, unreasonable, or impermissibly vague.

The trial court is vested with the discretion to determine the conditions of probation.

Heaton v. State, 984 N.E.2d 614 (Ind. 2013). We review for abuse of discretion, which

occurs when the decision is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances

or when the trial court misinterprets the law. Id.

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