Lead Opinion
OPINION
Case Summary and Issues
Following a jury trial, Jeramey Smith appeals his conviction of burglary and his sentence of thirty years. Smith raises two issues, which we restate as whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Smith’s motion for a mistrial and whether the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing Smith.
Facts and Procedural History
On October 31, 2005, Smith, Steven Cadet, Cornelius Compton, Rex Abel, Ter-ronte Booker, Jonathon Johnson, and a person identified only as “Dee” discussed “hitting a lick,” or committing a robbery. The group dressed in black clothes with masks and went to Yvonne Fellows’s house, where the group believed Fellows’s son would be with a large amount of marijuana and cash. When the group arrived at the house, Fellows answered the door and, assuming that the group was made up of trick-or-treaters, turned to reach for her candy bowl. At this point, someone struck Fellows with a hard object and knocked
Smith and Cadet returned to Cadet’s house, where several people were, including Virginia Watkins. Smith was concerned about gunpowder residue being on his hands, and Watkins gave him perm solution after someone suggested that it might remove the residue. Watkins heard Cadet ask Smith why he had shot Fellows.
The following day, after receiving information regarding the shooting, police surrounded Cadet’s home and arrested Cadet when he left to purchase cigars. Inside the residence, police discovered Fellows’s wallet, three bags of marijuana, weighing approximately 245 grams, in the attic, more marijuana in .the living room, and black clothes.
The State charged Smith with burglary, robbery, and attempted murder. At his trial, Fellows, B.H., Cadet, Compton, Watkins, and others testified on behalf of the State. Testimony consistently placed Smith at the scene, but was somewhat conflicting as to whether Smith had been the person who shot Fellows. Fellows testified that several months before trial, Smith called Fellows to apologize for the burglary and shooting. The State asked Fellows about this conversation, and Smith objected based on improper foundation. After preliminary questions outside the presence of the jury, the trial court allowed Fellows to testify regarding this conversation over Smith’s objection. During Fellows’s testimony, the following exchange took place:
Q: Now, Ms. Fellows, as I asked you before, did you have a phone conversation with Mr. Smith at some point?
A: Yes sir.
Q: And do you recall when this was?
A: About three months ago.
Q: And had you met Mr. Smith before all this happened?
A: Yes.
Q: Had he been in your house?
A: I met him one time and he been in my house one time, yes.
Q: Where’d he go in the house when he was there?
A: Well, he had stand by the door, called my son so he can go upstairs. Jeramey come to get a jacket. My son was in YCC and he was in YCC too and there was ...
Tr. at 63. At this point, Smith’s counsel objected and moved for a mistrial. The trial court overruled Smith’s motion and offered to admonish the jury to disregard Fellows’s indication that Smith had been in
The jury found Smith guilty of burglary and robbery, but not guilty of attempted murder. The trial court then conducted a sentencing hearing. At this hearing, the trial court declined to enter a judgment of conviction for robbery, as it found that it had the same elements as the burglary count. The trial court then made the following statement regarding sentencing:
The Court notes the defense’s argument that there are mitigating circumstances and that would be the defendant’s ... they argued that his age and his education are mitigators. The Court does not agree with that. The Court does not find that his age and his education are mitigating circumstances. I have proof of his age. I have no evidence at all in front of me concerning his education other than the pre-sentence investigative report that indicates that he did not graduate or get a GED. The Court finds no mitigating circumstances. I don’t think there are any aggravating circumstances other than the offense itself, it’s a very aggravating offense what the defendant did in this case whether he was the shooter or not. The Court feels the appropriate sentence is thirty years.
Tr. at 700-01. Smith now appeals his conviction and sentence, and the State appeals the trial court’s failure to enter a judgment of conviction for robbery.
Discussion and Decision
I. Mistrial
Initially, the State argues that Smith has waived this argument by declining to accept the trial court’s offer to admonish the jury. When offered an admonishment, Smith’s counsel stated:
Well, Your Honor, I ... it puts me in a box. If we admonish them it brings undue influence to the whole thing. If not, the jurors are left to guess what YCC is and ... have their imagination run amuck as to ... what sort of correctional institution it is.... Without waiving my motion for mistrial I would ask for no admonishment.
Tr. at 65. As Smith’s counsel points out, although the reference to YCC was an impermissible reference to Smith’s prior bad acts, admonishing the jury to disregard the reference could conceivably have made the situation worse by emphasizing the reference to the jury.
Our supreme court has previously stated that “refusal of an offer to admonish the jury constitutes a waiver of any error in the denial of the motion [for mistrial].” Randolph v. State,
“A mistrial is an extreme remedy that is warranted only when less severe remedies will not satisfactorily correct the error.” Warren v. State,
Smith initially argues, “the record demonstrates a deliberate attempt by the State to prejudice [Smith].” Appellant’s Br. at 13. We disagree. When Fellows testified that her son and Smith had been in YCC together, the State was attempting to establish foundation for Fellows’s testimony regarding the telephone call. between Smith and Fellows. The prosecutor asked Fellows, “Where’d [Smith] go in the house when he was there?” Tr. at 63. Fellows’s response that Smith had been in YCC with her son was not responsive to this question. The prosecutor apologized for Fellows’s testimony and stated that he “didn’t intend for that to come out.” Id. at 64. We decline to conclude that the prosecutor in this case deliberately elicited Fellows’s statement that Smith had previously been in YCC. See Mack v. State,
Whether or not the prosecutor intentionally elicited this testimony, to be entitled to reversal, Smith must demonstrate that the brief reference to Smith’s prior placement in YCC put him in grave peril. See Wells v. State,
II. Double Jeopardy
In Indiana, multiple convictions are prohibited if there is “a reasonable possibility that the evidentiary facts used by the fact-finder to establish the essential elements of one offense may also have been used to establish the essential elements of a second challenged offense.” Richardson v. State,
The elements of robbery as a Class A felony are satisfied when a person: (1) knowingly or intentionally; (2) takes property from another person; (3) by using or threatening to use force or putting a person in fear; (4) and it results in serious bodily injury to a person other than the defendant. Ind.Code § 35-42-5-1. The elements of burglary as a Class A felony are satisfied when a person: (1) breaks and enters; (2) the building or structure of another person; (3) with the intent to commit a felony inside; (4) and it results in bodily injury to a person other than the defendant. Ind.Code § 35-43-2-1. Clearly, convictions for robbery and burglary do not violate the Richardson actual evidence test as each crime requires proof of a fact that the other does not; robbery requires proof that the defendant took property from another person and burglary requires proof that the defendant broke and entered a structure. See Pierce v. State,
However, under Indiana common law, “where a burglary conviction is elevated to a Class A felony based on the same bodily injury that forms the basis of a Class B robbery conviction, the two cannot
The State argues that the bodily injury used to support the burglary conviction stems from Smith hitting Fellows in the head upon entering the house, and that the bodily injury used to support the robbery conviction stems from Smith shooting Fellows just prior to leaving the residence. When determining what facts a jury used to establish each element of an offense, “we consider the evidence, charging information, final jury instructions ... ánd arguments of counsel.” Rutherford v. State,
III. Sentencing
Smith committed his crimes after April 25, 2005, putting this case under
Smith argues that the trial court should have found his age to be a mitigating factor. “[A] defendant’s youth, although not identified as a statutory mitigating circumstance, is a significant mitigating circumstance in some circumstances.” Brown v. State,
As an aggravating factor, the trial court found, “the offense itself, it’s a very aggravating offense what the defendant did in this case whether he was the shooter or not.” Tr. at 700-01. The trial court may consider the nature and circumstances of the crime as an aggravating circumstance. See Ousley v. State,
Conclusion
We conclude that the trial court acted within its discretion in denying Smith’s motion for a mistrial. We also conclude that double jeopardy bars Smith’s convictions of burglary as a Class A felony and robbery as a Class A felony, but that Smith can properly be convicted of burglary as a Class A felony and robbery as a Class C felony. Therefore, we remand with instructions that the trial court enter judgment of conviction and sentence Smith for robbery as a Class C felony. Finally, we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to issue an adequately detailed sentencing statement, and remand with instructions that it do so.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with instructions.
Notes
. Smith frames his argument as whether his sentence is inappropriate given the nature of the offense and his character. As explained, infra, we need not reach this argument.
. We recognize that “an erroneous entry of acquittal by the trial court acts as an acquittal for double jeopardy purposes.” State v. Casada,
. We note that the trial court is not prohibited from explaining why it declines to find a mitigating circumstance, and in many cases it may aid appellate review and promote the intérests of justice for a trial court to do so.
. We recognize that the trial court did not have the benefit of Anglemyer at the time it sentenced Smith. In some circumstances where the trial court fails to enter a sentencing statement, we will be able to avoid remanding. See Windhorst v. State,
. Because we remand for a sentencing statement, we do not reach Smith’s argument regarding whether his sentence is inappropriate based upon his character and the nature of the offense. It would not be particularly useful for us to address this argument, as we are also remanding with instructions that the trial court enter an additional judgment and sentence, and therefore, Smith's aggregate sentence has not yet been determined.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring in part and concurring in result in part.
I respectfully concur as to Parts I and III. I concur in result as to Part II.
With respect to the latter, I am unable to agree that the quotation from Spivey v. State,
“... the Richardson actual evidence test, as applied by our Supreme Court, has found double jeopardy to be violated where the evidentiary fact(s) establishing one or more elements of one challenged offense establish all the elements of the second challenged offense. For there to be a double jeopardy violation it is not required that the evidentiary facts establishing all of the elements of one challenged offense also establish all of the essential elements of a second challenged offense (Original emphasis). To be sure, if such is the case, double jeopardy has been violated, but that scenario is not the only situation in which double jeopardy prohibitions exist. Both of the offenses being analyzed for double jeopardy purposes must be viewed in the context of the other offense. If the evidentiary facts establishing any one or more elements of one of the challenged offenses establishes the essential elements of the second challenged offense, double jeopardy considerations prohibit multiple convictions.”
In Justice Sullivan’s separate concurrence in Richardson he noted that the prohibition against multiple convictions is implicated in five different categories. One such category was defined as follows:
“3. Conviction and punishment for a crime which consists of the very same act as an element of another crime for which the defendant has been convicted and punished” (Emphasis supplied).
Justice Sullivan’s analysis and approach to such situations prohibiting multiple punishments has been acknowledged and accepted by our Supreme Court. See Guyton v. State,
Subject to the above commentary, I concur.
