Stephanie Harris v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 26, 2017
Docket49A02-1608-CR-1797
StatusPublished

This text of Stephanie Harris v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) (Stephanie Harris v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)) 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
Stephanie Harris v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION FILED Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as Apr 26 2017, 5:44 am

precedent or cited before any court except for the CLERK purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals collateral estoppel, or the law of the case. and Tax Court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Susan D. Rayl Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Smith Rayl Law Office, LLC Attorney General of Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana Eric P. Babbs Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Stephanie Harris, April 26, 2017

Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 49A02-1608-CR-1797 v. Appeal from the Marion Superior Court. The Honorable Marc T. Rothenberg, State of Indiana, Judge. Appellee-Plaintiff. The Honorable Amy J. Barbar, Magistrate. Cause No. 49G02-1507-F5-25547

Friedlander, Senior Judge

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1608-CR-1797 | April 26, 2017 Page 1 of 19 1 [1] Stephanie Harris appeals her conviction of burglary as a Level 5 felony. We

affirm.

[2] Harris presents three issues for our review, which we restate as two:

1. Whether the trial court erred by admitting certain testimony at trial. 2. Whether the State erred by filing criminal charges in this action. [3] The facts most favorable to the judgment follow. On May 28, 2015, Officer

Williams-Ervin was dispatched to a residence. When he arrived, he

encountered Jeannette Shaw and a mortgage inspector. Shaw explained to the

officer that her mother, Floreatha McKoy, owned the house and that McKoy

had given Shaw power of attorney. Shaw was attempting to gain entry to the

house so the inspector could prepare his report, but she believed someone was

inside the residence.

[4] She and Officer Williams-Ervin knocked on the door of the residence, and a

young man answered and stated the house belonged to his mother, Harris.

Officer Williams-Ervin and Shaw then talked to Harris and explained that

Shaw’s mother owned the house. Harris, in turn, told them that she had leased

the house from Floreatha McKoy. Shaw stated that neither she nor her mother

had leased the house to anyone, and Officer Williams-Ervin suggested to Harris

1 Ind. Code § 35-43-2-1 (2014).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1608-CR-1797 | April 26, 2017 Page 2 of 19 that she might have been a victim of fraud. Harris became angry and accused

Shaw of being the person who leased the residence to her, although moments

earlier she had inquired as to Shaw’s identity.

[5] Although Harris eventually produced a lease and a receipt for payment of

$5,000, she was unable to provide contact information for the person from

whom she leased the house. After an investigation, officers informed a

belligerent Harris on June 12, 2015 that she had to move out of the house. On

July 8, officers informed Harris once again that she had to move. Harris

became very angry and indicated that she was not leaving. Officers returned

the next day, and Harris stated they were harassing her and could not make her

leave. Finally, on July 20, 2015, when Harris had still not vacated the house,

the police turned the case over to the prosecutor’s office.

2 [6] Harris was charged with burglary, a Level 5 felony; theft, a Level 6 felony; and 3 forgery, a Level 6 felony. At trial, the State proceeded on the theory that

Harris had engaged in a home takeover scheme in order to inhabit the house. A

jury found her guilty of burglary and theft. The trial court merged the theft

conviction into the burglary conviction and sentenced Harris to five years,

consisting of two years executed followed by one year of home detention and

2 Ind. Code § 35-43-4-2 (2014). 3 Ind. Code § 35-43-5-2 (2014).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1608-CR-1797 | April 26, 2017 Page 3 of 19 two years suspended to probation. It is from this conviction that she now

appeals.

[7] Harris first contends that the trial court erred in its admission of certain

testimony at trial. Particularly, she argues that the trial court admitted

irrelevant and prejudicial testimony and that the court improperly admitted

opinion testimony concerning guilt or innocence and legal conclusions.

[8] The trial court’s ruling on the admission or exclusion of evidence is reviewed

for an abuse of discretion. Cherry v. State, 57 N.E.3d 867 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016),

trans. denied. An abuse of discretion occurs when a decision is clearly against

the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the court. Paul v. State,

971 N.E.2d 172 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012).

[9] We first address Harris’ challenge to the testimony of Sergeant Walters

regarding the two types of home takeover schemes and the investigation

procedure for these types of cases. Harris claims that Sergeant Walters’

testimony is irrelevant and highly prejudicial and, therefore, should not have

been admitted.

[10] At trial, Sergeant Walters testified:

A home takeover because in Marion County in the last two and a half years, we have experienced a – an epidemic of basic individuals that have properties either for sale or, uh, that they’re vacant, going through foreclosure, uh, or just basically an abandoned house. We have individuals that are taking those houses – who have taken possession of those properties, and they basically just assume the property without going through any Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 49A02-1608-CR-1797 | April 26, 2017 Page 4 of 19 kind of legal documents, any kind of contractual interests or anything like that. So, we have labeled those because there’s such an epidemic of it, we’ve labeled them home takeovers, and because we have so many of them, our unit has been assigned specifically to deal with that because they usually deal with fraudulent documents, forgery, thefts, so on and so forth. So our unit is specifically in charge of dealing with all of the home takeovers. Tr. pp. 55-56.

[11] The prosecuting attorney then asked Sergeant Walters to explain “the typical

investigation into one of the home takeover cases.” Id. at 56. Defense counsel

objected on the basis that the information was speculative, irrelevant, and

prejudicial. The State responded that the information was relevant because the

allegations in the case involve a home takeover investigation, and Sergeant

Walters would testify to how that type of investigation is handled. The

objection was overruled, and Sergeant Walters continued, stating that there are

two types of home takeover schemes.

[12] Defense counsel again objected:

Defense: Judge, he’s not testifying to how he investigates. He’s testifying about the schemes. This is totally meant to be prejudicial. If he wants to talk about what he did in this particular case, that’s relevant. Other cases are not relevant to this case. Court: State? State: Judge, the detective is going to testify to how he typically handles the investigations.

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