Maloney v. State

872 N.E.2d 647, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 1920, 2007 WL 2389763
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided August 23, 2007·No. 29A02-0610-PC-936·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Judge.

Anthony L. Maloney appeals the post-conviction court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. Maloney raises two issues, which we consolidate and restate as whether Maloney was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel. We affirm.

The relevant facts follow. On April 30, 2005, Carmel Police Officer Timothy Byrne ran a random license plate check of Malo-ney’s vehicle. Officer Byrne noticed that the registered owner of the vehicle, Malo-ney, had a suspended driver’s license. Officer Byrne followed the vehicle and compared the computer description of Maloney with the driver of the vehicle. Officer Byrne then stopped the vehicle and ultimately arrested Maloney.

The State charged Maloney with operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a class C misdemeanor, 1 operating a vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 or more as a class C misdemeanor, 2 driving while suspended as a class A misdemeanor, 3 operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a class D felony, 4 and operating a vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 or more as a class D felony. 5 Maloney pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 or more as a class D felony.

On July 24, 2006, Maloney filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that his arrest was the result of a warrantless search under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution and that he was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel. After a hearing, the post-conviction court entered findings of fact and conclusions thereon as follows: * ⅝ ⅜ * *

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. In Wilkinson v. State, 743 N.E.2d 1267 (Ind.App.,2001), Wilkinson raised the same argument as is presented in this case, that argument being that the random checks of license plate numbers were constitutionally impermissible because they were carried out without any reasonable and articulable suspicion .of a violation of law. In that case and in this, no authority was offered in direct support of the position taken there, and here, that the “search” was improper. The Wilkinson court declined to hold that the random license plate check was a “search.”
2. Cases' subsequent to Wilkinson including State of Indiana v. Erie Ritter, 801 N.E.2d 689 (Ind.App., 2004), and Kenworthy v. State, 738 N.E.2d *649 329 (IncLApp., 2000), have gone on to hold that even where the officer could not readily determine that the driver of a vehicle was the registered owner who was known to be suspended (either by the officer’s personal knowledge or by BMV computer check) that the knowledge of the registered owner’s status alone as a suspended driver was sufficient to stop the vehicle registered to that person for further investigation.
3. In this case, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ information that the registered owner of the vehicle being followed by Officer Byrne was suspended and his match of the description of the registered owner to the driver of the vehicle were artic-ulable facts from which the officer had reasonable suspicion to believe that the operator of the vehicle- was committing the misdemeanor offense of Driving While Suspended. This was sufficient to conduct an investigatory stop.
* ⅜ # * ‡
8. The stop of [Maloney] did not violate the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution or Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution.
9. Counsel Stephenie Gookins’ representation did not fall below the objective standards of reasonable [sic] under prevailing professional norms when she chose not to file a motion to suppress evidence from the stop of [Maloney], when existing Indiana case law upheld the officer’s basis for that stop.
10. Even if Ms. Gookins was required by prevailing professional norms to file a motion to suppress in this case, [Maloney] has failed to meet ' his burden of showing prejudice by establishing that such motion would have been successful.

Appellant’s Appendix at 4-6.

Before discussing Maloney’s allegations of error, we note the general standard under which we review a post-conviction court’s denial of a petition for post-conviction relief. The petitioner in a post-conviction proceeding bears the burden of establishing grounds for relief by a preponderance of the evidence. Fisher v. State, 810 N.E.2d 674, 679 (Ind.2004); Ind. Post-Conviction Rule 1(5). When appealing from the denial of post-conviction relief, the petitioner stands in the position of one appealing from a negative judgment. Id. On review, we will not reverse the judgment unless the evidence as a whole unerringly and unmistakably leads to a conclusion opposite that reached by the post-conviction court. Id. Further, the post-conviction court in this case entered findings of fact and conclusions thereon in accordance with Indiana Post-Conviction Rule 1(6). Id. “A post-conviction court’s findings and judgment will be reversed only upon a showing of clear error — that which leaves us with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.” Id. In this review, we accept findings of fact. unless clearly erroneous, but we accord no deference to conclusions of law. Id. The post-conviction court is the sole judge of the weight of the evidence and the credibility of witnesses. Id.

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Maloney v. State, 872 N.E.2d 647, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 1920, 2007 WL 2389763 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007).

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