Sowers v. State

546 N.E.2d 1230, 1989 Ind. App. LEXIS 1195, 1989 WL 145392
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 29, 1989
DocketNo. 83A01-8907-CR-248
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 546 N.E.2d 1230 (Sowers 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
Sowers v. State, 546 N.E.2d 1230, 1989 Ind. App. LEXIS 1195, 1989 WL 145392 (Ind. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

RATLIFF, Chief Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Keith Sowers appeals his conviction of Forgery,1 a class C felony, for which he was sentenced to a period of incarceration of five years and to pay fines in the amount of the action. We affirm.

FACTS'

The evidence most favorable to the judgment indicates that David Huffman (Huffman), a resident of Newport, in Vermillion County, Indiana, had employed Keith Sowers (Sowers) to help Huffman occasionally in the garage of his residence during a period of about one month before August 1988. Sowers had observed Huffman writing checks from pamphlets of cheeks issued by the First Citizens State Bank of Newport (Citizens). Huffman kept the blank checks in his garage.

Huffman was away from Newport during a three week period from approximately August 16, 1988 until September 11, 1988. Sowers spoke to his brother-in-law, Robert See, about Huffman’s absence and the fact that Huffman kept checks in his garage. Sowers stated that there would be no point in his taking Huffman’s checks since Sowers cannot read or write. See offered to make Huffman’s checks payable to Sowers. Sowers then stole Huffman’s checks from Huffman’s locked garage. See made out several of Huffman’s checks purportedly to bear Huffman’s signature authorizing payment to Sowers. See made out other checks to himself from Huffman.

On August 16, 1988, Sowers and See opened separate bank accounts at the VA Credit Union (Credit Union) in Danville, Illinois. After indorsing his name on the back, Sowers deposited Huffman’s check # 162 on the Citizens account via automated teller machine. See had signed Huffman’s signature, making the check out to Sowers for $80.00, annotating “labor” in the lower left corner of the face of the check, and dating it August 16,1988. Sowers then withdrew the $80.00.

When Huffman returned to Newport on September 11, 1988, he found that some of his checks had been returned for insufficient funds. After checking with the bank, Huffman discovered that some of his checks had been forged. Huffman completed an affidavit of forgery for the bank and reported to the police that Sowers had forged Huffman’s name to check # 162. After a police investigation, Sowers was charged with one count of Forgery, a class C felony. The information was filed in the State of Indiana, County of Vermillion. Although Sowers was charged with class D felony theft,2 on February 7, 1989, the trial court refused to permit the State to join the theft charge with the forgery charge for trial on February 9-10, 1989. Sowers filed a pretrial Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction and a Motion for Directed Verdict because of a lack of showing of jurisdiction or venue in Vermillion County, Indiana. The trial court overruled both motions. The jury convicted Sowers of class C felony forgery and the court entered judgment accordingly. Additional facts will be discussed as necessary.

ISSUES

1. Whether the trial court had jurisdiction to try the case?

2. Whether the trial court was a proper venue for trial?

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Issue One

Sowers contends that he committed the crime of forgery entirely within Illinois and therefore the Vermillion County Circuit Court had no jurisdiction to try his case. Indiana Code 35-41-1-1 provides for determining when an Indiana court has jurisdiction to decide a criminal case: “(a) A person may be convicted under Indiana law of [1232]*1232an offense if: ... (4) conduct occurring in Indiana establishes complicity in the commission of, or an attempt or conspiracy to commit, an offense in another jurisdiction that also is an offense under Indiana law; ...” Indiana courts have held that Indiana’s jurisdiction is extended to crimes commenced in Indiana and completed out of state if it is shown that the out of state crime was integrally related to the crimes in Indiana. Pollard v. State (1979), 270 Ind. 599, 388 N.E.2d 496 (Indiana had jurisdiction to convict of murder where there was an integral relationship between the assault by stabbing and abduction in Indiana and the murder by gunshot wound inflicted in Kentucky); Conrad v. State (1974), 262 Ind. 446, 317 N.E.2d 789 (Indiana had jurisdiction to convict for murder where the assault and abduction in Indiana were followed by the infliction of a final, fatal blow in Ohio); State v. Abrahamson (1987), Ind.App., 516 N.E.2d 87 (Indiana had jurisdiction to prosecute mother for criminal confinement where the result of her actions had effect in Indiana after she violated a custody order, issued in Oklahoma granting custody to father and authorizing children to live in Indiana, by failing to return children to Indiana after removing them from Indiana for visitation and taking children to Texas); Anderson v. State (1983), Ind.App., 452 N.E.2d 173 (Indiana had jurisdiction where defendants stole from the victim in Kentucky and then forced the victim to go to Indiana). In discussing the proper venue of a case, Indiana courts also have held that when the various acts which comprise the crime are part of a single, continuous chain of events, the charge may be brought either in the county where the acts began or the county where the acts ended. Osborne v. State (1981), Ind., 426 N.E.2d 20 (kidnappings and theft were part of one continuous chain of events that were integrally related); French v. State (1977), 266 Ind. 276, 362 N.E.2d 834 (robbery, abduction, sexual attacks and murder charged all were integrally related and one act led to another in what, for purposes of venue, may be considered a single chain of events).

Sowers argues that the analysis of Pollard, Conrad, Abrahamson, and Anderson does not apply to the present case because those cases only apply where out-of-state crimes were integrally related to crimes committed in Indiana. Sowers contends that he committed no crime in Indiana and committed forgery only when he uttered Huffman’s check # 162 in Illinois. We recognize that Sowers was not charged with Conspiracy to Commit Forgery or with Attempt to Commit Forgery, even though the Information stated that Sowers had conspired with See to sign Huffman’s name. We do not read the above so narrowly as to exclude cases where non-chargeable acts occur in Indiana and are in furtherance of and integrally related to crimes committed outside Indiana. Furthermore, Sowers did steal Huffman’s checks in Newport, Vermillion County, Indiana. Theft is a crime in Indiana under I.C. 35-43-4-2. Although Sowers was charged with theft of the checks, that crime was not joined for trial with the forgery charge. However, we located no authority which would require us to ignore the theft committed in Indiana, especially when the evidence presented at trial, including Sowers’ confession, established the commission of the theft. We, therefore, find the integral relationship analysis of Pollard, Conrad, Abrahamson and Anderson applicable to this case.

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Bluebook (online)
546 N.E.2d 1230, 1989 Ind. App. LEXIS 1195, 1989 WL 145392, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sowers-v-state-indctapp-1989.