Background

• Evans was convicted of Level 2 felony robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of Level 6 felony fraud after a two-day jury trial.
• The offense occurred June 23, 2015, at New To You Home Furnishings in Elkhart County, where Campbell was attacked, incapacitated, and robbed; Campbell’s wallet and a laptop were stolen.
• Security footage and subsequent police investigation tied Evans to the crime, including a stop in a silver Volkswagen Passat and recovery of Campbell’s wallet, laptop, and receipts from the search.
• Campbell identified Evans from a six-person photo array and later confirmed Evans as the attacker at trial, despite some pre-trial inconsistencies in Campbell’s statements.
• The trial court found multiple aggravating and mitigating factors at sentencing, and Evans received a 28-year sentence for the Level 2 robbery, with concurrent one-year terms for the fraud counts.
• On appeal, Evans challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and the appropriateness of the sentence; the Indiana Court of Appeals affirms both.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Drane v. State, 867 N.E.2d 144 (Ind. 2007) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence)
• Moore v. State, 27 N.E.3d 749 (Ind. 2015) (circumstantial evidence can sustain a verdict; incredible dubiosity not required when circumstantial evidence exists)
• Edwards v. State, 753 N.E.2d 618 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001) (witness credibility and variations in testimony are for the jury to resolve)
• Rich v. State, 890 N.E.2d 44 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008) (appropriate deviation from advisory sentence requires offense-character analysis)
• Anglemyer v. State, 868 N.E.2d 482 (Ind. 2007) (standard for determining when to depart from advisory sentence)