Roger A. Boggs v. State of Indiana

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 10, 2012
Docket03A04-1108-CR-435
StatusUnpublished

This text of Roger A. Boggs v. State of Indiana (Roger A. Boggs 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
Roger A. Boggs v. State of Indiana, (Ind. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),

FILED this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as precedent or cited before any court except for the Jul 10 2012, 8:26 am purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the CLERK law of the case. of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:

JAMES A. SHOAF GREGORY F. ZOELLER Columbus, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana

JOSEPH Y. HO Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

ROGER A. BOGGS, ) ) Appellant-Defendant, ) ) vs. ) No. 03A04-1108-CR-435 ) STATE OF INDIANA, ) ) Appellee-Plaintiff. )

APPEAL FROM THE BARTHOLOMEW SUPERIOR COURT The Honorable Chris D. Monroe, Judge Cause No. 03D01-1008-FB-1090

July 10, 2012

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION

ROBB, Chief Judge Case Summary and Issue

Following a jury trial, Roger Boggs appeals his conviction of armed robbery, a

Class B felony. Boggs raises two issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate

as one: whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support Boggs’s conviction.

Concluding the evidence presented was sufficient, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

On August 22, 2010, at approximately 4:00 a.m., Boggs entered a Walgreens

Pharmacy located in Columbus, Indiana armed with a gun. Boggs was wearing a

camouflage jacket, camouflage pants, camouflage hat, a blue t-shirt, sunglasses, bandages

on his face, and Ace bandages wrapped around his hands. Boggs approached the

pharmacy counter and asked the pharmacist, Danny D. Scales, for 180 oxycontin tablets

of 80 milligrams. After Scales responded that he only had oxycodone, the generic brand,

Boggs pulled a gun out of his pocket and demanded that Scales give him the bottles. The

gun was a small silver handgun but not a revolver. Boggs took three bottles of

oxycodone, which included two fully sealed bottles and one partially filled bottle, and left

the store.

Inquiring about the customer in the store, the assistant manager, Kevin Moran,

was informed by the cashier there was a gentleman in the pharmacy area who had

bandages on his face. Moran walked towards the pharmacy area looking for Scales to

make sure everything was okay and saw a man leaving the pharmacy wearing a

camouflage jacket and pants. Moran saw Scales waving at him and turned to go to the

front of the store to call 911. While on the phone with 911, Moran saw Boggs exit the

store and followed after him. When Moran arrived in the parking lot, Boggs was driving 2 off in a dark-colored vehicle heading west towards 25th Street. Moran observed the

vehicle until he lost sight of it at an intersection north of Walgreens.

Several Columbus police officers responded within minutes of Moran’s call. Two

officers headed toward the vicinity where Boggs was headed while other officers went to

Walgreens to get the employees’ statements. While driving on 25th Street, one of the

officers saw a dark-colored vehicle turn directly in front of him driving at a high speed

and without making a complete stop at the stop sign. The officer followed the vehicle

while waiting for more information from the officers at Walgreens. Upon receiving

confirmation, the officer activated his sirens, but Boggs continued for several blocks

before stopping in a parking lot.

Officers ordered Boggs out of the vehicle and took him into custody. Boggs was

wearing a camouflage jacket, camouflage pants, and a blue t-shirt. The officers found a

camouflage baseball cap, sunglasses, Ace bandage, assorted band aids, and medical tape

on the passenger seat. Neither a gun nor bottles of oxycodone were found in the vehicle.

Officers searched the area between Walgreens and where they stopped Boggs for the gun

and bottles of oxycodone, but did not find them. The arresting officers identified the

person on the Walgreens surveillance video as Boggs.

On March 16, 2011, the Scottsburg Police Department received a call from

Boggs’s deceased girlfriend’s daughter, Jessica Turner, who asked them to pick up a

sealed bottle of oxycodone and a silver handgun that she found in her mother’s

possessions. Boggs’s deceased girlfriend, Suzanna Turner-Griner, lived with Boggs’s

mother until her death on September 21, 2010, from an overdose of oxycodone and

opiates. After Turner-Griner’s death, Boggs’s mother packed up her possessions and 3 Turner picked them up. Turner, who was emotionally distraught, had left the possessions

in the trunk of her car for six months before opening them.

Both Moran and Scales identified Boggs as the armed robber. The camouflage

clothing and hat that the robber wore during the robbery as revealed by video surveillance

resembled what Boggs was found wearing when he was stopped and arrested.

Additionally, Scales’s description of the camouflage clothing, hat, sunglasses, and

assorted band aids resembled what was found in Boggs’s vehicle and the clothing he was

wearing when he was arrested.

The State charged Boggs with armed robbery, a Class B felony. At the conclusion

of the trial, the jury found Boggs guilty and the trial court entered a judgment of

conviction and sentenced him to fifteen years with five years suspended. Boggs now

appeals his conviction.

Discussion and Decision

I. Standard of Review

Boggs contends that his armed robbery conviction was not supported by sufficient

evidence. When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, we

neither reweigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of witnesses. Wright v. State, 828

N.E.2d 904, 906 (Ind. 2005). When confronted with conflicting evidence, we consider it

in a light most favorable to the conviction. Drane v. State, 867 N.E.2d 144, 146 (Ind.

2007). We must affirm the conviction if there is substantial evidence of probative value

and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom could have allowed a reasonable trier of fact

to find all elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. McHenry v. State,

820 N.E.2d 124, 126 (Ind. 2005). 4 II. Sufficiency of the Evidence

To convict Boggs of robbery while armed with a deadly weapon, a Class B felony,

the State was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Boggs knowingly or

intentionally took oxycodone from Scales, by using or threatening the use of force while

armed with a deadly weapon. See Ind. Code § 35-42-5-1(1).

In support of his sufficiency challenge, Boggs contends that Scales’s positive

identification of him from the photo array and at trial does not satisfy the beyond a

reasonable doubt burden of proof. Specifically, Boggs points out that when asked to

identify the robber during trial, Scales testified that “it’s my belief that it was the

gentlemen [sic] sitting here,” as he pointed at Boggs in the courtroom. Trial Transcript at

208. Boggs also asserts that Scales’s identification of him from the array of photos

provided by the Columbus Police Department was tainted because Scales had seen a

picture of Boggs in the newspaper prior to the police showing him the photo array.

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Related

Drane v. State
867 N.E.2d 144 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2007)
Wright v. State
828 N.E.2d 904 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2005)
McHenry v. State
820 N.E.2d 124 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2005)

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