Stevens v. State

158 N.E.2d 784, 240 Ind. 19, 1959 Ind. LEXIS 245
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJune 3, 1959
Docket29,664
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 158 N.E.2d 784 (Stevens 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
Stevens v. State, 158 N.E.2d 784, 240 Ind. 19, 1959 Ind. LEXIS 245 (Ind. 1959).

Opinion

Bobbitt, J.

Appellant was charged by indictment in two counts, Count One charging involuntary manslaughter under Acts 1941, ch. 148, §2, p. 447, being §10-3405, Burns’ 1956 Replacement, and Count Two charging reckless homicide under Acts 1939, ch. 48, §52, p. 289, being §47-2001, Burns’ 1952 Replacement. Appellant was tried by jury, found guilty of reckless homicide as charged in Count Two of the indictment, fined $100 and sentenced to the Indiana State Prison for a term of one to five years.

The overruling of the motion for a new trial is the sole error assigned.

*22 We are confronted at the outset by a request of the State to dismiss the appeal herein because the clerk’s certificate does not appear at the end of the transcript but at page 119 thereof and immediaetly preceding the Bill of Exceptions, and appellee asserts that since the transcript is not properly authenticated no question is presented for our consideration.

The Bill of Exceptions here, as was true in Kreig v. State (1934), 206 Ind. 464, 190 N. E. 181, follows the clerk’s certificate in the record. Also, as was true in the Kreig Case, the clerk here certifies “that I have incorporated in this transcript the original Bill of Exceptions containing the evidence in said cause instead of a copy thereof, all as requested by the above and foregoing praecipe.”

The Bill of Exceptions bears the file mark of the clerk, and the judge’s certificate, appearing at the end of the transcript, certifies that the Bill of Exceptions contains all of the evidence given and offered in the cause, and that the same was filed and made a part of the record therein and ordered to be so certified by the clerk.

The certificate of the clerk in the present case is sufficient under the circumstances as shown by the transcript to identify and include the Bill of Exceptions even though the Bill follows the certificate. Kreig v. State, supra (1934), 206 Ind. 464, 473, 190 N. E. 181; Hunter v. Stump (1948), 118 Ind. App. 84, 86, 76 N. E. 2d 696.

The circumstances in the cases of Harris v. State (1947), 225 Ind. 115, 73 N. E. 2d 51, and Clemens v. Pierce (1942), 112 Ind. App. 136, 43 N. E. 2d 1024, which are relied upon by appellee, are entirely different from those in the case at bar, as will appear from an examination of the opinions in those cases, *23 and they do not lend support to the State’s position here.

Having disposed of the procedural question, we now proceed to consider the questions presented on the merits of the appeal.

First: It is asserted that the trial court erred in refusing to give appellant’s tendered Instructions Nos. 1 and 2 which would have instructed the jury that assault and assault and battery are included offenses in the crime of reckless homicide. This presents the question: Are assault and assault and battery lesser included offenses within the crime of reckless homicide ?

The rule as stated in Sullivan v. State (1957), 236 Ind. 446, 139 N. E. 2d 893, and relied upon here by appellant, correctly states the law as it pertained to included offenses in that case. However, it is not applicable here as will presently appear.

Section 47-2001, supra,, defines three distinct and separate crimes: (a) reckless homicide; (b) driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs; and (c) reckless driving.

Acts 1939, ch. 48, §53, p. 289, being §47-2002, Burns’ 1952 Replacement, provides, in pertinent part, as follows :

"All proceedings under section 52 [§47-2001] of this act shall be subject to the following provisions:
"(1) Each of the three [3] offenses defined in this section is a distinct offense. No one of them includes another, or is included in another one of them.” (Our italics.)

In Ray v. State (1954), 233 Ind. 495, 120 N. E. 2d 176, 121 N. E. 2d 732, appellant contended that the crime of involuntary manslaughter was included in *24 the crime of reckless homicide. On petition for rehearing, at page 501 of 233 Ind., we said:

“We think all of appellant’s arguments in support of his position are fully answered by Burns’ 1952 Repl., § 47-2002, which reads as follows:
[Here follows the section in full.]”

At page 502 of 233 Ind. we further said:

“The appellant does not attempt to point out that the quoted section is in any way ambiguous, ineffective, inapplicable or invalid. In fact he does not even mention this section. In this situation we take the statute at face value.”

What is “face value” of the statute? It says specifically and without ambiguity that each of the three offenses, of which reckless homicide is one, is “a distinct offense. No one of them includes another, . . (Our italics.)

“Another” refers to offenses generally and not exclusively to one of the three offenses defined in the preceding section. This construction is fully sustained by the clause which follows the word “another” and which is, “or is included in another one of them” (another one of the three crimes in § 52, ch. 48, of the Acts of 1939, being § 47-2001, Burns’ 1952 Replacement, supra).

We think the statute (§47-2002, supra) means what it says. The intent of the Legislature is crystal clear that the crime of reckless homicide is a distinct and separate offense and does not include any lesser offenses.

For the reason above stated the trial court did not err in refusing to give appellant’s requested Instructions Nos. 1 and 2.

*25 Second: Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress the testimony of Sergeant John F. Sullivan as to the results of a drunkometer test which he (appellant) took at police headquarters immediately following the accident.

Appellant contends that his arrest was illegal because the arresting officer “(1) had no warrant for his arrest; (2) the officers saw no misdemeanor committed within their view; (3) the officers did not have reasonable belief and information that a felony had been committed and that appellant had committed such felony, . . .”, and that the evidence obtained as a result of the drunkometer test is “inadmissable and suppressable.”

The evidence discloses that a police officer of the City of Indianapolis was called to investigate an accident on December 4, 1956, at Forty-Second Street and Sherman Drive in the City of Indianapolis.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Greer v. State
543 N.E.2d 1124 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1989)
Akins v. State
429 N.E.2d 232 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1981)
McDougall v. State
257 N.E.2d 674 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1970)
Kidwell v. State
251 N.E.2d 119 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1969)
Bernard v. State
230 N.E.2d 536 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1967)
McPhearson v. State
219 N.E.2d 907 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1966)
Gayer v. State
210 N.E.2d 852 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1965)
JAY v. State
206 N.E.2d 128 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1965)
Paneitz v. State
204 N.E.2d 350 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1965)
Denton v. State
203 N.E.2d 539 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1965)
City of Sioux Falls v. Ugland
109 N.W.2d 144 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
158 N.E.2d 784, 240 Ind. 19, 1959 Ind. LEXIS 245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stevens-v-state-ind-1959.