ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Mark Small Jeffrey A. Modisett
Marion County Public Defender Agency Attorney General of Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Kristin T. Givens
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
APPEAL FROM THE MARION COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT
The Honorable Cale Bradford, Judge
Cause No. 49G03-9809-CF-147639
________________________________________________
September 6, 2000
After a jury found him guilty of burglary, a class A felony,
See footnote attempted
robbery, a class C felony,See footnote and resisting law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor,See footnote
the defendant pled guilty to being a habitual offender. He
received concurrent
sentences on his three convictions, and the thirty-year habitual offender enhancement was attached
to his burglary sentence. The defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient
to support his convictions for burglary and resisting law enforcement, and that the
habitual offender enhancement therefore must also be vacated.
The defendant first contends that his burglary conviction was not established by sufficient
evidence of intent to commit robbery. He asserts that robbery is "the
felony that the information charged him with intending to commit." Brief of
Appellant at 5. This is incorrect. The burglary count did
not allege entry with the intent to commit robbery. Rather, it charged
that the defendant "did break and enter the building or structure and dwelling
of Isolede Weaver and Elizabeth Lacava, . . . with intent to commit
the felony of theft therein, . . . ." Record at 23.
The jury was likewise instructed that the elements of burglary in this
case included the element of "intent to commit a felony in the dwelling;
to wit theft." Record at 100. The defendant's claim that the
evidence was insufficient to prove intent to commit robbery, as opposed to theft,
is not grounds for reversal.
The defendant also alleges that evidence was insufficient to establish that, when he
entered the dwelling, he intended to commit theft. In reviewing a claim
of insufficient evidence, we will affirm the conviction unless, considering only the evidence
and reasonable inferences favorable to the judgment, and neither reweighing the evidence nor
judging the credibility of the witnesses, we conclude that no reasonable fact-finder could
find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jenkins
v. State 726 N.E.2d 268, 270 (Ind. 2000); Webster v. State, 699 N.E.2d
266, 268 (Ind. 1998); Hodge v. State, 688 N.E.2d 1246, 1247-48 (Ind. 1997).
The elements of burglary as a class A felony are (1) breaking and
entering (2) a building or structure of another person (3) with the intent
to commit a felony in it and (4) the act results in bodily
injury to any person other than the defendant. Ind. Code § 35-43-2-1.
The felony of theft consists of knowingly or intentionally exerting unauthorized control
over property of another person, with intent to deprive the other person of
any part of its value or use. Ind. Code § 35-43-4-2.
The defendant admits that the victims' trial testimony supports that he intended to
commit theft, but argues that this testimony is contradicted by his own version
of the events. He further contends that the State did not offer
any fingerprint evidence to show that he attempted to steal anything and that
the police found neither stolen currency nor a weapon when they arrested him.
The facts favorable to the judgment are that soon after midnight on September
10, 1998, seventy-five year old Isolde Weaver, hearing her dog barking outside, rose
from her bed and went downstairs to let in her cat. When
she opened her door slightly, the defendant pushed the door open, came into
the front hall, grabbed her by the wrists, and pushed her. The
defendant then said, "I want your money. Give me your money right
now." Record at 180. The victim's daughter, Elizabeth LaCava, hearing the
disturbance, came out from her office in the back of the house and
went into the dining room where she saw her mother struggling with the
defendant. The daughter picked up a dining room chair to protect herself
and came towards the front hall. The defendant demanded money from the
daughter and grabbed at the chair, causing it to strike the daughter on
her forehead. The victim's nineteen-year-old grandson, Daniel LaCava, hearing the struggle, ran
down the stairs and began tussling with the defendant. All three residents
sustained bodily injuries resulting from the defendant's acts.
Applying our standard of review, we find that the defendant's statements just after
his entry are sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to infer that at
the time of entering the dwelling, the defendant intended to commit theft.
The evidence is sufficient to support the defendant's conviction for burglary.
The defendant next challenges his conviction for resisting law enforcement claiming that the
evidence was not sufficient to prove that he knowingly or intentionally failed to
heed the police officer's order to stop. Claiming that the testimony of
whether the officer did in fact order him to stop was contradictory, the
defendant contends that he did not hear the officer order him to stop,
and therefore he did not "knowingly or intentionally" flee from the officer.
"A person who knowingly or intentionally flees from a law enforcement officer after
the officer has, by visible or audible means, identified himself and ordered the
person to stop commits resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor." Ind.
Code § 35-44-3-3(a)(3).
The grandson, who had tussled with the defendant inside the house, pursued the
defendant after he left the house and caught up with him in the
backyard of a house about a block and a half away. Officer
Miller, in full police uniform, arrived on the scene and saw the two
men struggling. A gun shot, later discovered to have been fired by
the owner of the home where the two men were fighting, sounded.
The officer pulled his weapon and shouted in a loud yelling voice "Police.
Stop." Record at 278. Daniel stopped, but the defendant ran away.
The defendant was found and arrested about eighty yards from where the
officer first saw him.
The defendant contends the evidence was insufficient because of testimony by the grandson
and the officer that the officer may have said "Freeze" rather than "Stop,"
and because passages from other parts of the officer's testimony mentioned saying "Police"
but did not include "Stop" or "Freeze." Considering the evidence favorable to
the judgment, as we must, we conclude that a reasonable jury could find
the crime of resisting law enforcement proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The defendant's final contention is that his habitual offender enhancement cannot stand if
the felony to which it is attached is reversed for insufficient evidence.
See footnote
Because we found the evidence sufficient to sustain the burglary conviction, we deny
the defendant's claim for relief from the habitual offender sentence enhancement.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
SHEPARD, C.J., and SULLIVAN, BOEHM, and RUCKER, JJ., concur.