Ruby v. State

168 Ind. App. 73
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 10, 1976
DocketNo. 1-875A141
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 168 Ind. App. 73 (Ruby 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
Ruby v. State, 168 Ind. App. 73 (Ind. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Statement of Charges and Preliminary Pleadings

Per Curiam

Defendant-appellant, David Cary Rudy (Rudy) was charged by information on August 8, 1974, with second degree burglary of a Texaco station. After the filing of an array of pleadings Rudy did, on October 25, 1974, file his Motion in Limine which was set for hearing on November 7, 1974, and was then on the date set continued to' November 8, 1974. This was followed by more pleadings including a petition for Rudy’s attorney to withdraw being filed on January 6,1975.

On January 6, 1975, the court sustained Rudy’s Motion in Limine in part and overruled the same in part.

The above was followed by the filing of many more pleadings including the appointment of new counsel for Rudy and [75]*75the resetting of the cause for trial by jury on February 4, 1975. This trial date was later vacated and the cause reset for January 29,1975.

FACTS OF THE CASE

Rudy had picked up a Daniel Cottrell and Peter Azar in Albuquerque. Defendant was driving a 1969 Ford Galaxie when he pulled into a Texaco station in Little Point, Indiana. The Ford would not run and was pushed behind the Texaco station where the three men remained all night.

The next day at about 4:00 P.M. the trio had the car in Plainfield at the Joe Knop Ford Agency where they were told they could not get the car repaired that day.

Rudy and Cottrell then purchased beer which they consumed, after which they returned to the Knop Ford Agency and after a discussion between the three they broke out a window and all entered the agency. Azar took a tape player and Rudy drove a 1973 LTD, blue with black top, out the front door. The three stopped at the 1969 Ford and Azar and Rudy transferred their belongings to the Ford. They then went back to the Texaco station at Little Point which was still open, so they went to Eminence to a pool hall. At one point their LTD slid off the road and had to be pulled out by a truck.

The trio returned to the Texaco station which was then closed and they broke into the same and were observed there assembling cigarettes and food by Deputy Beaver.

All three fled to a nearby corncrib and hid under it' but were soon arrested. After the arrest Rudy was .observed to have a hole cut in his hand and was bleeding. There was blood on a pile of groceries near the front door of the station and on the inside door handle. A rear glass door or window of the Texaco station had been kicked in.

Items stolen from Knop Ford Sales were found inside the stolen L.T.D.

[76]*76ISSUES PRESENTED

Rudy has presented four issues which we shall pass upon. The issue will be outlined when discussed. Issues 2 and 3 will be grouped and treated as one under Ind. Rules of Procedure, Appellate Rule 8.3 (A) (7).

Issue One is that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction because of the failure of positive identification of Rudy in court by the chief prosecuting witness, co-defendant Cottrell.

Defendant charges that co-defendant Cottrell referred to Rudy as “Mr. Rudy” in open court; that there was no in-court identification of Rudy; that at no time did the Prosecutor ask witness Cottrell if Rudy was present in the court room; and that Cottrell failed to point Rudy out.

In this case Robert Sparks, owner of the Texaco station, arrived at his station immediately after the three men were arrested.

In open court the following questions and answers of Mr. Sparks are as follows, to-wit:

“Q. Let me direct your attention to David Rudy. Was he one of the gentlemen who was there ?
A. Yes, he was one . . .
Q. Would you point him out to the j ury please ?
A. Right here.
Q. Okay, in the green sweater ?
A. Umhum. He did have a ponytail.”

Richard Lyons, a Deputy Sheriff of Hendricks County, testified he found the three men hiding under the corn crib. He stated “. . . The two subjects in court here at that time did come out from under the building.” Mr. Lyons was then asked “Okay, and who are you referring to?” His answer was “I’m referring to Mr. Cottrell directly behind you and Mr. Rudy, the defendant in this case.”

The following statements were made by the prosecutor and court respectively:

[77]*77By Mr. Harris: “Your Honor, let the record show that the witness has identified defendant David Rudy and witness, Daniel Cottrell.”
By the Court: “The record will so show, that the witness has pointed out the two persons named.”

The record here speaks for itself and shows conclusively that there was not only an identification of defendant but an in-court identification. In Preston v. State (1972), 259 Ind. 353, 287 N.E.2d 347, 348, Justice Hunter stated:

“. . . It is true that no witness pointed to the appellant at trial and said, ‘that is the man.’ However, at least three witnesses referred to the ‘defendant’ as being the person at the shopping center who committed the crime. . . .” (Original emphasis.)

In Preston, supra, the court in quoting from State v. Schroeppel (1959), 240 Ind. 185, 187, 162 N.E.2d 683, 684, stated “It is also well settled a defendant may be identified by name.”

Further, in the case at bar other witnesses referred to Rudy as the defendant, which is also one of the ways Rudy was identified by a co-defendant. See also, Stevenson v. State (1974), 162 Ind. App. 222, 318 N.E.2d 573 at 576.

It is not necessary that a co-defendant identify the defendant by certain words or by pointing him out in open court.

The second issue is that Rudy’s Motion in Limine should have been sustained so as to exclude evidence of other crimes alleged to have been committed by defendant previously on the same day.

The third issue is whether the evidence of other alleged crimes committed by defendant on the same day should have been admitted against Rudy at the trial of the cause.

The trial court, after hearing many witnesses on Rudy’s Motion in Limine ruled for Rudy in that he ordered that [78]*78nothing be said about criminal proceedings then pending against Rudy in the Hendricks Circuit Court for theft of the 1973 Ford LTD. He also ruled that the theft of the LTD Ford was a link in the chain of evidence in the case at bar, as it was found at the scene of the offense charged herein rather than the older Ford automobile previously seen by witnesses as occupied or used by defendant earlier which older Ford was found at the scene of the other alleged offense in Plainfield. The court further determined any prejudicial effect of this ruling could be cared for in final instructions.

While proof of collateral crimes is generally inadmissible, Perkins v. State (1934), 207 Ind. 119, 191 N.E. 136, our Supreme Court, in the case of Fehlman v. State (1928), 199 Ind.

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Related

Carr v. State
790 N.E.2d 599 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)
Solomon v. State
588 N.E.2d 1271 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1992)
Lawrence v. State
412 N.E.2d 236 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
168 Ind. App. 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruby-v-state-indctapp-1976.