Madden v. State

697 N.E.2d 964, 1998 Ind. App. LEXIS 999, 1998 WL 340702
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 26, 1998
Docket40A05-9711-PC-489
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 697 N.E.2d 964 (Madden 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
Madden v. State, 697 N.E.2d 964, 1998 Ind. App. LEXIS 999, 1998 WL 340702 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

RILEY, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Petitioner-Appellant Melvin Madden appeals the post-conviction court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief.

We affirm.

ISSUES

Madden raises two issues for our review, which we restate as:

1. Whether the post-conviction court erred in determining that the trial court’s acceptance of Madden’s gufity plea was supported by a sufficient factual basis.
2. Whether the post-conviction court erred in determining that the trial court’s sentencing statement was sufficient to support the enhancement of Madden’s sentence and the imposition of consecutive sentences.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

At approximately 3:30 p.m. on January 2, 1989, Madden purchased gas at a Shell Gas Station and attempted to pay for the gas and other items with an invalid Shell Credit Card. Following company policy, David Wick, the station’s nineteen year-old clerk, kept the invalid card. After telling Wick that he would return, Madden left the premises. Madden returned to the station at approximately 5:30 p.m. and asked that Wick return the card to him. When Wick refused, Madden pulled out a handgun and shot Wick in the face and the back of the head. Madden then took the credit card and an unspecified amount of money from the cash register.

Madden was arrested and charged with attempted murder and robbery. When Wick later died from the wounds inflicted by Madden, the charges were amended to include murder, felony murder, robbery, and capital murder. Madden pled guilty to murder and robbery while armed with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to sixty years for murder and twenty years for robbery, with the sentences to be served consecutively.

Madden later filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that there was no factual basis for his plea and that he was improperly sentenced. The post-conviction court denied his petition, and he now appeals.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. FACTUAL BASIS FOR THE GUILTY PLEA

A trial court may not accept a guilty plea unless a sufficient factual basis has been established for the plea. Ind.Code 35-35-1-3(b). When a post-conviction relief petitioner challenges the sufficiency of a factual basis, we neither weigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of witnesses. Minor v. State, 641 N.E.2d 85, 89 (Ind.Ct.App.1994), trans. denied. We confine our review to the evidence most favorable to the State, and if there is substantial evidence of probative value to support the trial court’s finding, we will affirm it. Id.

Trial court determinations of an adequate factual basis are presumed to be cor *967 rect. Butler v. State, 658 N.E.2d 72, 77 (Ind.1995). A trial court need not find evidence proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to conclude that a factual basis exists. Id. “Such a high standard would transform the guilty plea hearing into a veritable bench trial, the very process that one pleading guilty seeks to avoid.” Id. Instead, our appellate courts have held that a factual basis exists when there is evidence about the elements of the offense from which a court could reasonably conclude that the defendant is guilty. Id. Relatively minimal evidence has been held adequate, and we review claims of error under an abuse of discretion standard. Id. The factual basis requirement “primarily ensures that when a plea is accepted there is sufficient evidence that a court can conclude that the defendant could have been convicted had he stood trial.” Id. at 76. This standard ensures that “a person who pleads guilty truly is guilty” Id.

An adequate factual basis for the acceptance of a guilty plea may be established in several ways: (1) by the State’s presentation of evidence on the elements of the charged offenses; (2) by the defendant’s sworn testimony regarding the events underlying the charges; (3) by the defendant’s admission of the truth of the allegations in the information read in court; or (4) by the defendant’s acknowledgment that he understands the nature of the offenses charged and that his plea is an admission of the charges. Minor, 641 N.E.2d at 89.

In the present case, Madden contends that he did not understand the intent requirement of the murder statute, and that there was no factual basis showing that he “knowingly” killed Wick. He argues that his misunderstanding of the requirement of “knowingly” is evidenced by his agreement with trial counsel that “an individual who points a loaded weapon at another individual satisfies the knowing requirement of murder.” (R. 670).

At the guilty plea hearing, Madden acknowledged that he understood that he was charged with the offense of murder and that he understood the elements of murder. He also acknowledged that he understood that the entry of his guilty plea was an admission of the truth of the facts alleged in the information, which stated that he “knowingly” shot Wick in the head and face with a gun “held in his hand.” (R. 57). He testified that he pulled a gun out of his coat, pointed the gun at Wick, and “the gun discharged.” He also testified that he was aware that at the time he pointed the gun at Wick, he placed Wick in a position of substantial risk. He unequivocally stated that he was guilty of murder after hearing an investigator testify that at least one of the bullets exited from a barrel that was only six inches from Wick’s head. Although the record of the guilty plea hearing is not as pristine as we might desire, it is apparent from the record that Madden was not pleading guilty while maintaining that he accidentally shot Wick or while maintaining that he was unaware that discharging a gun placed six inches from Wick’s head could cause his death. We cannot say that the post-conviction court erred in determining that Madden’s guilty plea was supported by a sufficient factual basis.

II. SENTENCING

After a hearing, the trial court sentenced Madden to an enhanced term for murder of sixty years and an enhanced term for robbery of twenty years. The trial court also ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.

Madden contends that the trial court erred in the manner in which it sentenced him. Specifically, he contends that the trial court: (1) used invalid aggravators' to enhance his sentences; (2) failed to make a sufficient sentencing statement; (3) improperly enhanced his sentences and ordered consecutive sentences on the basis of only one aggra-vator; and (4) failed to find and balance mitigating factors against aggravating factors.

Trial courts are granted broad discretion in imposing sentences, and we will reverse only for an abuse of that discretion. Casey v. State, 689 N.E.2d 465, 469 (Ind.Ct.App.1997).

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Bluebook (online)
697 N.E.2d 964, 1998 Ind. App. LEXIS 999, 1998 WL 340702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/madden-v-state-indctapp-1998.