Rust v. State

477 N.E.2d 262, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 815
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 30, 1985
Docket184S38
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 477 N.E.2d 262 (Rust v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rust v. State, 477 N.E.2d 262, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 815 (Ind. 1985).

Opinion

HUNTER, Justice.

The defendant, Don Carlyle Rust, II, was charged under Count I with felony-murder, Ind.Code § 35-42-1-1(2) (Burns 1979 Repl.), wherein the underlying felony was kidnapping, and he was also charged with a separate count of kidnapping, Ind.Code § 35-42-8-2(b)(2) (Burns 1979 Repl.). Since an intentional killing was committed during the course of this kidnapping, the prosecutor also filed for imposition of the death sentence.

Pursuant to a plea agreement defendant changed his original not guilty plea to guilty of Count I, felony-murder. The state then dismissed Count II, kidnapping, and withdrew its request for the death penalty, but retained the right to argue aggravating circumstances at the time of sentencing. The trial court accepted the plea agreement and found defendant guilty of Count I, felony-murder. Defendant was sentenced to the Indiana Department of Correction for a term of fifty years. In this direct appeal, defendant raises the following two issues:

1. Whether the trial court erred by considering cireumstances of the crime in both the acceptance of defendant's guilty plea and in the imposition of an enhanced sentence; and

2. Whether the trial court violated the double jeopardy prohibition against double punishment by considering the same aggravating cireumstances in the imposition of both the presumptive and the enhanced sentence.

The record shows that on May 7, 1982, the murder victim was forcibly removed in her own car from the parking lot located at her place of business. Later that evening her body was found on College Corner in Wayne County, lying in a muddy farm field. There were injuries around her head, her shoes were off, and her hands were tied. Near her body there was a fence post on which there were hair parti *264 cles belonging to the victim. A steak knife was protruding from the back of the victim's neck. On May 10, 1982, three days after the murder, the victim's purse, shoes and articles of clothing were found approximately seven-tenths of a mile from where her body was found. While the victim normally carried five to ten dollars, the purse did not contain any money. In the opinion of a staff pathologist at Reid Memorial Hospital, death was due to a hemorrhage to the victim caused by a blunt force to the left ear area and was not caused by the knife wound to the neck.

I.

Defendant first argues that it was error for the trial court to find as aggravating circumstances the same cireum-stances which defendant testified to as the factual basis for his plea of guilty to felony-murder. According to defendant, the trial court's acceptance of his guilty plea was dependent upon the trial court finding that defendant committed a kidnapping while hijacking the victim's car and that the victim died during the commission of this felony. Therefore, defendant contends that the only additional fact used by the trial court as an aggravating circumstance to enhance defendant's sentence was the theft of the victim's purse and money. Defendant maintains that while the court enhanced defendant's sentence by adding ten years to the presumptive sentence, had defendant been charged and found guilty of theft of the purse and money, the maximum penalty would have been four years. Hence, defendant argues that the additional ten years imposed by the court was manifestly unreasonable.

The presumptive sentence for felony-murder is forty years. Mullens v. State, (1983) Ind., 456 N.E.2d 411. Twenty years may be added to the presumptive sentence where there are proper aggravating circumstances and ten years may be subtracted for mitigating cireumstances. Ind.Code § 85-50-2-8 (Burns 1979 Repl). The court enhanced the presumptive sentence of forty years by an additional ten years and gave the following statement of reasons:

"But nevertheless, I find for the record, that the aggravating circumstances outweigh any mitigating cireumstances in this matter. Specifically being that there was a kidnapping, a forced abduction of a person minding their own business trying to get into their car to go home. There was a car theft, there was a very brutal killing when the evidence pointed out that she was in fact not killed by the knife that was embedded in her neck, she was killed by being beaten about the head by a big post. Further, the facts that the Court finds as aggravating, the stealing of the victim's car as previously mentioned as well as the purse, money was taken from the purse by your own testimony, you threw the purse out."

Indiana Code § 35-38-1-7(b) (Burns 1984 Supp.) lists aggravating cireumstanc-es the court may consider to enhance sentences. The mere recital of the statutory factors so enumerated is an insufficient statement of the reasons for enhancing a sentence. Chamness v. State, (1983) Ind., 447 N.E.2d 1086. The court must give a specific and individualized statement of why the particular facts of the case support the imposition of an enhanced sentence. Allen v. State, (1982) Ind., 439 N.E.2d 615. However, the judge is not limited to the aggravating circumstances provided by subsection (b) of this statute and may consider other factors relevant to establishing a proper sentence.

In this case, the judge deemed the kidnapping, car theft, brutal killing and theft of victim's purse and money to be proper aggravating circumstances for enhancing defendant's presumptive sentence by an additional ten years.

We have held that when considering whether or not to enhance a sentence that the trial court may consider the nature and circumstances of the crime. Owens v. State, (1981) Ind., 427 N.E.2d 880; Warfield v. State, (1981) 275 Ind. 396, 417 N.E.2d 304. Ind.Code § 35-38-1-7(a) *265 (Burns 1984 Supp.) provides that the sentencing judge must consider the nature and circumstances of the crime committed when making a sentencing decision. Thurston v. State, (1985) Ind., 472 N.E.2d 198.

While the recital of kidnapping by itself may not be a proper aggravating circumstance to enhance a sentence insofar as it was the underlying offense in the felony-murder conviction, Green v. State, (1981) Ind., 424 N.E.2d 1014, the nature of the crime and the manner in which it was committed has been deemed by this Court to be a proper aggravating circumstance pursuant to Ind.Code § 35-50-1A-7(c) (now codified as 85-38-1-7); Sandlin v. State, (1984) Ind.,

Related

Williams v. State
619 N.E.2d 569 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1993)
Huspon v. State
545 N.E.2d 1078 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1989)
Johnson v. State
537 N.E.2d 1191 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1989)
Sharp v. State
534 N.E.2d 708 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1989)
Shields v. State
523 N.E.2d 411 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1988)
Seeley v. State
504 N.E.2d 309 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1987)
Burgans v. State
500 N.E.2d 183 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1986)
Lindsey v. State
485 N.E.2d 102 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1985)

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477 N.E.2d 262, 1985 Ind. LEXIS 815, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rust-v-state-ind-1985.