FOR PUBLICATION
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:
JEFFREY L. SANFORD JEFFREY A. MODISETT
South Bend, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
ROSEMARY L. BOREK
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
ROBERT GRIESINGER, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 71A03-9710-CR-383
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee-Plaintiff. )
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
II. Whether the trial court erred by refusing Griesinger's tendered jury
instruction on the lesser included offense of confinement as a Class D
felony.
III. Whether the trial court erred by refusing Griesinger's tendered jury
instruction which would have advised the jury that consent negates
a confinement charge.
We affirm.
Griesinger had threatened to cut her throat unless she cooperated with him. She also told the
police that he had taken her to a western part of the county where he stopped the car, ordered
her to her knees, and thrust his penis into her mouth. After that, he pushed her onto the hood
of his car and raped her.
Based on Babbs' initial, distressed conversation with the police, the State charged
Griesinger with rape, criminal deviate conduct, confinement, and residential entry. In Babbs'
pre-trial deposition, however, she recanted her earlier allegations. In the deposition, Babbs
claimed that Griesinger never threatened her with the knife, he merely held it in his hand.
Further, she said that her sexual relations with Griesinger that night had been consensual.
Due to Babbs' new testimony, the State dismissed the rape and criminal deviate conduct
charges, and revised the confinement charge.
At trial, Babbs testified that Griesinger lived with her off and on, and that he had key
to her house but not to the storm doors. On the day prior to the incident Griesinger had left
Babbs' home to return to his mother's home. Babbs testified that Griesinger telephoned her
a couple of times the next evening, and that she told him she didn't feel well. During the
telephone calls, Griesinger never said he was coming to Babbs' house. Later that night,
Babbs awoke to a scratching sound on her window screen. According to her testimony, she
jumped up, went downstairs and told her sister that Griesinger was in the house. She then
went outside, unlocking her front door to do so. She testified that Griesinger came outside
and grabbed her by the back of her hair. She said he held a knife in his hand but never
pointed it at her. She further said that when Griesinger took her to his car, he put the knife
between his teeth in order to retrieve his keys. While the knife was in his mouth, Babbs
grabbed it and threw it aside.
Griesinger then testified. He said he had come to Babbs' house that night because he
was concerned about her health. Throughout their relationship, Griesinger said, Babbs
demanded that he check on her regularly because she had insulin-dependent diabetes. He
further said that Babbs was afraid she would lapse into a diabetic coma
, so she insisted that
he enter the house in whatever way necessary to check on her. According to Griesinger,
he
entered the house through the upstairs window that night because no one answered his
knocks on the door, and he felt he must comply with Babbs' entreaty that he check on her.
The jury convicted Griesinger as charged.
Supplemental Record at 42. Griesinger argues that the trial court erred by refusing the
instruction, because the instruction correctly stated the law, the evidence supported the
instruction, and no other instruction informed the jury of the consent issue.
The State responds that the instructions as given adequately informed the jury of the
consent issue. According to the State, the following instructions advised the jury of the
consent defense:
"Lack of consent is not an element of the offense of Residential Entry and the
State is not required to prove lack of consent. A defendant's belief that he has
permission to enter must be reasonable in order for the defendant to avail
himself of the defense of consent."
Supplemental Record at 35.
"Where a defense which negates an element of an offense has been raised, the
State has the burden of disproving that defense beyond a reasonable doubt.
The State may meet this burden by providing additional evidence to rebut the
defense or by relying upon the evidence of its case-in-chief."
Supplemental Record at 36.
To resolve the jury instruction issue, we must determine whether, as Griesinger
contends, lack of consent is an element of the crime of residential entry, or whether, as the
State contends, consent to entry is a defense. If consent is a defense, the trial court's
instructions were correct. If, however, lack of consent is an element of the crime, the trial
court's instructions improperly failed to inform the jury of the State's burden of proving lack
of consent.
The controlling statute contains no consent element. The statute reads: "A person
who knowingly or intentionally breaks and enters the dwelling of another person commits
residential entry, a Class D felony." IC 35-43-2-1.5. Notwithstanding the statutory
language, Griesinger contends that lack of consent is an element of the crime, because lack
of consent is inherent in the term "break." In support of this contention, Griesinger cites a
burglary case, Smith v. State, 477 N.E.2d 857 (Ind. 1985). As Griesinger points out, the
court stated in Smith that there is no "break"when the owner consents to entry. Id. at 862.
The court went on to explain, however, that consent to enter is a defense to a burglary
charge. Id. at 863.
Similarly, in McKinney v. State, 653 N.E.2d 115 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995), a residential
entry case, the court stated that "in order to establish that a breaking has occurred, the State
need only introduce evidence from which the trier of fact could reasonably infer that the
slightest force was used to gain unauthorized entry." Id. at 117 (emphasis added). When
read in isolation, the court's statement suggests that lack of consent is an element of the
crime. The full opinion makes clear, though, that consent arises only as a defense. The court
in McKinney pointed out that lack of consent is not an element of residential entry -- rather,
the court said, the defendant must prove consent as a defense. Id. at 118.
Further, a review of the precedent containing the words "unauthorized entry" indicates
that the courts used the term "unauthorized" as a synonym for the term "illegal." Used in this
manner, "unauthorized" carries no reference to authorization from the owner of the dwelling.
Instead, in this context, "unauthorized" means "not authorized by the State", i.e., illegal.
The reference to illegality originated in Willard v. State, 272 Ind. 589, 400 N.E.2d 151
(1980): "'[b]reaking and entering' in this context connotes an illegal entry, even if by
opening an unlocked door or window." Id. 272 Ind. at 603, 400 N.E.2d at 160 (emphasis
added). The next case adopting Willard substituted the word "unauthorized" for the word
"illegal" without any indication that a change in meaning was intended. See Howard v.
State, 433 N.E.2d 753, 756 (Ind. 1982). The subsequent line of cases continued using the
word "unauthorized" without reference to any consent issue. See
Howard v. State, 433
N.E.2d 753, 756 (Ind. 1982)
, cited in Trice v. State, 490 N.E.2d 757, 758-59 (Ind. 1986),
cited in England v. State, 530 N.E.2d 100, 101 (Ind. 1988), cited in Bellmore v. State, 602
N.E.2d 111, 124-25 (Ind. 1992), cited in McKinney v. State, 653 N.E.2d 115, 117 (Ind.
Ct. App. 1995).
When viewed in the context of this precedent, the term "unauthorized entry" is seen
to be synonymous with "illegal entry" in the case law definitions of the term "break." Use
of the term "unauthorized entry" is adequate for cases in which consent is not an issue, but
is confusing in cases in which the defendant raises the issue of consent. Here, rote citation
of the definitional precedent would yield the incorrect result of placing the burden on the
State to prove lack of consent. Accordingly, we apply the ultimate holdings in the relevant
precedent, which state that consent is a defense to residential entry. See
Smith v. State, 477
N.E.2d 857, 863 (Ind. 1985),
McKinney v. State, 653 N.E.2d 115, 118 (Ind. Ct. App.
1995).
In addition to the statutory language and the precedent discussed above, a comparison
of the residential entry statute with the criminal trespass statute indicates that the legislature
purposefully excluded the consent aspect when defining residential entry. As noted above,
the residential entry statute contains no reference to consent. In contrast, the criminal
trespass statute expressly identifies lack of consent as an element: "A person who, not
having a contractual interest in the property, knowingly or intentionally enters the dwelling
of another person without the person's consent, commits criminal trespass." IC 35-43-2-
2(a)(5) (emphasis added).
Had the legislature intended to require the State to prove lack of consent in residential
entry cases, the words "without the person's consent" could easily have been inserted in the
definition of the crime. The absence of those words indicates that consent must be raised as
a defense, and that once the defense is raised the State has the burden of disproving the
defense beyond a reasonable doubt. Here, the State's jury instructions adequately conveyed
these concepts to the jury, while Griesinger's tendered instruction erroneously indicated that
lack of consent is an element of residential entry. The trial court did not err in refusing
Griesinger's tendered instruction.
give the Class D instruction. In other words, is there a serious evidentiary dispute as to
whether the knife that Griesinger held could be used as a deadly weapon?
There is no such dispute. Although Babbs testified that Griesinger never held the
knife to her, she also testified that when she had the chance, she grabbed the knife and hurled
it away. Record at 203. Further, Babbs' sister testified that she heard Babbs screaming
"Robert, no!". Record at 225. The sisters' testimony supports an inference that Griesinger's
knife could be used as a deadly weapon. Conversely, the evidence contained only two items
that could conceivably create an evidentiary dispute about whether the knife was a deadly
weapon: (1) Griesinger's statement that he used the knife to work on his car; and (2)
Griesinger's statement that he kept the knife with him that night to protect himself and
Babbs. This evidence is not sufficient to raise a serious evidentiary dispute about the knife,
because Griesinger's use of the knife to repair his car or to defend himself does not negate
his use of the knife as a deadly weapon. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in refusing
the instruction on confinement as a Class D felony.
the will or consent of the person removed." Supplemental Record at 53. The trial court
refused the instruction.
Griesinger contends the refusal was prejudicial error. His factual support for this
contention is Babbs' testimony that she would have gone with Griesinger if he had stopped
holding on to her. Record at 203-04. His legal support is Johnson v. State, 262 Ind. 516,
519, 319 N.E.2d 126, 128 (1974), which he cites for the proposition that proof of
confinement requires proof that the defendant removed the victim from one place to another
without the victim's consent.
In Johnson, our supreme court addressed consent as it related to kidnapping, IC 35-1-
55-1 (1971). The Johnson court stated that "[t]he use of force is not limited to occasions
when the victim physically struggles to get away . . . the evidence must support the victim's
avowal of non-consent." 262 Ind. at 519, 319 N.E.2d at 128; see also Thompson v. State,
215 Ind. 129, 19 N.E.2d 165 (1939). More recently, however, our supreme court clarified
consent as it relates to confinement. The court explained that there are two separate
confinement offenses: non-consensual restraint and confinement by removal. Kelly v. State,
535 N.E.2d 140, 141 (Ind. 1989). The court further explained that lack of consent is not an
element of a charge of confinement by removal. The court said:
"Under section one of the statute, the act of nonconsensual confinement is
prohibited, irrespective of any intent to remove the individual to another
location; thus, the elements of the first type of confinement would be:
(1) knowingly or intentionally,
(2) confining another person,
(3) without their consent.
But lack of consent is not an element of confinement under section two.
Instead, it would be necessary to show the accused:
(1) knowingly or intentionally,
(2) removed another person from one place to another,
(3) by fraud, or enticement, force or threat of force."
Kelly v. State, 535 N.E.2d 140, 141 (quoting Addis v. State, 404 N.E.2d 59, 60 (Ind. App.
1980)).
Here, the trial court correctly instructed the jury on the elements of confinement by
removal. The court's instruction stated that to find Griesinger guilty, the jury must find that
"1. The defendant, Robert Griesinger;
2. Knowingly,
3. While armed with a deadly weapon;
4. Removed Pamela Babbs, from one place to another;
5. By force or the threat of force."
Supplemental Record at 24. As the trial court noted, Griesinger's tendered instruction was
confusing in that it referenced the concept of consent, which is not an element of
confinement by removal. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in refusing Griesinger's
tendered instruction.
Affirmed.
SULLIVAN, J., and BAKER, J., concur.
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