State v. Allen

809 N.E.2d 845, 2004 Ind. App. LEXIS 1045, 2004 WL 1209357
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 3, 2004
DocketNo. 61A04-0309-CR-473
StatusPublished

This text of 809 N.E.2d 845 (State v. Allen) 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
State v. Allen, 809 N.E.2d 845, 2004 Ind. App. LEXIS 1045, 2004 WL 1209357 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

HOFFMAN, Senior Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant State of Indiana ("the State") appeals from the trial court's order granting Defendant-Appellee Theodore L. Allen's ("Defendant") motion to dismiss the notice of probation violation.

On April 80, 1999, the State charged Defendant with Count I, Maintaining a Common Nuisance, a Class D felony; Count II, possession of marijuana, a Class D felony, and Count III, possession of paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor. The State also charged Defendant with being an habitual offender. Defendant pled guilty to maintaining a common nuisance, a Class D felony, and to possession of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor. On February 24, 2008, the trial court sentenced Defendant to a term of three years for maintaining a common nuisance, and to a term of one year for possession of marijuana. The trial court ordered the sentences to be served concurrently. Defendant was ordered to serve one year executed with the remaining two years to be suspended with Defendant placed on probation.

The trial court advised Defendant from the bench of the conditions of probation as follows:

You of course shall not violate any of the laws of the United States, the State of Indiana, or any other municipality where you may be located, Mr. Allen. You will maintain employment during the time that you are on probation. Work faithfully during that time. You will undergo any suitable medical or psychological [846]*846treatment ordered by the Court, particularly in this case a drug and alcohol or substance abuse treatment program. You will pay your costs of $132.00. I am not going to assess a fine in this matter. You shall not possess any controlled substances unless they are prescribed for you by a practicing physician. You will pay an initial user's fee of $100.00 and $15 for each month that you are on probation. Report to the Probation Officer once a month or whatever interval they require you to report after you have initially started that. Remain within the jurisdiction of the Court and not change your place of residence without permission from this Court. You will allow the Probation Department to visit you in your home or elsewhere and make any reasonable inquiry about your activities or anyone that you may be with and if reasonable suspicion exists you will submit to a search of your person and property. You will be required to have a substance abuse assessment completed by a substance abuse treatment center, then you'll complete any type of program or treatment-education program that that assessment indicates that you're supposed to do. You'll do that at your own expense. You'll also be required to submit to random drug and aleohol testing during the time that you're on probation. You will pay a drug abuse, prosecution, interdiction, and correction fee in the amount of-I'm only going to charge you the $500.00 fee, Mr. Allen, because I think you're going to have several other expenses that you're going to have to pay along with this. And your driver's license will be suspended for 180 days, which is the minimum under this statute, it's my understanding.

Tr. of February 24, 2008, hearing, p. 7-8. The judge pro tempore announced that the above was the order of the court, and then asked Defendant questions about when he could report for work release. Id. at 8.

On June 16, 2008, the State filed a probation violation against Defendant, alleging that Defendant tested positive for marijuana. On August 19, 2003, the regular judge held a hearing wherein the Defendant orally moved for a dismissal of the probation violation, alleging that he never signed or received the written conditions of probation. On August 20, 2003, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss probation violation. The State filed a response to Defendant's motion to dismiss on August 22, 2008. On August 26, 2008, the trial court held another hearing on the probation violation and Defendant's motion to dismiss. At that hearing, the trial court granted Defendant's motion to dismiss the probation violation. The trial court then provided Defendant with a written copy of the conditions of his probation which Defendant was to sign after reading.

This appeal ensued.

The State claims that the trial court committed reversible error by granting Defendant's motion to dismiss the notice of probation violation. The State argues that even though Defendant did not receive a written copy of the conditions of his probation, as required, the trial court's oral advisement at sentencing satisfied that requirement in this instance.

Ind.Code § 35-88-2-2.3(b) provides as follows:

(b) When a person is placed on probation, the person shall be given a written statement specifying:
(1) the conditions of probation; and
(2) that if the person violates a condition of probation during the probationary period, a petition to revoke probation may be filed before the earlier of the following:
[847]*847(A) One (1) year after the termination of probation.
(B) Forty-five (45) days after the state receives notice of the violation.

A panel of this court, when addressing an issue involving a prior version of this statute, stated that the intent of the statute is to provide a defendant with prospective notice of the standard of conduct required of him while on probation and to prohibit the imposition of additional conditions after sentencing. See Kerrigan v. State, 540 N.E.2d 1251, 1252 (Ind.Ct.App.1989). The panel went on to state that the intent of the statute is achieved if the conditions are specified in the record, also as required by statute, in the defendant's presence, and the defendant specifically acknowledges he understands the conditions. Id. The panel concluded by finding that a trial court errs when if fails to provide a defendant with a written statement of the conditions of probation, but the error is harmless if there is substantial compliance with the intent of the statute. Id.

In Boyd v. State, 481 N.E.2d 1124 (Ind.Ct.App.1985), a panel of this court examined a challenge to a probation violation based upon the trial court's failure to read the probation conditions into the record, and the failure to provide Boyd a written statement of the terms of probation at the sentencing hearing. Boyd testified that he signed and executed those terms on the same day as the hearing, that he had read and understood them, and that he received a copy of those conditions. A panel of this court held that the trial court's error in failing to comply with the statutes was harmless error because there was no prejudice to Boyd. Id. at 1126.

In Kerrigan, the defendant challenged a probation violation due to the trial court's failure to provide him with a written copy of the conditions of his probation at the time of his sentencing.

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Related

Seals v. State
700 N.E.2d 1189 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1998)
Boyd v. State
481 N.E.2d 1124 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1985)
White v. State
560 N.E.2d 45 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1990)
Malone v. State
571 N.E.2d 329 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1991)
Kerrigan v. State
540 N.E.2d 1251 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1989)
Layne v. State
691 N.E.2d 1305 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1998)
Atkins v. State
546 N.E.2d 863 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1989)
Ratliff v. State
546 N.E.2d 309 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
809 N.E.2d 845, 2004 Ind. App. LEXIS 1045, 2004 WL 1209357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-allen-indctapp-2004.