Willie Moore v. State of Indiana

49 N.E.3d 1095, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 18, 2016 WL 360646
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 29, 2016
Docket49A02-1505-CR-321
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 49 N.E.3d 1095 (Willie Moore v. State of Indiana) 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
Willie Moore v. State of Indiana, 49 N.E.3d 1095, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 18, 2016 WL 360646 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

PYLE, Judge.

Statement of the Case

[1] Appellant/Defendant, Willie'Moore (“Moore”), appeals his convictions for Level 6 felony resisting law enforcement1 and Level 4 felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.2 Moore, a former resident of the Coppertree Apartment Complex. (“Coppertree”), was stopped by Coppertree’s courtesy police officer. one day. The officer discovered Moore’s name after stopping him and believed that he was a former resident who was on the complex’s trespass list, As a result, he requested to pat Moore down, but Moore, ran. When the officer caught Moore, he arrested’ him, searched him, and discovered a firearm in Moore’s possession. Moore was subsequently convicted of: (1) resisting law enforcement as a Level 6 felony because the officer had been injured while pursuing Moore; and (2) possession of a firearm as a serious violent felon because Moore had a prior out-of-state conviction for residential burglary, which the trial court concluded was substantially similar to Indiana’s statute for burglary.

[2] Qn appeal, M.oore argue? that: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of the firearm because he was unlawfully stopped by Coppertree’s officer and, therefore, the resulting arrest and search violated his right to privacy under the United States and Indiana Constitutions; (2) the trial court erred in convicting him of possession .of a firearm as a serious violent felon because his prior out-of-state conviction for residential burglary was not substantially similar to a conviction for burglary in Indiana; and (3) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for resisting law enforcement as a Level 6 felony 'because there was no evidence' -that hé caused the injuries Cop-pertree’s officer suffered while1 pursuing him. We conclude that: (1) the officer had reasonable suspiciori to stop Moore, so the stop was lawful under the United States Constitution; (2) the officer’s actions were reasonable under the totality of the circumstances, so the stop was lawful under the Indiana Constitution; and (3) the Illinois statute for residential burglary was substantially similar to the Indiana statute for burglary. However, we agree with Moore that there was not sufficient evidence to elevate his resisting law enforcement conviction to a Level 6 felony because there was no evidence that he proximately caused the officer’s injuries. As a result, we affirm Moore’s conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm by a [1099]*1099serious violent-felon, but we reverse his conviction for resisting law enforcement as a Level 6 felony. We remand to the trial court with instructions to vacate Moore’s resisting law enforcement conviction and to enter a new conviction and sentence for the lesser-included offense of Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement.

[3] • We affirm in part, reverse in part; and remand.

Issues

1. Whether the .trial court abused its discretion in admitting the handgun.
2. Whether the trial court erred in determining that the Illinois residential burglary statute was substantially similar to the Indiana burglary statute. •
3. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support Moore’s conviction for resisting law enforcement as a Level '6 felony.

Facts

[4] Officer Christopher Helmer (“Officer Helmer”), a patrolman with the Speedway Police Department, worked as a “courtesy officer” for Coppertree when he was not working as a patrolman with the police department. (Tr. 4). As a courtesy officer, he was responsible for Copper-tree’s security and responding to service calls. On July 12, 2014, Officer Helmer was at Coppertree when he saw Moore and another male walking along the street next to the complex. He stopped his patrol car next to them and got out to question them because he found it suspicious that Moore was wearing a dark ■ hoodie when it was “roughly eighty” degrees outside that day. (Tr. 6). He also could not remember ever having seen the two males before. When he stopped, he did not activate his patrol car’s lights or siren or ask either man to stop. Nevertheless, the men stopped to talk to him.

[5] Officer Helmer asked whether the men lived in Coppertree. Moore told him that they did not,. but he gave Officer Helmer his name, which the officer recognized:. - Officer Helmer knew that Copper-tree “had had several complaints about Willie Moore,” and another officer at Cop-pertree had told Officer Helmer that he had issued a written trespass warning to a Willie Moore.- (Tr. 10). Officer Helmer also knew that Moore had previously lived at Coppertree but that his family had been evicted. _ _ ,

.* [6] While he was talking to the officer, Moore put his hands in his pocket. Out of concern for his safety, Officer Helmer asked both men if he could pat them down. Moore’s companion complied with Officer Helmer’s request and put his hands up so that the officer could , pat him down. However,'as Officer Helmer began to pat his companion down, Moore said, “Man, lets’ get out of here,” and started walking backwards away from ■ the officer.. (Tr. 10). Officer Helmer told him to stop, but, instead, Moore turned around and ran.

[7] Officer Helmer radioed to dispatch that he was engaged in a foot pursuit and pursued Moore. Two blocks into this pursuit, .he fell down as. he ran and suffered a partially-torn tendon in his left shotilder. Still, he followed Moore into one of the buildings on the complex and found him trying to get into an apartment in that building. He deployed his taser, gained control over Moore, and then radioed for backup. When additional police officers arrived, Officer Helmer. placed Moore in handcuffs and searched him.- As a result of this search, he found a loaded firearm in a firearm holster in Moore’s pant leg.

.[8] Subsequently, on July 15, 2014, the State charged Moore with Level 5 felony possession of an altered handgun and Level 6 felony resisting law enforcement. On August 15, 2014, the State added an addi[1100]*1100tional count charging Moore with Level 4 felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. The State’s basis for this charge was that in 2013 Moore had been convicted of residential burglary in Cook County, Illinois. The State believed that the statutory elements of residential burglary in Illinois were substantially similar to the statutory elements of burglary, a serious violent felony, in Indiana.

[9] Prior to trial, Moore moved to suppress evidence of “any items seized, or statements made by [Moore,]” during Officer Helmer’s investigatory stop. (App. 52). He argued that Officer Helmer had stopped him without a warrant, did not have probable cause to arrest him, and did not have reasonable suspicion' of criminal activity. He asserted that, absent those constitutional requirements, the stop violated his right to privacy under the United States and Indiana Constitutions, and that all of the evidence gained as a result of the stop was therefore inadmissible. The trial court took the motion under advisement and held a bench trial on the charges on January 29,2015.

[10]- At the trial, Officer Helmer testified that, when he stopped Moore, he had known that two men named Willie Moore had lived at Coppertree — Moore and Moore’s father, Willie Moore, Sr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 N.E.3d 1095, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 18, 2016 WL 360646, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willie-moore-v-state-of-indiana-indctapp-2016.