Marlett v. State

878 N.E.2d 860, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2953, 2007 WL 4555274
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 28, 2007
Docket18A04-0703-CR-131
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 878 N.E.2d 860 (Marlett 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
Marlett v. State, 878 N.E.2d 860, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2953, 2007 WL 4555274 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

BARNES, Judge.

Case Summary

Travis Marlett appeals his twenty-year sentence for Class B felony criminal confinement, as well as the requirement that he register as a sexual or violent offender and the finding that he is a sexually violent predator. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

Issues

The State presents one cross-appeal issue, which is whether Marlett’s appeal must be dismissed because his notice of appeal was not timely filed. The issues Marlett raises are:

I. whether his sentence is inappropriate;
[863]*863II. whether the sex and violent offender registry is unconstitutional as applied to him; and
III. whether there is sufficient evidence to support the determination that he is a sexually violent predator.

Facts

On September 26, 2005, seventeen-year-old Marlett was attending school at Mun-cie Central High School. At approximately 8:45 a.m., he obtained a pass to leave his class and go to the nurse’s office. He did not go straight to the nurse’s office, and while walking the halls he saw fellow student L.A.V., who was sixteen years old, alone in a classroom. He then retrieved a knife from his backpack, entered the classroom, approached L.A.V. from behind, and put one hand over her mouth and placed the knife against her neck. He told her to be quiet or he would kill her, and he then cut L.A.V.’s neck. Marlett and L.A.V. struggled, and L.A.V. was able to take the knife from Marlett. A teacher soon intervened, who was able to hold Marlett until police arrived. The record is unclear as to the extent of L.A.V.’s injury or whether it was life threatening.

On September 29, 2005, the State filed a juvenile delinquency petition against Mar-lett. However, the State later sought and obtained Marlett’s waiver into adult court. On May 12, 2006, it charged Marlett with attempted murder, Class B felony criminal confinement, and Class C felony battery. At the waiver hearing, extensive evidence was presented regarding Marlett’s mental health. Specifically, a psychiatrist and a psychologist identified Marlett as having Asperger’s Disorder, which is an autism spectrum disorder but not autism itself. Persons with Asperger’s often develop obsessive interests, and Marlett has an obsessive interest in knives. Police recovered over fifty knives, swords, and machetes from Marlett’s bedroom. Marlett’s full scale IQ is approximately eighty-three, which places him in the bottom fifteen percent of the population.

On August 7, 2006, Marlett agreed to plead guilty but mentally ill to Class B felony criminal confinement. The State agreed to dismiss the attempted murder and Class C felony battery charges. Sentencing was left to the trial court’s discretion. After being advised of the plea agreement, the trial court appointed a psychiatrist and a psychologist to examine Marlett and determine whether he should be classified as a sexually violent predator.

The trial court accepted the plea and conducted a sentencing hearing on December 1, 2006. It indicated that it found the nature and circumstances of the crime to be aggravating, and Marlett’s lack of criminal history to be mitigating. It also stated, based on the reports of the doctors appointed to examine Marlett, that his mental illness made it likely that he would re-offend. It then proceeded to impose an executed term of twenty years. The court also found that Marlett was a sexually violent predator, based on the doctors’s reports, and that he was required to register as an ordinary sex offender and as a sexually violent predator. Marlett now appeals.

Analysis

I. Timeliness of Notice of Appeal

We first address the State’s cross-appeal issue that Marlett’s notice of appeal was untimely filed, thus requiring dismissal of the appeal. The State previously filed a motion to dismiss, which the motions panel of this court denied. We are not precluded from reconsidering that decision. See Davis v. State, 771 N.E.2d 647, 649 n. 5 (Ind.2002). Nonetheless, we generally are reluctant to reverse a ruling of the motions panel unless it clearly erred as a matter of [864]*864law. See Oxford Financial Group, Ltd. v. Evans, 795 N.E.2d 1135, 1141 (Ind.Ct.App.2003).

Indiana Appellate Rule 9(A)(1) requires a party to file a notice of appeal, with the trial court clerk, within thirty days of a final judgment. “Unless the Notice of Appeal is timely filed, the right to appeal shall be forfeited except as provided by [Post-Conviction Rule 2].” Ind. Appellate Rule 9(A)(5). This court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over appeals that are not timely initiated. See Davis, 771 N.E.2d at 648. Post-Conviction Rule 2(1) allows a criminal defendant seeking to purse a direct appeal from a conviction or sentence, but who failed to file a timely notice of appeal, to seek permission from the trial court to file a belated notice of appeal.

Here, Marlett was sentenced on December 1, 2006, and the thirty-day deadline for filing a notice of appeal began to run on that date. December 31, 2006, a Sunday, and January 1, 2007, New Year’s Day, were both non-business days; thus, any notice of appeal was due to be filed on January 2, 2007. See Ind.App. R. 25(A) & (B). The trial court did not receive and file stamp Marlett’s notice of appeal until January 3, 2007. Marlett never sought permission from the trial court to file a belated notice of appeal. Ordinarily, these facts might have required us to dismiss Marlett’s appeal.

However, Marlett has provided documentation to this court that he mailed his notice of appeal to the trial court clerk, via United States Postal Service first class mail, on December 29, 2006. Indiana Trial Rule 5(F)(3) requires, in order for a filing by mail to be deemed to have occurred on the date of mailing, that the mailing be “by registered, certified or express mail.” By contrast, Indiana Appellate Rule 23(A)(2) states, “All papers will be deemed filed with the Clerk when they are ... deposited in the United States Mail, postage prepaid, properly addressed to the Clerk....” Thus, under Trial 5(F)(3), Marlett’s notice of appeal properly was deemed not filed until the trial court actually received it on January 3, 2007, because the mailing was not by registered, certified, or express mail, whereas under Appellate Rule 23(A)(2) the filing date would be deemed to be December 29, 2006, because that rule does not require mailing by the Post Office to be by registered, certified, or express mail.

We hold that, for purposes of determining the timeliness of a filing required by the Appellate Rules, the filing provisions of those rules trump those of the Trial Rules. It is true that “the Clerk” referred to in Appellate Rule 23(A) is the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Tax Court. See Ind.App. R. 2(D). Nonetheless, in crafting the Appellate Rules a conscious decision was made that filings made by any type of United States Mail service would be deemed filed on the date of mailing, so long as postage was paid and it was addressed correctly.1 The Notice of Appeal is a requirement of appellate practice, not trial practice.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Doe v. Lee
M.D. Tennessee, 2024
Lisa G. King v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2017
Kile Richard Stockert v. State of Indiana
44 N.E.3d 78 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2015)
Eric T. Shamblin v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014
Jacob Lutz v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014
David A. Shane v. Sheila Shane
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014
Nathan W. Golden v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2012
Gerald Jerome Cox v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2012
Charles Smith v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2012
Moffitt v. Commonwealth
360 S.W.3d 247 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2012)
PHOVEMIRE v. State
960 N.E.2d 176 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2011)
Edwards v. State
952 N.E.2d 862 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2011)
Baugh v. State
933 N.E.2d 1277 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2010)
Dowell v. State
922 N.E.2d 605 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2010)
State v. Hunter
904 N.E.2d 371 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
878 N.E.2d 860, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2953, 2007 WL 4555274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marlett-v-state-indctapp-2007.