Seward v. State

453 N.E.2d 256, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 957
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 21, 1983
Docket482S160
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 453 N.E.2d 256 (Seward 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
Seward v. State, 453 N.E.2d 256, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 957 (Ind. 1983).

Opinion

PIVARNIK, Justice.

On September 21, 1981, Defendant-Appellant Thaddaeus H. Seward was found guilty by a jury in the Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division Room 3, of burglary and theft. The jury further found Appellant to be a habitual criminal. Appellant subsequently was sentenced by the trial judge to a composite term of thirty-five years imprisonment. Appellant now directly appeals and raises the following four issues for our review:

1. whether there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could properly find Appellant to be a habitual criminal;

2. whether the trial court erred by refusing to give Appellant's tendered Instruction No. 5 regarding a lesser included offense;

8. whether error attended the voir dire selection of the jury; and

*257 4. whether there was sufficient evidence to support the verdicts of guilty of theft and burglary.

At approximately 9:00 p.m. on February 29, 1980, Indianapolis City Police Officer Richard Weis received a radio alert pertaining to a break-in alarm at the Zeb Bell Standard Service Station in Indianapolis. As Officer Weis approached said service station in his police car with headlights off, he observed an individual approximately twenty feet from the front of the building rolling a tire with rim away from the building and in his direction. Weis identified this individual as Appellant. As Weis began to talk to Appellant, he observed a hole in the glass front window of the service station. Weis further investigated and observed that the door clasp was smashed and the rack of tires inside of the station appeared disturbed. Appellant told Officer Weis that he found the tire and rim outside the service station on a pile of old and discarded tires. Weis testified that the tire and rim appeared to be new. Mr. Bell, the owner of the station, stated that he locked the station at 7:00 p.m., checked to be certain the station was completely secured and activated the burglar alarm system. He identified the tire and rim as belonging to a customer of his. Mr. Bell also stated that he had repaired a nail hole in the tire that afternoon and left it inside the station between the tire stand and a nearby car. The tire and rim were locked inside the station when Mr. Bell left and he did not authorize Appellant to enter his station during the evening of February 29th.

I

Appellant admits that the State established at trial that he previously had been convicted of second degree burglary and twice convicted of theft under $100. For each of his theft convictions, Appellant was sentenced to 864 days imprisonment. The trial court instructed the jury that a felony conviction means a conviction for which a defendant might be imprisoned for more than one year. Appellant now contends that the State failed to prove that he was a habitual criminal because no evidence was presented from which a reasonable person might believe that Appellant previously had been convicted of two prior felonies. His contention is based on the fact that no evidence was presented to the jury from which they could determine that theft under $100 bore a potential penalty of imprisonment for more than one year. Appellant does not claim that theft under $100 is not a felony; his claim is that no evidence was presented to the jury from which they could make this determination. Appellant's argument is that the State failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he had accumulated two prior unrelated felony convictions and that the evidence, therefore, was not sufficient to establish his guilt as a habitual offender. This argument already has been decided by this Court adverse to Appellant's position. We have held:

"Whether an offense is a 'felony' is purely a question of legislative categorization; it is not a question of fact for the jury, but a matter of law predetermined by the legislature and applied by the judiciary. Ind.Code § 85-50-2-1 (Burns 1979 Repl.). See Collins v. State (1981) Ind., 415 N.E2d 46. The pertinent question of fact for the jury to determine in a habitual offender proceeding is whether the accused has two prior convictions. The question of whether those alleged convictions were for felonies is for the trial court to determine, based on the relevant statutes, before evidence of the convictions is presented to the jury."

Griffin v. State, (1981) Ind., 415 N.E.2d 60, 66. The evidence presented to the instant jury indicated that Appellant previously had been convicted of at least two prior unrelated felonies. There was, therefore, sufficient and proper evidence before the instant jury to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that Appellant was a habitual criminal.

II

Appellant next claims that the trial court erred by refusing to give his tendered Instruction No. 5 which proposed to instruct the jury on the definition of criminal tres *258 pass. The trial court did instruct that burglary is defined: "A person who breaks and enters the building or structure of another person, with intent to commit a felony in it, commits burglary, a class C felony." Ind. Code § 35-48-2-1 (Burns Supp.1982). Criminal trespass is defined: "A person who: ... Knowingly or intentionally interferes with the possession or use of the property of another person without his consent; ... commits criminal trespass, a class A misdemeanor." Ind.Code § 85-48-2-2(a)(4) (Burns 1979).

In the present case, Appellant denied that he broke out the front window or tampered with the lock of the Bell service station. He also claimed that he did not enter said service station. Appellant admits that it is the trial court's duty to examine each of the elements comprising the greater charged and lesser included offenses and then to instruct the jury on a lesser offense when there is evidence of probative value from which the jury could properly find him guilty of such lesser included offense. Here there was no dispute in the evidence from which it could be determined that Appellant committed a criminal trespass rather than the higher crime of burglary. Appellant claimed that he never entered the service station although the evidence indicated that there was a "breaking" of the building and the property found in Appellant's possession had been removed therefrom. The giving of Appellant's tendered Instruction on criminal trespass in this case would have done nothing more than invite the jury to speculate or to reach a compromise verdict. This we will not allow. Jones v. State, (1982) Ind., 438 N.E2d 972; Lawrence v. State, (1978) 268 Ind. 330, 375 N.E.2d 208. The trial court did not err by refusing to give Appellant's tendered Instruction No. 5.

III

After the jury had returned its verdicts finding Appellant guilty on all counts, Appellant's counsel discovered that many of the jurors accepted in the instant case previously had been jurors in two other cases wherein the State was represented by the same deputy prosecuting attorney.

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Bluebook (online)
453 N.E.2d 256, 1983 Ind. LEXIS 957, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seward-v-state-ind-1983.