Pitman v. State

749 N.E.2d 557, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 743, 2001 WL 463216
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 3, 2001
Docket85A05-0010-PC-419
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 749 N.E.2d 557 (Pitman 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
Pitman v. State, 749 N.E.2d 557, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 743, 2001 WL 463216 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

HOFFMAN, Senior Judge

Defendant-Appellant Marsha Pitman (Pitman) appeals the revocation of her probation.

We affirm.

Pitman raises five issues which we consolidate and restate as:

1. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support the revocation of Pit-man’s probation.
2. Whether the trial court erred by admitting into evidence certified documents from a court file.
3. Whether Pitman’s constitutional right against self-incrimination was violated by the State’s questions regarding her subsequent arrest.

In 1999, Pitman pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and was placed on probation. The terms of Pit-man’s probation stated that she was not to be charged with any new criminal offense based upon probable cause and that she was not to possess or consume alcohol. During Pitman’s probationary period, she was arrested for battery and was intoxicated at the time of her arrest. The State then filed a petition to revoke her probation in the instant case. Following a hearing, the trial court revoked Pitman’s probation, and this appeal ensued.

Pitman first contends that the evidence presented by the State was insufficient to sustain the revocation of her probation. A probation revocation hearing is in the nature of a civil proceeding. As such, the alleged violation need be proven only by a preponderance of the evidence. Wilson v. State, 708 N.E.2d 32, 34 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). Moreover, violation of a single condition of probation is sufficient to revoke probation. Id. As with other sufficiency questions, we do not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses when reviewing a probation revocation. Id. We look only to the evidence that supports the judgment and any reasonable inferences flowing therefrom. Id. If there is substantial evidence of probative value to support the trial court’s decision that the probationer committed any violation, revocation of probation is appropriate. Williams v. State, 695 N.E.2d 1017,1018 (Ind.Ct.App.1998).

Ind. Evidence Rule 101(c)(2) provides that the Indiana Rules of Evidence do not apply in probation proceedings. Courts of this state follow the general rule that, with regard to probation proceedings, they may consider any relevant evidence bearing some substantial indicia of reliability, including reliable hearsay. Cox v. State, 706 N.E.2d 547, 551 (Ind.1999), reh’g denied. Here, the State presented evidence that Pitman was arrested for and charged with battery following a finding of probable cause. This evidence was in the form of certified copies of the court docket, police report and charging information. These documents also provided information indicating that Pitman was intoxicated at the time of the battery and that she admitted consuming alcohol. The State’s use of certified copies of the court docket, police report and charging information regarding Pitman’s new charge and intoxication are sufficient to support the revocation of Pitman’s probation. The information is obviously relevant and certification of the documents by the court provides substantial indicia of their reliability.

In her brief, Pitman cites Gleason v. State, 634 N.E.2d 67, 68 (Ind.Ct.App.1994) *560 for the proposition that being arrested for a crime is insufficient to revoke a defendant’s probation; rather, revocation requires proof that the defendant engaged in the alleged criminal conduct or proof of the conviction thereof. Pitman argues that in her case the State neither presented proof that she committed a battery nor proof that she had been convicted of a battery. However, Pitman fails to further note that if the trial court, after a hearing, finds that the arrest was reasonable and there is probable cause to believe the defendant violated a criminal law, revocation will be sustained. Brooks v. State, 692 N.E.2d 951, 953 (Ind.Ct.App.1998), reh’g denied, trans. denied, 706 N.E.2d 166 (1998). The court had before it a certified copy of the court docket which shows a finding of probable cause by the trial court handling Pitman’s new charge, as well as a copy of the police report regarding the underlying incident. Additionally, the trial court involved in the present case was free to view the certified court documents, including the finding of probable cause, and determine for itself that there is probable cause to believe Pitman committed a battery. Thus, although the court need find only one violation to support a probation revocation, this court found two violations and properly revoked Pitman’s probation based upon her new charge of battery supported by probable cause and her consumption of alcohol.

Next, Pitman asserts that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence the certified copies of documents from the court file regarding her new charge. Specifically, she claims that the documents were hearsay and that admission of these documents violated her constitutional right to confront and cross-examine witnesses.

As we stated above, the rules of evidence do not apply in probation proceedings. Evid.R. 101(c)(2). Therefore, the court documents, some of which might be considered hearsay in another proceeding, were properly admitted as relevant evidence of Pitman’s violation of her probation in this proceeding. However, our discussion does not end here.

Pitman further argues that the admission of these documents violates her constitutional right to confront and cross-examine witnesses because she could not cross-examine the documents or, more appropriately, the documents’ author. The crux of Pitman’s argument is that the State introduced, and the court admitted, the police report regarding the new charge of battery, but the State did not call the investigating officer as a witness. The police report indicated that Pitman appeared intoxicated at the time of the occurrence and that Pitman admitted to drinking five or six beers. Pitman claims that her constitutional right was impeded because she was unable to cross-examine the police officer in an effort to refute this information.

As discussed previously, all of the documents presented by the State were properly admitted at Pitman’s revocation hearing based upon the inapplicability of the rules of evidence in probation proceedings as set forth in Evid.R. 101(c)(2). We further note for our discussion that the court docket and the charging information are items of public record which, pursuant to Ind. Evidence Rule 803(8), would be admissible as exceptions to the hearsay rule at a proceeding where the rules of evidence are applicable. The remaining document, the police report, would not generally be admissible at proceedings other than those where the rules of evidence are not applicable. See Evid.R. 101(c)(2) and Evid.R. 803(8) (stating that police reports are specifically excluded from the hearsay exception regarding public records).

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Bluebook (online)
749 N.E.2d 557, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 743, 2001 WL 463216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pitman-v-state-indctapp-2001.