Ricky L. Allen v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), 02A03-1508-CR-1120

On Dec. 23, 2014 Ricky Allen allegedly assaulted his wife, Canethia Allen; police arrested him and charged him with Level 5 felony battery based on a prior battery conviction against the same victim.
Allen represented himself, requested a speedy trial on Jan. 2, 2015, and the court set trial for Mar. 24, 2015 (slightly beyond 70 days due to court congestion).
On Mar. 24, 2015, two key witnesses (Canethia and Tonia Freeman) failed to appear; the court granted a continuance and later issued bench warrants and found the State had made diligent efforts to locate them.
The court ruled their previously taken depositions would be admissible if they remained absent; trial occurred May 19, 2015, without live testimony from those witnesses and their redacted depositions were read to the jury.
Jury convicted Allen of battery and, given his prior conviction against the same victim, found him guilty of Level 5 felony battery; court sentenced him to five years, consecutive to probation-revocation sentences, and denied additional jail-credit for the battery sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Allen)	Held
Speedy trial violation	Court congestion and continuances were justified; trial occurred within Rule 4(D) extension	Speedy-trial right violated by delay beyond 70 days	No violation; continuance under Rule 4(D) and congestion justified extension
Admission of depositions / Confrontation Clause	Witnesses were unavailable despite diligent efforts; Allen had prior opportunity to cross-examine in depositions	Admission of depositions violated Sixth Amendment confrontation right	Depositions admissible; witnesses unavailable and prior cross-examination occurred
Motion to dismiss for lack of evidence	State could pursue case; depositions admissible and continuance proper	Trial court failed to rule on or improperly denied motion to dismiss for lack of evidence	Court addressed and denied motion; dismissal not warranted pretrial
Sufficiency of the evidence	Deposition testimony and other evidence supported bodily injury and prior conviction element	Testimony inconsistent; evidence insufficient to prove felony element beyond reasonable doubt	Evidence sufficient; court may not reweigh credibility
Jail-time credit calculation	Pretrial credit was applied to concurrent/proceeding sentences; battery sentence consecutive so no additional credit due	Entitled to 188 days credit toward battery sentence	Trial court correctly applied credit to other concurrent/proceedings; no additional credit for battery sentence

Austin v. State, 997 N.E.2d 1027 (Ind. 2013) (explains Rule 4(B) congested-calendar/continuance framework and review standards)
Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004) (testimonial hearsay admissibility requires unavailability and prior opportunity for cross-examination)
Wooley v. State, 716 N.E.2d 919 (Ind. 1999) (absence of a key witness through no fault of the State can justify extending speedy-trial timeframes)
Lehman v. State, 926 N.E.2d 35 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010) (former testimony admissible against a defendant if witness unavailable and prior opportunity to cross-examine existed)
Thomas v. State, 966 N.E.2d 1267 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012) (upholding use of pretrial deposition in lieu of live testimony when witness is unavailable)
Bailey v. State, 907 N.E.2d 1003 (Ind. 2009) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence)