Lauren Cupp v. State of Indiana

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided August 8, 2025·No. 24A-CR-02333·Published

Opinion

IN THE

Court of Appeals of Indiana FILED

Lauren Cupp, Aug 08 2025, 8:45 am

CLERK

Appellant-Defendant Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals

and Tax Court

v.

State of Indiana,

Appellee-Plaintiff

August 8, 2025

Court of Appeals Case No.

24A-CR-2333

Appeal from the Boone Circuit Court The Honorable Lori N. Schein, Judge Trial Court Cause No.

06C01-2305-F6-1065

Opinion by Judge Weissmann Judge Scheele concurs.

Judge May dissents in part, concurs in result in part, and concurs in full in part with a separate opinion.

Weissmann, Judge.

[1] When police attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Lauren Cupp, she drew a handgun, threatened an officer, and fled with her two young children through a residential neighborhood. Later in her flight, Cupp encountered a second officer. She yelled at the officer to stay back, fired a shot in his direction, and continued running until she was eventually apprehended. For this, Cupp was convicted of two counts of resisting law enforcement—one count for each officer she resisted—and two counts of felony neglect of a dependent. The trial court also imposed a sentence enhancement based on Cupp’s use of a firearm during her resistance of the second officer.

[2] On appeal, Cupp challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting her conviction for resisting the second officer and claims the two convictions violate double jeopardy. She also disputes the imposition of the firearms enhancement. We affirm.

Facts [3] In May 2023, Officers John Pogorov and Reginald Thomas of the Whitestown

Metropolitan Police Department drove to a residential subdivision to serve an arrest warrant on Cupp. Officer Pogorov located Cupp with her two children— a 4-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl—near the subdivision’s playground. Officer Pogorov, in full police uniform, approached Cupp and told her to “stop right now.” State’s Exh. 7, 0:34-35. Instead of complying, Cupp briskly walked away from Officer Pogorov while asking if she was under arrest.

[4] Officer Pogorov followed Cupp and told her she was being detained pursuant to an arrest warrant. Cupp denied having a warrant and kept walking away. As Officer Pogorov got closer, Cupp yelled, “It ain’t your day, get the f*** back.” Id. at 0:52-54. She then pulled a handgun from her purse and said, “Get away from me.” Id. at 1:03. Upon seeing the gun, Officer Pogorov retreated to find cover. Meanwhile, Cupp and her children fled through a line of trees and houses.

[5] By this time, Officer Thomas had positioned his marked police car on a nearby street to intercept Cupp’s flight. Cupp soon emerged from between houses and entered the street. There, she encountered Officer Thomas, who exited his vehicle in full police uniform. Cupp yelled to Officer Thomas, “Play with me, I ain’t playin’.” State’s Exh. 15, 0:02-04. She then fired her gun in Officer Thomas’s direction and said, “Leave me and my kids alone. I didn’t mean to fire it.” Id. at 0:09-11. Cupp then took off running, leaving her children behind.

[6] A K-9 unit eventually found Cupp hiding in a brush pile with a 9mm handgun within her arm’s reach. The weapon contained one round in the chamber and three in the magazine, which is consistent with the gun having been fired once. Investigators collected home security footage of Cupp firing the gun and recovered from a driveway a shell casing matching Cupp’s firearm.

[7] The State charged Cupp with four Level 6 felonies: (1) resisting law enforcement as to Officer Pogorov; (2) resisting law enforcement as to Officer Thomas; (3) neglect of a dependent as to Cupp’s son; and (4) neglect of a dependent as to Cupp’s daughter. The State also alleged that Cupp’s sentence should be enhanced because she discharged a firearm at Officer Thomas while resisting him.

[8] A jury found Cupp guilty as charged on the four felony counts. After a bifurcated proceeding on the firearms enhancement, the jury was unable to reach a determination. The court declared a mistrial and the issue was retried in front of a new jury, who found that the enhancement applied. The trial court sentenced Cupp to six years for the four felonies plus five years for the enhancement, leading to an aggregate term of eleven years executed in the Indiana Department of Correction. Cupp appeals her convictions and sentencing enhancement.

Discussion and Decision [9] Cupp first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting her conviction

for resisting Officer Thomas. Alternatively, she claims that both convictions for resisting law enforcement cannot stand because they violate double jeopardy. Finally, Cupp argues that Officer Thomas, as a town police officer, does not fall within the firearms enhancement statute’s scope. We affirm her convictions, find no double jeopardy violation, and conclude that Officer Thomas was covered by the enhancement statute.

I. Sufficiency of Evidence [10] When reviewing challenges to the sufficiency of evidence, we consider only the

probative evidence and reasonable inferences supporting the conviction. Drane v. State, 867 N.E.2d 144, 146 (Ind. 2007). We neither reweigh evidence nor reassess witness credibility. Id. We affirm unless no reasonable factfinder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.

[11] To convict Cupp of Level 6 felony resisting law enforcement as to Officer Thomas, the State had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cupp: (1) knowingly or intentionally; (2) fled from Officer Thomas; (3) after Officer Thomas, by visible or audible means, both identified himself as a police officer and ordered her to stop; and (4) used a deadly weapon while doing so. See Ind. Code § 35-44.1-3-1(c)(1)(B)(i) (2023). Cupp argues that Officer Thomas neither identified himself as a police officer nor ordered her to stop. But the evidence shows otherwise.

[12] The identification requirement of the resisting law enforcement statute is met by evidence showing that the defendant “ha[d] reason to know that the person [she] was dealing with is an officer.” Conley v. State, 57 N.E.3d 836, 838 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016) (internal quotations omitted). This Court has held that “a police officer wearing a full uniform and driving a marked police car is sufficient to meet this standard.” Id. (citation omitted). Here, Officer Thomas drove a marked police car while wearing a full police uniform, including a tactical vest, badge, and various law enforcement equipment. Officer Thomas testified that the police markings on his vehicle would have been visible to Cupp as Officer Thomas opened his car door towards her. He also testified that he and Cupp looked in each other’s direction before Cupp fired the weapon and took off running. This evidence sufficiently demonstrates that Cupp “ha[d] reason to know that” Officer Thomas was a law enforcement officer. Id.

[13] As for the order to stop, such orders may be communicated through visual indicators, not just verbal commands. Id. at 839 (finding raised hand gesture of uniformed officer sitting in marked police car to be a sufficient order to stop). Officer Thomas provided similar indicators by positioning his marked vehicle to intercept Cupp’s flight and exiting the car in full uniform.

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