Kocielko v. State

938 N.E.2d 243, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 2246, 2010 WL 4899622
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 2, 2010
Docket20A03-1002-CR-218
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 938 N.E.2d 243 (Kocielko 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
Kocielko v. State, 938 N.E.2d 243, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 2246, 2010 WL 4899622 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

BAILEY, Judge.

Case Summary

Appellant-Defendant Paul J. Kocielko ("Kocielko") appeals his convictions for two counts of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, 1 one count as a Class B felony, and one count as a Class C felony, and his adjudication as a habitual offender. 2 We affirm the Class B felony conviction and habitual offender adjudication but remand to the trial court with instructions to set aside the Class C felony conviction.

Issues

Kocielko presents six issues for review:

*248 I. Whether his retrial violated double jeopardy prohibitions because an acquittal on one count in his first trial acquitted him of the other counts against him;

II. Alternatively, assuming his retrial was permissible, whether double jeopardy principles preclude his convictions on multiple counts as opposed to one count;

III. Whether he is entitled to a new trial because of undue prejudice from trial safety measures including a hidden leg restraint and police officer seating arrangements;

IV. Whether he knowingly and intelligently waived his right to be represented by counsel;

V. Whether he was entitled to a DNA expert at public expense; and

VI. Whether his sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character.

Facts and Procedural History

On August 8, 2007, Kocielko took his fourteen-year-old stepdaughter, A.Q., to a Knights Inn in Elkhart and rented a room with one double bed. Kocielko gave A.Q. several drinks of peppermint flavored whiskey until A.Q. was dizzy and "out of it, drunk." (Tr. 1719.) After the two watched television and exchanged back rubs, Kocielko stated that he was tired and turned out the lights.

A.Q. was lying on the bed with her back to Kocielko when Kocielko took her left hand, placed it on his penis, and "moved it around in a circular motion." (Tr. 1722.) Kocielko pulled down A.Q.'s basketball shorts and underwear to her mid-thigh. He then penetrated A.Q.'s anus with his penis causing her "horribly bad" pain. (Tr. 1724.)

The next day, Kocielko took A.Q. to her step-grandparents' house. A.Q. bathed, changed clothes, and hid the bloodied underwear that she had worn the night before. Initially, Kocielko and A.Q. agreed not to tell anyone about the drinking or sexual activity and A.Q. assured Kocielko that she had thrown away her underwear. However, after a few days passed, A.Q. told her aunt about the molestation and showed her the previously-hidden underwear. With the assistance of her aunt and mother, A.Q. went to the police station, handed over the underwear, and gave a statement implicating Kocielko.

On August 27, 2007, Kocielko was charged with three counts of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, with one count alleging that Kocielko committed deviate sexual conduct upon A.Q., one count alleging that Kocielko submitted to fondling of his penis by A.Q., and one count alleging that Ko-cielko fondled A.Q. by touching her breast. The State also alleged Kocielko is a habitual offender. Kocielko was brought to trial on October 29, 2007. The trial ended with a hung jury as to the first two counts and an acquittal on the count of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor by fondling of A.Q.'s breast.

Kocielko's retrial, as to the counts involving deviate sexual conduct and fondling by touching of Kocielko's penis, commenced on January 4, 2010. Kocielko elected to represent himself, with stand-by counsel having been appointed to conduct legal research. The jury found Kocielko guilty of both charges, and also found him to be a habitual offender.

On February 4, 2010, Kocielko was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment on Count I (deviate sexual conduct), enhanced by thirty years, and eight years on Count II (fondling), enhanced by thirty years. The trial court ordered the sentences to be served concurrently, providing for an ag *249 gregate sentence of fifty years. Kocielko appeals.

Discussion and Decision

I. Implied Acquittal

At Kocielko's first trial, the jury explicitly acquitted him of Count III and returned blank verdict forms as to the other two counts. Kocielko contends that because the State charged a "single episode that occurred over a relatively short period of time," Appellant's Brief at 13, an acquittal on Count III operated as an acquittal on the first two counts.

"[This Court has consistently refused to rule that jeopardy for an offense continues after an acquittal, whether that acquittal is express or implied by a convietion on a lesser included offense when the jury was given a full opportunity to return a verdict on the greater charge." Price v. Georgia, 398 U.S. 323, 329, 90 S.Ct. 1757, 26 L.Ed.2d 300 (1970). An "implied acquittal" by the jury is an "acquittal in which a jury convicts the defendant of a lesser-included offense without commenting on the greater-offense." Moore v. State, 882 N.E2d 788, 798 n. 8 (Ind.Ct.App.2008). In Haddix v. State, 827 N.E.2d 1160 (Ind.Ct.App.2005), trans. denied, we observed that the doctrine of "implied acquittal" was essentially codified by Indiana Code Section 35-41-4-8(a), which states in relevant part:

A prosecution is barred if there was a former prosecution of the defendant based on the same facts and for commission of the same offense and if:
(1) The former prosecution resulted in an acquittal or a conviction of the defendant (A conviction of an included offense constitutes an acquittal of the greater offense, even if the conviction is subsequently set aside); or
(2) The former prosecution was terminated after the jury was impaneled and sworn ... unless ... the jury was unable to agree on a verdict[.]

Kocielko's first trial did not result in "acquittal implied by conviction on a lesser-included offense." Price, 398 U.S. at 329, 90 S.Ct. 1757. Indeed, no conviction was entered at the first trial; Kocielko was acquitted of one charge and the jury was hung as to two charges. A deadlocked jury does not result in acquittal barring retrial under the federal Double Jeopardy Clause. Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31, 42, 102 S.Ct. 2211, 72 L.Ed.2d 652 (1982). See also Menifee v. State, 512 N.E.2d 142, 143 (Ind.1987) (observing, "a new trial is not barred following a hung jury").

Kocielko acknowledges the general rule that there is continuing jeopardy when the jury is discharged because it is unable to agree, but nonetheless asserts that his see-ond trial was based upon the same facts as the first trial and the State may not avoid Double Jeopardy constraints by "dividing a single crime into a series of temporal or spatial units." Appellant's Brief at 9. He develops a two-fold argument: first, all of his alleged conduct with A.Q.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
938 N.E.2d 243, 2010 Ind. App. LEXIS 2246, 2010 WL 4899622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kocielko-v-state-indctapp-2010.