Sean Patrick Hogan v. State of Indiana

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided January 15, 2015·No. 02A05-1404-CR-179·Unpublished

Opinion

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be Jan 15 2015, 9:49 am regarded as precedent or cited before any court except for the purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:

JOHN C. BOHDAN GREGORY F. ZOELLER Deputy Public Defender Attorney General of Indiana Fort Wayne, Indiana IAN McLEAN

CYNTHIA L. PLOUGHE1

Deputy Attorneys General

Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA SEAN PATRICK HOGAN, )

)

Appellant-Defendant, )

)

vs. ) No. 02A05-1404-CR-179 )

STATE OF INDIANA, )

)

Appellee-Plaintiff. )

APPEAL FROM THE ALLEN SUPERIOR COURT The Honorable John F. Surbeck, Jr., Judge Cause No. 02D05-1309-FA-38

January 15, 2015

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION KIRSCH, Judge

1 We note that Ms. Ploughe is not named on the Appellee’s brief; however, we include her as an attorney for the Appellee because she filed an appearance and we do not see that she filed a motion to withdraw.

Following a jury trial, Sean Patrick Hogan was convicted of four counts of Class A felony child molesting,2 four counts of Class C felony child molesting,3 and one count of Class D felony dissemination of matter harmful to minors.4 The trial court sentenced Hogan to the advisory sentence of thirty years for each of the Class A felony convictions, to be served consecutively. The trial court also sentenced Hogan to the advisory sentences of four years for each of the Class C felony convictions and one-and-a-half years for the Class D felony conviction, all to be served concurrently with the Class A felony sentences, for an aggregate sentence of 120 years executed. Hogan raises the following restated issues on appeal:

I. Whether Hogan’s sentence of 120 years was inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender; and

II. Whether the trial court’s application of the 2008 “credit restricted felon” designation to Counts II, III, and IV violated the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws.

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY A.B. was born June 15, 1999 to J.B. (“Mother”) and Father. In 2001, Mother and Hogan, who was at that time approximately twenty-six years old, began dating. When A.B.

2 See Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3(a). Counts I through VIII alleged that Hogan committed child molesting against A.B., in violation of Indiana Code section 35-42-4-3, during the time period between June 15, 2004 and May 31, 2013. Although that section was amended during that time period, the language pertinent to Hogan’s convictions did not change.

3 See Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3(b).

4 See Ind. Code § 35-49-3-3(a). We note that, effective July 1, 2014, the statutes pertaining to child molesting and dissemination of matter harmful to minors have been amended to change felonies once categorized by “Class” to now being categorized by “Level.” Hogan committed his crimes prior to July 1, 2014; therefore, we use the statutes in effect at the time he committed the offenses.

was about two-and-a-half years old, she, Mother, and Hogan began living together on Springbrook Road in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A.B. had visitation with Father on Mondays and Thursdays and every other weekend. At some point in early 2003, Hogan and Mother had a child together, C.H.

Hogan often watched A.B. and C.H. while Mother was at work. When A.B. was very young, Hogan introduced her to “the chair game,” where Hogan would tie A.B. up to a computer chair “and see if [she] could get out.” Tr. at 143. A.B. recalled, “He would just say if I could get out I could do whatever I wanted to do to him, and if I couldn’t then he could do whatever he wanted to me.” Id. at 145. Hogan always tied A.B. so securely that she couldn’t escape. At first, Hogan would just tickle A.B. when she could not escape. One day, when A.B. was five years old and failed to escape, Hogan told A.B., “what he was going to do he could go to jail for so I couldn’t tell anybody and that what he was going to do was going to make me feel like I had to pee.” Id. at 144. A.B. recalled, “He put his mouth on my vagina.” Id.

A.B. recalled that Hogan’s abuse became worse as she grew older. A.B. said she “grew up thinking it was okay, that everything was okay” because Hogan “told me he was in love with me.” Id. at 147. The first time A.B. learned that Hogan’s conduct was not normal was when she was in the third or fourth grade at school and saw a video “on like how stuff wasn’t okay,” and saw that other people “didn’t have people calling them that much” or people who were “right by their sides” as she did. Id. at 148, 149.

While A.B. was growing up, Hogan made her watch pornographic videos and, when A.B. was eight or nine years old, Hogan made two videos in which he made A.B. lie on

top of him while Hogan simulated having sex with her. Id. at 152. Hogan later made A.B. watch one of the two videos. Prior to 2010, handcuffs became a part of Hogan’s “games.” Id. at 155, 156. A.B. testified that if she did not want to do something with Hogan, he would use handcuffs to attach her to bars on the bed frame and “sometimes belts with [her] hands and [her] legs.” Id. at 155. A.B. recalled that sometimes Hogan presented this behavior “more like it was a game” and that at other times, “it would be like, no, you have to do this.” Id. at 156. A.B. testified that if she expressed unwillingness, Hogan “would get really mad and say I was like betraying him and stuff like that.” Id. at 155. Hogan also would accuse A.B. of “cheating on him with somebody at [her] school.” Id. Sometimes A.B. screamed in protest, but she said, “[I]f I put up a fight, there was just going to be more. There was just going to be a bigger fight and nothing was going to work out. Either way it was going to happen.” Id. at 156.

In 2010, after living on Springbrook Road for eight years, Hogan, A.B., C.H., and Mother moved into a hotel for about a month and then moved into a home on Fifth Street in Fort Wayne. A.B. recalled that, when she was ten or eleven years old, Hogan “made me do stuff to him”; he made me “put my mouth on his penis,” “put my hands on his penis,” and “rub all over him.” Id. at 151-52, 154. A.B. testified that while still living in Indiana, when she was younger than twelve years old, Hogan touched her “[a]ll over. My vagina, my breasts, my butt, everything.” Id. at 163. When asked whether Hogan touched the inside or outside of her vagina, A.B. testified that Hogan used his fingers to touch her vagina “[i]n and out.” Id. A.B. also testified that Hogan would sometimes make her stand on an exercise machine in a position that allowed him to place his mouth on her vagina.

On returning home from work one evening, Mother found A.B. in bed with Hogan.

Hogan was cuddling A.B. and had his legs draped over her. Mother ended her relationship with Hogan and moved to Florida in May 2011, taking both A.B. and C.H. with her. A.B. was eleven when the family moved to Florida. Mother testified that, at that time, Hogan called A.B. about “35 times a day,” “and he would text her all day long.” Id. at 374. Hogan also sent frequent messages to A.B.’s Facebook page, in an effort to get her attention. Id.

While living in Florida, A.B. and C.H. would return to Indiana periodically to visit their respective fathers. These visits occurred during winter break in 2011, during spring break in 2012, and during the summer of 2012. When A.B. returned to Indiana for visits, she visited Hogan’s house in order to see C.H. During those visits, Hogan made A.B. sleep in his bed and compelled her to engage in oral sex. One night, A.B., wanting to sleep in her sister’s room, refused to sleep in Hogan’s bed. At two o’clock in the morning, Hogan came into the room with “hot water and he poured it all over me, just because I didn’t want to sleep in his room.” Id. at 165. A.B. left C.H.’s room and went to sleep in Hogan’s room.

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