Stephen Brakie v. State of Indiana, 999 N.E.2d 989

Brakie was convicted of child molesting as a class A felony in Posey Circuit Court and sentenced to 30 years.
The victim, N.J., a four-year-old, described Brakie inserting objects into her vagina with threats of punishment.
The incident occurred October 30, 2011 at the residence shared by James Johnson, Laura Martin, and Johnson’s children; Brakie was a family friend.
Medical examiner Keller testified N.J. had a large posterior fourchette tear and internal genital redness, consistent with object insertion and not a straddle fall.
Brakie tendered a final instruction on the presumption of innocence; the court refused it, citing lack of authority; the court gave standard presumption-of-innocence instructions.
The Court of Appeals affirmed Brakie’s conviction, ruling the trial court did not abuse its discretion on the instruction issue and that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Presumption instruction abuse	Brakie	Brakie contends the court failed to properly instruct on the presumption of innocence and the duty to reconcile evidence	No abuse; instruction adequate to convey presumption of innocence
Sufficiency of the evidence	Brakie	State asserts NJ's testimony alone supports the conviction, despite inconsistencies	Evidence sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt to sustain class A felony conviction

Robey v. State, 454 N.E.2d 1222 (Ind. 1983) (presumption of innocence must be addressed if requested by defendant)
Farley v. State, 129 Ind. 419, 26 N.E. 898 (Ind. 1891) (presumption instruction needed; early authority cited)
Simpson v. State, 915 N.E.2d 511 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009) (instruction on presumption adequate when Robey standard satisfied)
Lee v. State, 964 N.E.2d 859 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012) (distinguishable; broader instruction not required here)
Matheny v. State, 983 N.E.2d 672 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013) (tendered instruction incomplete; not controlling here)