Terry Smith v. State of Indiana, 982 N.E.2d 393

Smith was convicted in Marion Superior Court of robbery (Class B), possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon (Class B), auto theft (Class D), and resisting law enforcement (Class D).
Bank robbery occurred at Chase Bank on 42nd Street; Smith fled in a stolen red Lumina van, firing at Lt. Bailey and causing a pursuit through a residential area.
Police recovered shell casings and a pillowcase with stolen money; DNA on the pillowcase matched Smith via a buccal swab.
A confidential informant provided information leading to a warrant for Smith’s Pinnacle Square apartment; a subsequent search found items linking Smith to the robbery.
Smith’s second jury trial resulted in convictions on several counts and a habitual-offender determination based on a 2003 robbery conviction; he waived a jury on the firearm possession and habitual-offender issues.
Smith challenged (on appeal) (1) continuance of the trial to obtain Macechko’s deposition, (2) admission of shots and shell casings, (3) warrant-based search evidence, (4) DNA buccal-swab evidence, and (5) habitual-offender proof; the court affirmed on all issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the State’s continuance to obtain testimony was proper	Smith argues no reasonable effort; deposition could have been obtained earlier	Smith contends continuance violated speedy-trial deadline	No abuse of discretion; State reasonably pursued deposition within Rule 4(D)
Admission of shots and shell casings evidence	Evidence was irrelevant post-acquittal on attempted murder and prejudicial	Evidence relevant to fleeing from police and resisting law enforcement	Evidence admitted properly; relevance supported and not unfairly prejudicial
Validity of the search warrant for Smith’s apartment	Probable-cause affidavit relied on hearsay from an anonymous informant	Informant’s details demonstrated reliability; corroboration existed	Probable cause present; good-faith exception applies; exclusion not required
Admissibility of DNA from buccal swab	Swab procedure did not comply with IC 10-13-6-12	Statute related to the DNA database; not controlling for buccal swab	Admission proper; statute not applicable to this DNA comparison
Sufficiency of habitual-offender evidence	Prior robbery conviction not properly documented by magistrate	Guilty-plea conviction and signed judgment establish reliability	Sufficient evidence to support habitual-offender finding

Casady v. State, 934 N.E.2d 1181 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010) (probable cause review with deference to magistrate and totality of the evidence)
Jaggers v. State, 687 N.E.2d 180 (Ind. 1997) (reliability of informants and corroboration for anonymous tips)
Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (U.S. Supreme Court 1983) (anonymous tips and totality-of-the-circumstances test for probable cause)
State v. Spillers, 847 N.E.2d 949 (Ind. 2006) (informant reliability and corroboration considerations for probable-cause affidavits)
Johnson v. State, 952 N.E.2d 305 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011) (good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule)
Long v. State, 962 N.E.2d 671 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012) (master commissioners’ authority; sentencing authority distinctions)
Ivy v. State, 947 N.E.2d 496 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011) (master commissioners’ power to enter final judgments in certain criminal proceedings)
Dexter v. State, 959 N.E.2d 235 (Ind. 2012) (collateral-attack limits on habitual-offender proceedings)
Jackson v. State, 973 N.E.2d 1123 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012) (harmless-error review where independent evidence supports guilt)
Simmons v. State, 717 N.E.2d 635 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999) (definition of relevant evidence and its probative value)