Wise v. State

400 N.E.2d 114, 272 Ind. 498
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 5, 1980
Docket779S188
StatusPublished
Cited by66 cases

This text of 400 N.E.2d 114 (Wise 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
Wise v. State, 400 N.E.2d 114, 272 Ind. 498 (Ind. 1980).

Opinion

HUNTER, Justice.

Defendant, Aaron T. Wise a/k/a Thomas Frederick Wise, was convicted by a jury of theft, Ind.Code § 85-48-4-2 (Burns 1979 Repl.), and that jury found that defendant was a habitual offender, Ind.Code § 85-50-2-8 (Burns 1979 Repl.) Defendant was sentenced to consecutive terms of four years for theft and thirty years under the habitual offender statute. He now appeals raising the following issues.

1. Whether there is sufficient evidence to support the conviction for theft;

2. Whether the statute of limitations had run on the habitual offender charge;

3. Whether sentencing under the habitual offender statute constitutes double jeopardy in violation of Ind.Code § 85-41-4-8 (Burns 1979 Repl.) and Ind.Const. Art. 1 § 14;

4. Whether the thirty-year sentence for habitual offenders is in violation of Ind. Const. Art. 1 § 18, Ind.Const. Art. 1 § 16 and U.S.Const. amend. VIII;

5. Whether one of the two prior felonies forming the basis for defendant's sentence-ing as a habitual offender was in fact a misdemeanor; and

6. Whether the sentencing procedure under the habitual offender statute violated defendant's right to trial by a fair and impartial jury.

The facts which are supportive of the judgment of the trial court follow.

On April 15, 1978, an employee of a Central Hardware store in Indianapolis, Indiana, observed defendant pushing a cart with an air conditioner and two sheets of paneling on it toward an emergency exit. It was normal procedure of that store to have a salesman accompany a purchaser of a major appliance to the front door. After notifying the assistant manager of the situation, the employee noticed that the door was open and the air conditioner was gone. The assistant manager and a sheriff's deputy observed defendant place the air conditioner in a white automobile. When defendant started to drive off he was stopped by the deputy. Defendant denied knowledge of the air conditioner and stated that he did not have a receipt for it.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty of theft. The state introduced certified copies of documents establishing that defendant had been convicted of theft in 1976 and fined one thousand dollars. The state also introduced documentation of a 1972 conviction of entering with intent to commit a felony.

I.

Defendant first contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the conviction for theft of the air conditioner. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we are constrained to consider that which is most favorable to the state, together with all reasonable and logical inferences to be drawn from that evidence. When there is substantial evidence of probative value supporting the jury's verdict, the conviction will not be set aside. Faught v. State, (1979) Ind., 390 N.E.2d 1011; Henderson v. State, (1976) 264 Ind. 334, 343 N.E.2d 776.

Ind.Code § 85-43-4-2 (Burns 1979 Repl.) provides:

"A person who knowingly or intentionally exerts unauthorized control over property of another person, with intent to deprive the other person of any part of its value or use, commits theft, a class D felony."

Defendant claims that two of the above elements of theft were not proved at trial. Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to establish that the air conditioner was the property of another, of that defendant's control over that property was *117 unauthorized. He asserts that the only evidence which could establish these elements was a price tag on the air conditioner, which the evidence showed would not have been removed even if the air conditioner had been purchased, and the fact that no one was authorized to carry an air conditioner out of that particular emergency exit.

Defendant ignores other evidence from which the jury could infer ownership in Central Hardware and defendant's lack of authority. The air conditioner was in a Central Hardware store, two agents of Central Hardware deemed it necessary to interrupt defendant's control over the item and defendant did not have a receipt for the air conditioner. Defendant invites us to speculate that he had in fact returned the appliance for repairs and was merely picking up his own property. Reaching alternative inferences is a function of the trier of fact, not this Court. We find sufficient evidence to support defendant's conviction for theft.

II.

Defendant points out that in 1971 the statute of limitations for all felonies except treason, murder, arson and kidnapping was five years. His conviction for entering with intent to commit a felony came as a result of a crime committed in 1971, and, therefore, further prosecution for that offense is barred by Ind.Code § 85-41-4-2 (Burns 1979 Repl.) Defendant's assessment of the statute of limitations is correct, but wholly inapplicable to the case at bar. Defendant has been convicted and punished for the 1971 crime. He was neither tried nor sentenced for that particular offense in the case at bar.

Indiana's habitual offender statutory scheme has historically provided for greater punishment than would ordinarily be imposed upon the last conviction. The individual is subjected to the greater sentence neither for the prior crimes nor for the status of habitual offender, but rather the enhanced sentence is imposed for the last crime: committed. United States ex rel. Smith v. Dowd, (7th Cir. 1959) 271 F.2d 292.

The current habitual offender statute provides that the thirty-year sentence shall be imposed in addition to the sentence ordinarily imposed for the instant crime in contrast to the alternative sentencing under prior law. (See Swinehart v. State, (1978) Ind., 376 N.E2d 486; Eldridge v. State, (1977) 266 Ind. 134, 361 N.E2d 155). Nevertheless, we maintain the interpretation of the habitual offender sentencing scheme that the enhanced sentencing is imposed upon and for the last crime committed. Therefore, defendant's statute of limitations argument is inapplicable to the case at bar.

III.

Defendant argues that to allow sentencing upon proof of prior convictions is a prosecution based on the "same facts" as those convictions and constitutes a violation of double jeopardy provisions in Indiana law. Ind.Code § 35-41-4-3 (Burns 1979 Repl.); Ind.Const. Art. 1 § 14. However, the instant sentencing is based upon the fact of those convictions and is not based on the same facts which established those prior crimes.

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

Related

Bauer v. State
875 N.E.2d 744 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2007)
Ziebell v. State
788 N.E.2d 902 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)
Dunlop v. State
724 N.E.2d 592 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2000)
Warlick v. State
722 N.E.2d 809 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2000)
Ricky Warlick v. State of Indiana
Indiana Supreme Court, 2000
Garrett v. State
714 N.E.2d 618 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1999)
Ratliff v. Cohn
693 N.E.2d 530 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1998)
Shelton v. State
602 N.E.2d 1017 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1992)
State v. Jones
420 S.E.2d 736 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1992)
Collins v. State
583 N.E.2d 761 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1991)
Johnson v. State
575 N.E.2d 282 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1991)
Wine v. State
539 N.E.2d 932 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1989)
St. John v. State
529 N.E.2d 371 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1988)
Marsillett v. State
495 N.E.2d 699 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1986)
Craig v. State
481 N.E.2d 390 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1985)
Coble v. State
476 N.E.2d 102 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1985)
Cornelius v. State
467 N.E.2d 1200 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1984)
People ex rel. Faulk v. District Court ex rel. County of Fremont
673 P.2d 998 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1983)
Hill v. State
452 N.E.2d 932 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
400 N.E.2d 114, 272 Ind. 498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wise-v-state-ind-1980.