Nicholaus Knecht v. State of Indiana

85 N.E.3d 829
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 27, 2017
DocketCourt of Appeals Case 06A05-1701-CR-131
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 85 N.E.3d 829 (Nicholaus Knecht v. State of Indiana) 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
Nicholaus Knecht v. State of Indiana, 85 N.E.3d 829 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Rucker, Senior Judge

Raising the following restated and reordered claims Nicholaus Knecht appeals the trial court’s order revoking his probation: (1) he was denied the right to confront and cross examine witnesses; (2) the revocation violated double jeopardy; (3) the evidence was insufficient to support revocation; and (4) the trial court abused its discretion in ordering Knecht to serve his suspended sentence in community corrections. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

On February 19, 2013 under terms of a plea agreement Knecht pleaded guilty in the Boone Circuit Court to residential entry as a class D felony; theft as a class D felony; conversion as a class A misdemean- or; and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle as a class B misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced Knecht to an aggregate term of six years in the Department of Correction all of which was suspended to probation with credit for time' served in pre-trial confinement. Although the actual date is not clear from the record before us, sometime shortly thereafter Knecht was charged in the Boone Superior Court with one count of child molesting as a class B felony. In consequence, on April 12, 2013 the State filed a petition to revoke Knecht’s probation. This petition was subsequently dismissed and the State filed a “Petition To Modify and/or Revoke Probation” on March 7, 2014 noting a pending charge .of “Child Molest, CBF.” Tr, Vol. 3, pp. 18-19.

At the close of a one-day trial in December 2015 on the chargé of child molesting the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. Three days later the State filed an amended petition to revoke probation al-leging Knecht had committed acts which constituted the crimes of child molesting, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and reckless driving. 1

At the probation revocation hearing the State presented a few live witnesses in support of its reckless driving and contributing claims. But with respect to its child molest allegation the State relied almost exclusively on the same evidence introduced at the criminal trial. More specifically at the hearing the alleged child molest victim did not testify and little to no new evidence on this allegation was admitted. Instead, the trial transcript of the alleged victim’s testimony was introduced into evidence over Knecht’s objection. The record shows Knecht also did not testify at the revocation hearing. Rather Knecht introduced his own exhibit—a copy of his trial testimony—“as it related to the trial on the charge of Child Molest Tr. Vol. 2, p. 99.

After the hearing concluded the trial court found that the State proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Knecht committed the crimes of child molesting and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. 2 The trial court then revoked Knecht’s probation and ordered Knecht to serve his six-year suspended sentence on community corrections. Knecht now appeals, Additional facts are set forth below.

Discussion

I. Right to Cross Examine Witnesses

Knecht complains the trial court violated his constitutional right to confront and cross examine witnesses by admitting into evidence a transcript of H.W.’s testimony from the criminal trial. He contends the testimony was inadmissible hearsay that should have been excluded.

Although probationers are not entitled to the full array of constitutional rights afforded defendants at trial, still “the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment [does] impose[ ] procedural and substantive limits on the revocation of the conditional liberty created by probation.” Debro v. State, 821 N.E.2d 367, 374 (Ind. 2005) (quoting Cox v. State, 706 N.E.2d 547, 549 (Ind. 1999)); see also Black v. Romano, 471 U.S. 606, 610, 105 S.Ct. 2254, 2257, 85 L.Ed.2d 636 (1985). “The minimum requirements of due process that inure to a probationer at á revocation hearing include: (a) written notice of the claimed violations of probation; (b) disclosure of the evidence against him; (c) an opportunity to be heard and present evidence; (d) the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses .... ” Woods v. State, 892 N.E.2d 637, 640 (Ind. 2008). See also Ind. Code § 35-38-2-3 (2015) (providing in pertinent part that a probationer “is entitled to confrontation, cross-examination, and representation by counsel”).

Nonetheless, confrontation rights in the context of probation revocation are not as extensive as they are in criminal trials. Robinson v. State, 955 N.E.2d 228, 232 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011), As one example, the Indiana Rules of Evidence, including those governing hearsay, do not apply in such proceedings. See Ind. Evidence Rule 101(c)(2) (declaring in pertinent part, “the rules, other than those with respect to privilege, do not apply in ... proceedings relating to . sentencing, probation, or parole”). Further, the scope of the right to confrontation as explored in the seminal case of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), also does not apply in probation revocation proceedings. 3 See Smith v. State, 971 N.E.2d 86, 89 (Ind. 2012).

To be sure, due process does not prohibit the use of hearsay evidence “ ‘where appropriate [for] the conventional substitutes’for live testimony, including affidavits, depositions, and documentary evidence.’” Reyes v. State, 868 N.E.2d 438, 440 (Ind. 2007) (quoting Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 782 n.5, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 1760 n.5, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973)). However, this “does not mean that hearsay evidence may be admitted willy-nilly in a probation revocation hearing.” Id.

In order to admit hearsay evidence at a, probation revocation hearing in lieu of live testimony, the State must demonstrate “good cause” for its use. Id. at 440. This requirement is met so long as the hearsay bears substantial guarantees of trustworthiness. Id. at 441. Substantial guarantees of trustworthiness satisfy the need for flexibility in routine probation revocation hearings. Further, the “substantial trustworthiness test” requires the trial court to evaluate the reliability of the hearsay evidence. Id. at 442. “[I]deally [the trial court should explain] on the record why the hearsay [is] reliable and why that reliability [is] substantial enough to supply good cause for not producing ... live witnesses.” Id. (alterations in original) (quoting United States v. Kelley, 446 F.3d 688, 693 (7th Cir. 2006)).

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Bluebook (online)
85 N.E.3d 829, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nicholaus-knecht-v-state-of-indiana-indctapp-2017.