Edward M. Tate, Jr. v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), 49A05-1602-CR-369

On March 19, 2015, Tate rode in the rear passenger area of a car stopped by Indiana State Police; troopers detected burnt marijuana and a K-9 alerted to the trunk.
Officers searched and found a loaded .45 caliber handgun on the rear floorboard within about a foot of where Tate’s right foot would have been; only Tate could easily reach it.
Tate initially denied knowledge, then admitted he had touched the gun and that he lacked a license to carry.
After a bench trial Tate was convicted of Class A misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license and sentenced to 365 days (60 on home detention, 305 on probation) and ordered to pay $383 in fees; no indigency hearing was held at sentencing.
Tate appealed, challenging sufficiency of the evidence for constructive possession and the imposition of fees without an indigency hearing.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and held the trial court did not err in imposing fees at that stage (an indigency hearing may occur later per statute and precedent).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence to prove constructive possession of handgun	State: evidence (proximity of gun, Tate’s admission he touched it, lack of surprise) supports constructive possession	Tate: admitted touching a gun seen in hotel room, not necessarily the gun found in car; no proof he placed gun in car	Affirmed — reasonable inferences (admission + proximity + exclusive reach) support constructive possession and conviction
Imposition of fees without indigency hearing	State: court may order fees and defer indigency determination until later; waiting is permitted	Tate: trial court erred by imposing fees and sliding-scale probation fees without first holding an indigency hearing	Affirmed — no abuse; indigency hearing not required at sentencing and may occur later (before probation revocation or at sentence completion)

Binkley v. State, 654 N.E.2d 736 (Ind. 1995) (standard for sufficiency review; evidence viewed in light most favorable to judgment)
Drane v. State, 867 N.E.2d 144 (Ind. 2007) (appellate court will not reweigh evidence or assess witness credibility)
Walker v. State, 631 N.E.2d 1 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994) (definition of constructive possession)
Woods v. State, 471 N.E.2d 691 (Ind. 1984) (knowledge element for constructive possession; can be inferred from circumstances)
Henderson v. State, 715 N.E.2d 833 (Ind. 1999) (nonexclusive control plus additional circumstances can show constructive possession; examples of supportive evidence)
Johnson v. State, 27 N.E.3d 793 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) (trial court may defer indigency hearing for probation fees until later in proceedings)