Overton v. State

317 N.E.2d 467, 161 Ind. App. 650, 1974 Ind. App. LEXIS 992
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 15, 1974
Docket1-573A97 and 1-573A98
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 317 N.E.2d 467 (Overton 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
Overton v. State, 317 N.E.2d 467, 161 Ind. App. 650, 1974 Ind. App. LEXIS 992 (Ind. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Lybrook, J.

In this consolidated appeal, defendant-appellant Melvin Overton appeals from convictions of rape 1 and sodomy. 2 Defendant-appellant Freddie White appeals from convictions of being an accessory both before 3 and after 4 the fact of rape. Both Overton and White appeal from convictions of commission of a felony (rape) while armed with a deadly weapon. 5

The following issues are presented for review:

(1) Whether the trial court erred in overruling appellants’ motions challenging the array.
(2) Whether the evidence is sufficient to identify appellants as perpetrators of the offenses.
(3) Whether Overton’s conviction of sodomy is sustained by sufficient evidence.
(4) Whether White’s conviction of being an accessory after the fact of rape is sustained by sufficient evidence.
(5) Whether Overton’s sentence of two (2) to twenty-one (21) years for sodomy is erroneous.
(6) Whether the court erred in imposing sentences for both greater and lesser and included offenses.
(7) Whether the indeterminate sentences imposed upon appellants represent an unlawful delegation of judicial power and constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The facts most favorable to the State are;

On May 3,1972, shortly after midnight of the preceding day, Overton approached an automobile in New Albany Community *653 Park occupied by Carl Eickenberger and Patricia Culwell. Brandishing a knife and tire tool, Overton ordered Eickenberger from the automobile. He complied, and Miss Culwell followed. Overton was then joined by White and Alonzo Clark who were also brandishing tire tools or pry bars, and the trio led Eickenberger and Miss Culwell to the edge of a woods. Overton took Miss Culwell into the woods and after threatening to beat her with the tire iron, removed her jeans and blouse. After ordering her to remove her underwear, Overton performed sexual intercourse with Miss Culwell. Immediately thereafter she was forced to have intercourse with Alonzo Clark. Following these assaults, Overton, in Miss Culwell’s words .. made me put my mouth on him.”

While Miss Culwell was being assaulted, Eickenberger was restrained at knife point under threat of his life at the edge of the woods. When a police car appeared at the place where the young couple’s automobile was parked, the men ran into the woods. As Eickenberger went to solicit the officers’ assistance, Overton, White and Clark fled through the woods taking their nude victim with them. White periodically stopped and placed his arms around her.

Miss Culwell was subsequently abandoned and later found by Eickenberger and a police officer. Overton, White, and Clark were apprehended while attempting to flee the area.

ISSUE 1.

The jury panel assembled at the time of trial consisted of twenty-seven persons, one of whom was a Negro. Appellants, who are black, contend that the panel did not constitute a true and accurate representative cross section of the community. However, on the record before us, we are unable to conclude that appellants were denied their right to trial by a fair and impartial jury of their peers.

As our Supreme Court stated in Sanders v. State (1972), 259 Ind. 43, 284 N.E.2d 751:

*654 “It is well established that jury selection systems must draw their jurors from a fair cross section of the community. Smith v. Texas (1940), 311 U.S. 128, 61 S.Ct. 164, 85 L.Ed. 84. Equally clear, is that the defendant has the initial burden of demonstrating that purposeful discrimination exists. See, Whitus v. Georgia (1967), 385 U.S. 545, 87 S.Ct. 643, 17 L.Ed.2d 599; Hernandez v. Texas (1954), 347 U.S. 475, 74 S.Ct. 667, 98 L.Ed. 866. This matter was discussed in United States v. Butera (1st Cir. 1970), 420 F.2d 564, 569, where the court stated:
‘ [W] hile purposeful discrimination may connote an element of bad faith in ordinary usage, the term has not been so limited by the Supreme Court; rather, the breadth with which the term has been used by the Court indicates that purposeful discrimination exists whenever significant unexplained disparities exist. In other words, it is not the significant disparities themselves which are unconstitutional, Akins v. Texas, 325 U.S. [398 at 403-404, 65 S.Ct. 1276 [89 L.Ed. 1692; Hoyt v. Florida, 368 U.S. 57] at 69, 82 S.Ct. 159, 7 L.Ed.2d 118]; they only raise the inference of discrimination. E.g., Billingsley v. Clayton, 359 F.2d 13, 17 (5th Cir. 1966), (en banc), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 841, 87 S.Ct. 92, 17 L.Ed.2d 74 (1966); Witcher v. Peyton, 382 F.2d 707, 709-710 (4th Cir. 1968); Salary v. Wilson, 415 F.2d 467, 470-471 (5th Cir. 1969). Once that inference has been raised, it is the government’s failure or inability to demonstrate that the disparities are not the product of discrimination which confirms the inference and invalidates the jury pool.’ (Our emphasis.) ”

In the case at bar, appellants wholly failed to establish a “significant disparity” between the percentage of Negro citizens selected for jury duty and the percentage of Negro citizens in the community. The record is devoid of any evidence bearing upon this question. We therefore cannot determine that the court erred in overruling appellants’ challenge to the array.

ISSUE 2.

This and the following two issues present questions concerning the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain appellants’ convictions. We are reminded that we may look only to the evidence most favorable to the State and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom to *655 determine whether there is substantial evidence of probative value from which the trier of fact might infer guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Capps v. State (1972), 258 Ind. 565, 282 N.E.2d 833; Arnett v. State (1973), 155 Ind. App. 82, 291 N.E.2d 376.

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Bluebook (online)
317 N.E.2d 467, 161 Ind. App. 650, 1974 Ind. App. LEXIS 992, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/overton-v-state-indctapp-1974.