Vestal v. State

745 N.E.2d 249, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 366, 2001 WL 221703
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 7, 2001
Docket11A04-0003-CR-121
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 745 N.E.2d 249 (Vestal 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
Vestal v. State, 745 N.E.2d 249, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 366, 2001 WL 221703 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

VAIDIK, Judge.

Case Summary

Richard Vestal appeals his conviction for burglary as a class C felony and theft as a class D felony. He also appeals the trial court's order to pay $1,250.00 in reimbursement for the Clay County Public Defender Fund and $1,472.35 to Clay County for his extradition from Louisiana. Because we find that double jeopardy does not apply, we affirm Vestal's convictions. However, we reverse and remand on the payment of reimbursement costs with instructions to hold an indigency hearing.

Facts and Procedural History

The record reveals that on January 25, 1997, Vestal and his son, Wade Phillips were drinking when Vestal asked Phillips if he wanted to make some money. Phillips answered affirmatively, and the two drove to Brazil, Indiana. Vestal pulled the truck over near The Bottle Shop in Brazil, and after failing in his attempt to break a window, pried the door open with a crowbar. Both Vestal and Phillips entered the shop and took cases of beer, whiskey, cartons of cigarettes, miniature bottles of vodka and just under $100 in cash. The men then returned to Vestal's home in Terre Haute to store the items and divide them up. Eventually, the police found the missing items in various locations where Vestal had been living or staying. _

*251 Vestal was arrested but released from custody after he paid a ten percent cash bond. He failed to appear for his trial on July 27, 1997, and was consequently tried in absentia. Vestal was eventually arrested in Louisiana, waived extradition and was returned to Clay County for sentence-ing. The court sentenced Vestal to the maximum sentence of eight years for the burglary and three years for the theft to be served consecutively, but reduced the sentence to a total of ten years-the maximum consecutive sentence allowable for a single episode of criminal conduct. The trial court also ordered Vestal to pay $496.68 in restitution to Rick James, the owner of the The Bottle Shop store, $1,250.00 in reimbursement to the Clay County Public Defender Fund, and $1,472.35 to Clay County for his extradition from Louisiana. This appeal then ensued.

Discussion and Decision

I. Double Jeopardy

Vestal argues that convicting him of both burglary and theft violates the Double Jeopardy provision found in Art. I, § 14 of the Indiana Constitution. Specifically, Vestal contends that the jury used the same evidence to convict him on both crimes. Our supreme court has recently visited the double jeopardy issue and held that:

two or more offenses are the "same offense" in violation of Article I, Section 14 of the Indiana Constitution, if, with respect to either the statutory elements of the challenged erimes or the actual evidence used to convict, the essential elements of one challenged offense also establish the essential elements of another challenged offense.

Richardson v. State, 717 N.E.2d 32, 49 (Ind.1999).

In order to convict Vestal of burglary, the State must prove that he broke into and entered a building, with the intent to commit a felony therein. Ind.Code § 35-48-2-1,. To convict Vestal of theft, the State must prove that he knowingly or intentionally exerted unauthorized control over the property of another, with intent to deprive that person of any part of its value or use. Ind.Code § 35-43-4-2(a). To obtain a conviction for burglary, it is not necessary for the State to prove that the defendant committed theft since burglary is complete upon the breaking and entering with the intent to commit the theft; likewise, a conviction for theft does not require a breaking and entering. Therefore, each of the offenses contain at least one element which is separate and distinct from the other offense. Joy v. State, 460 N.E.2d 551; 563 (Ind.Ct.App.1984); see also Moffatt v. State, 542 N.E.2d 971, 975 (Ind.1989).

Accordingly, we find that these convictions do not violate the statutory elements test of the double jeopardy clause. However, this does not end our inquiry. A violation may still have occurred if there is a reasonable possibility that the evidentiary facts used by the fact-finder to establish the essential elements of one offense may also have been used to establish the essential elements of a see-ond challenged offense. Richardson, 717 N.E.2d at 53 (Ind.1999).

Ordinarily, we would now move on to the "actual evidence" test from Richardson. Upon a literal application of the "actual evidence" test, we would find that the evidence of the intent to commit the theft required for the burglary is the same evidence required to prove the theft. Therefore, the evidence used by the fact-finder to establish the elements of the burglary would be the same used to establish the elements of the theft. Thus, a strict appli *252 cation of Richardson would result in a finding of double jeopardy under the "actual evidence" test.

But, our supreme court could not have intended such a result. In Richard son, the supreme court stated: "we conclude that Indiana's Double Jeopardy Clause was intended to prevent the State from being able to proceed against a person twice for the same criminal transgression." - Richardson, 717 N.E.2d at 49. The supreme court further added: "[al criminal transgression was a person's conduct that violated a statutorily defined crime." Id. When the supreme court uses the term "same evidence" or "actual evidence," we believe it actually meant evidence of the same act. That is to say, a double jeopardy violation would occur if the act used to convict a person for two different criminal transgressions were the same.

Here, we have two distinct acts: burglary, accomplished by Vestal breaking into and entering a building with the intent to commit a felony and, theft, accomplished by Vestal taking unauthorized possession of property with the intent to deprive the owner of its use. Therefore, even though the theft is used to prove the intent of the burglary, because it is a distinct act from the burglary itself, there is not a double jeopardy violation. The very purpose of double jeopardy is to avoid convicting a person twice for the same act. Because we have two distinct acts, there is no double jeopardy violation.

To hold otherwise would lead to absurd results. First, an offender would not be punished for two separate criminal acts. For example, suppose burglar one commits a burglary and then, once inside, abandons his intent to commit a theft and burglar two commits a burglary and then, once inside, completes the theft. Both burglars, under a strict interpretation of the "actual evidence" test, would be subject to the same punishment even though burglar two completed the crime of theft and burglar one did not. The injustice would be exacerbated if the underlying crime to the burglary were rape, murder or other more serious crime.

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Bluebook (online)
745 N.E.2d 249, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 366, 2001 WL 221703, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vestal-v-state-indctapp-2001.