BROWN, Judge.
Daquan Whitener appeals his conviction for burglary as a class A felony and the trial court's determination that he register as a sex offender as a condition of probation. Whitener raises two issues which we revise and restate as:
Additionally, the State raises an issue on cross-appeal, namely, whether the court properly declined to enter a judgment of conviction for rape as a class B felony
The facts most favorable to the conviction follow. On August 5, 2009, K.A.
Whitener and Wheeler later returned to K.A.'s home and again spoke in the backyard with Meyers and Pizana and finished a bottle of gin, and Pizana called K.A. to the back door and asked if she would go with Pizana, Whitener, and Wheeler to the liquor store to purchase more alcohol. Before driving to the liquor store they stopped by another home and picked up Telvon Whitener, who was thirteen or fourteen years old and was another cousin of Whitener's. When they arrived at the liquor store, K.A. went inside, purchased a bottle of gin, and then returned to the car and they left. When they returned to K.A.'s home, K.A. went inside to attempt "to get rid of [her] mom" while the others went into the backyard. Transcript at 145. Around 8 p.m., after K.A.'s mother left, K.A. asked Pizana to drive her to Kroger to purchase liquor for herself, and again K.A., Pizana, Whitener, and Wheeler traveled together to purchase alcohol. During this time, Jackson stayed at the home to watch K.A.'s children and Meyers was in her car talking on the phone.
While in Pizana's vehicle, for the most part the people in the car listened to the radio and did not speak to each other. First, the vehicle went to a gas station so Whitener could purchase "a black and mild," and then they proceeded to Kroger. K.A. and Pizana went inside, purchased a bottle of vodka, and then drove back to K.A.'s home. Id. at 147. K.A. did not speak with Whitener while they were in the car.
When they returned, Whitener, Telvon, and Wheeler sat at the kitchen table while K.A., Jackson, and Pizana sat in the living room on the couch.
After they left, Jackson told K.A. that she should keep drinking because K.A. did
They stayed at that house for a couple of minutes and then walked to Whitener's house which took about five or ten minutes. While at Whitener's house, Whitener went upstairs and then came back downstairs and stated to Wheeler and Telvon that he was going to go back to K.A.'s house because "he remembered that she said she wanted to have sex with him," although Wheeler did not hear K.A. state this to Whitener. Id. at 283. After staying at Whitener's house for "a minute," the three of them walked back to K.A.'s house. Id. at 284.
As they were arriving at K.A.'s home, Whitener explained to Telvon and Wheeler that K.A. told Whitener to enter through a living room window because "she had child safety locks on her door." Id. at 285. Whitener lifted up the screen in the window, pulled back the window, pushed in a fan which was blocking the window and crawled through. K.A. awoke and observed her "fan going down in [her] window." Id. at 156. Whitener then went to the back door and let Wheeler and Telvon into the home. K.A. did not react to the fan initially because she was "too drunk" and was "going in and out, blacking out," but she observed "a couple people in [her] house" and recognized Telvon and Whitener. Id. at 157-158.
Once inside, Whitener asked Telvon to "try to talk to her" and to "[k]iss on her neck a little bit or whatever." Id. at 250. Telvon kissed K.A. on the neck and pulled K.A.'s pants down, but she told him to stop and he did not have sex with her. At one point Whitener moved Telvon aside and told Telvon that "you don't know what you're doing." Id. at 258. K.A. observed Whitener, who was "real close" to her face and had his penis in his hand, and both Whitener and Telvon were telling her that it was "alright." Id. at 159. Whitener put a condom on and had sex with K.A. During intercourse, K.A. was crying and attempting to push Whitener off of her and cried out for Jackson to help because she thought Jackson was still at her house. After Whitener finished having sex he asked Wheeler "do you want a turn man," but Wheeler declined. Id. at 261. They then left through the back door, but before Whitener left he discarded the condom. After they left, K.A. "stumbled to the back door, pushed it all the way shut and locked it," and then she went back into the living room and fed her baby, who had been in the living room in her car seat next to the couch during this time. K.A. started crying and eventually fell asleep. Id. at 162.
The next morning, K.A. awoke to her mother knocking on her door, and her mother asked why her window was pried open. Soon after, Jackson came over to K.A.'s house and observed K.A. looking "kind of traumatized and ... crying and her hair was messed up and here [sic] mom was screaming," and K.A. then started telling Jackson what had occurred. Id. at 114. K.A. called the police and Officer Bruce Anglemyer responded and took photographs of the home and transported K.A. to the hospital to have a rape kit done. K.A. noticed that her vaginal area was
On August 28, 2009, the State charged Whitener with Count I, burglary as a class A felony; and Count II, rape as a class B felony. The court held a jury trial which commenced on March 23, 2010. At trial, K.A. testified that she did not ask Whitener to return to her home that night, did not ask him to climb through the window, and did not ask him to have sex with her. K.A. testified that she did not call the police that night because she did not have a phone and did not want to go outside. Wheeler and Telvon both testified that Whitener had consensual sex with K.A. and that Telvon did not have sex with her.
Corporal James Peterson of the Elkhart Police Department testified that he collected "buckle swab standards" from Telvon and Whitener. Id. at 299. Officer Dan Milanese testified that he collected a condom and condom wrapper, located in the kitchen trash can, from K.A.'s home, and photographic evidence of the condom was admitted into evidence. Jamie Lynn Rice, a registered nurse at Elkhart General Hospital, testified that she performed a sexual assault exam on K.A. and that K.A. told Rice that "she was very sore in her vagina ... she was swollen ... the external labia of her vagina and uhm, very red." Id. at 349. Rice testified that K.A. had a red mark on the right side of her neck, swelling on her labia majora, a scratch to her knee, and a bruise on her back and longer scratch above the bruise. Detective Carlton Conway testified that he interviewed Whitener and Telvon and that Whitener voluntarily gave a statement in which he admitted that he had sex with K.A., that K.A. told him to climb through the window, and that although she did not say specifically that she wanted to have sex "he knew what she meant." Id. at 395. Detective Conway also indicated that Whitener stated that he did not believe K.A. was intoxicated when they had sex, and testified that Whitener told him that he put a condom on to have sex with K.A. Lori Healey, a forensic scientist with the Indiana State Police who tested the recovered evidence, testified that DNA on the condom revealed that Whitener could not be excluded as a contributor and that Telvon and Wheeler could both be excluded. Healey also testified that a DNA swab sample from K.A.'s neck revealed that neither Whitener nor Telvon could be excluded as contributors.
On March 25, 2010, the jury found Whitener guilty as charged. On April 19, 2010, the court held a sentencing hearing and sua sponte vacated Count II, finding that there was a reasonable possibility that the same evidentiary facts were relied upon by the jury in convicting Whitener on both Counts I and II. The court sentenced Whitener to twenty-five years with five years suspended to probation. The court also ordered that Whitener register as a sex offender.
On April 23, 2010, Whitener filed a motion to correct error stating that the court's order requiring him to register as a sex offender pursuant to Ind.Code § 11-8-8-4.5 was error because his sole conviction was for burglary as a class A felony which is not one of the enumerated offenses in the statute. On April 28, 2010, the State filed a motion to correct error stating that the court erred when it "held that the State was required to prove aggravating circumstances to a jury" and in vacating
On April 9, 2012, Whitener filed a petition for leave to file a belated notice of appeal pursuant to Ind. Post-Conviction Rule 2(1). On April 17, 2012, the court granted his petition, and on May 16, 2012, Whitener by counsel filed a notice of appeal.
The first issue is whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain Whitener's conviction for burglary as a class A felony. When reviewing claims of insufficiency of the evidence, we do not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses. Jordan v. State, 656 N.E.2d 816, 817 (Ind. 1995), reh'g denied. Rather, we look to the evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom that support the verdict. Id. We will affirm the conviction if there exists evidence of probative value from which a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. The uncorroborated testimony of one witness, even if it is the victim, is sufficient to sustain a conviction. Ferrell v. State, 565 N.E.2d 1070, 1072-1073 (Ind.1991).
The offense of burglary as a class A felony is governed by Ind.Code § 35-43-2-1, which provides that "[a] person who breaks and enters the building or structure of another person, with intent to commit a felony in it, commits burglary, a Class C felony. However, the offense is... a Class A felony if it results in: (A) bodily injury; or (B) serious bodily injury; to any person other than a defendant." Here, the State alleged in its charging information that Whitener:
Appellant's Appendix at 233. Thus, to convict Whitener of burglary as a class A felony, the State needed to prove that he broke and entered K.A.'s residence with the intent to commit rape and that K.A. suffered an impairment to her physical condition.
Whitener argues that the State failed to prove the elements of burglary because "there was inadequate evidence presented at trial to establish that [Whitener] entered [K.A.'s] apartment with the requisite intent to force [her] to have sexual intercourse with him." Appellant's Brief at 10. Whitener argues that at trial, Telvon and Wheeler both testified that Whitener indicated to them that K.A. told him to come back to her home and to enter through the front window that was open because the front door had child safety locks on the handle. Whitener argues that K.A. "could not remember much of what happened," noting that she "could not testify for certain that [Whitener] even had sexual intercourse with her, let alone whether said act was the result of a consensual encounter...."
The State argues that Whitener "lifted up the screen in the window, pulled back the window, and pushed in the fan that was blocking the window" which satisfies the breaking and entering element. Appellee's Brief at 15. The State argues that Whitener "expressly intended to return to [K.A.'s] house to have sex with her." Id. The State argues that Whitener knew that K.A. did not have a phone and notes that K.A. testified that she did not invite Whitener to return or consent to having sex. The State argues also that the method of entering a home can evidence one's intent to commit a violent attack and that Whitener's entry by the window was evidence of such. The State argues that Whitener's behavior while inside K.A.'s home is further evidence of intent, noting that he encouraged Telvon to have sex with her and asked Wheeler whether he wanted to have sex with her. The State also argues that evidence supports the verdict that K.A. suffered bodily injury as a result of Whitener's breaking and entering including "significant swelling, bruising, redness, soreness and pain in her vaginal area" as well as "bruising on her back, bruising and scratches on her knee, scratches on her buttock and hip area, and ecchymosis, or bruising, on her neck." Id. at 16.
To the extent that Whitener suggests that the State failed to prove intent, we observe that evidence of intent "need not be insurmountable," Gilliam v. State, 508 N.E.2d 1270, 1271 (Ind.1987), reh'g denied, but there must be a "specific fact that provides a solid basis to support a reasonable inference that the defendant had the specific intent to commit a felony." Freshwater v. State, 853 N.E.2d 941, 944 (Ind.2006). The evidentiary inference pointing to the defendant's intent must be separate from the inference of the defendant's breaking and entering. Justice v. State, 530 N.E.2d 295, 297 (Ind.1988); Kondrup v. State, 250 Ind. 320, 323, 235 N.E.2d 703, 705 (1968). "The inference of intent must not derive from or be supported by the inference of breaking and entering." Baker v. State, 968 N.E.2d 227, 230 (Ind.2012). "In other words, the evidence must support each inference — felonious intent and breaking and entering — independently, and neither inference should rely on the other for support." Id. "This is not to say, however, that the same piece of evidence cannot support both inferences." Id.
Here, the facts most favorable to the conviction reveal that Whitener spent most of the evening at K.A.'s home and was aware of the fact that she had been drinking heavily, and that when they left K.A.'s home around 1 a.m. K.A. was "really, really drunk," and was stumbling and slurring her words. Transcript at 86. Whitener also was aware that K.A. did not have a working phone. After leaving K.A.'s home, Whitener, Wheeler, and Telvon arrived at Whitener's house, and Whitener stated that he was going back to K.A.'s home because she wanted to have sex with him. They walked to K.A.'s, and when they arrived Whitener approached the living room window, lifted up the screen in the window, pulled back the window, pushed in a fan which was blocking the window and crawled through. Whitener found K.A., who had been sleeping, on her couch, and she was drunk and "going in and out, blacking out." Id. at 157. He then went to the back door and let the
Whitener's argument is essentially a request that we reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses, which we cannot do. Jordan, 656 N.E.2d at 817. We conclude that the State presented evidence of a probative nature from which a reasonable trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Whitener's entry of K.A.'s home was unauthorized and that he was guilty of burglary as a class A felony.
The next issue is whether the court erred in ordering that Whitener register as a sex offender as a condition of probation. Probation is a criminal sanction where the convicted offender agrees to accept conditions upon his behavior in lieu of incarceration. Gaither v. Ind. Dep't of Correction, 971 N.E.2d 690, 694 (Ind.Ct. App.2012). A trial court has broad discretion to impose conditions of probation, with the only limitation being that the conditions have a reasonable relationship to the treatment of the accused and the protection of the public. Id. The reviewing court is limited to considering whether the conditions imposed by the court on the accused aid in the furtherance of the goal of "assuring that the probation serves as a period of genuine rehabilitation and that the community is not harmed by a probationer being at large." Id. We will not set aside terms of probation unless the trial court abused its discretion. Id. An abuse of discretion occurs where the decision is "clearly against the logic and effects of the facts and circumstances before the court, or the reasonable, probable, and actual deductions to be drawn therefrom." Anglemyer v. State, 868 N.E.2d 482, 490 (Ind. 2007), clarified on reh'g, 875 N.E.2d 218 (Ind.2007).
Whitener begins by reciting Ind.Code § 11-8-8-4.5, the relevant provision defining "sex offender" for purposes of Indiana's Sex Offender Registration, and argues that although he "does not dispute that if he were convicted of Rape as a class B felony he would meet the criteria for having to register as a sex offender .... [his] conviction for Rape in Count II was vacated...." Appellant's Brief at 15. Whitener argues that "[w]hen looking at the statute outlining the crimes for which a person is required to register as a sex offender, Burglary is not listed" and he "would need to have been convicted of Rape as a separate and distinct act for the statute to apply in the instant matter." Id.
The State argues that the trial court was within its discretion to order that Whitener register as a sex offender as a condition of probation and that the court did not abuse its discretion in doing so. The State argues that because the order was a condition of probation and not a statutory requirement, "a violation ... would [] be punishable as a probation violation and [Whitener] would not be subject [to] prosecution
In Weiss v. Ind. Parole Board, defendant Weiss was convicted of aggravated battery, and "[s]hortly after Weiss was paroled, his parole agent recommended that he be required to adhere to the standard and special sex offender parole conditions[
On appeal, this court noted that the statutes as constructed did not prohibit imposing the sex offender conditions on offenders such as Weiss and that "[a]lthough [he] was not convicted of a sex offender crime, he pled guilty to aggravated battery of a minor" and he "does not deny that the battery to the minor also involved the rape of her." Id. at 1051-1052. We observed that Ind.Code § 11-13-3-4(b) granted the parole board "general authority to impose additional conditions beyond the standard conditions for a person on parole as long as the conditions are reasonably related to the parolee's successful reintegration into the community and not unduly restrictive of a fundamental right." Id. at 1051. The court held that "[t]hese acts are a significant part of his social interaction history that should be taken into account when determining what conditions would aid his re-entry to society" and that "[b]ecause his crime involved a sexual act with a child, the imposition of the sex offender conditions are reasonably related to Weiss's reintegration into the community." Id. at 1052.
Ind.Code § 35-38-2-2.3 (Supp.2009) governs the conditions of Whitener's probation. At the time of Whitener's sentencing, the relevant version of Ind.Code § 35-38-2-2.3 provides in part that "(a) As a condition of probation, the court may require a person to do a combination of the following: ... (14) Satisfy other conditions reasonably related to the person's rehabilitation."
The issue raised by the State on cross-appeal is whether the court properly declined to enter a judgment of conviction
Initially, we observe that the State's authority to appeal criminal matters is extremely limited and is statutory in nature and that "the State cannot appeal unless given that statutory authorization by the legislature." State v. Coleman, 971 N.E.2d 209, 211 (Ind.Ct.App.2012) (citing State v. Brunner, 947 N.E.2d 411, 415 (Ind.2011), reh'g denied). Also, "[t]he State's statutory right of appeal is in contravention of common law principles and is therefore strictly construed." Id. (citing State v. Pease, 531 N.E.2d 1207, 1208 (Ind. Ct.App.1988)). Specifically, Ind.Code § 35-38-4-2, titled "Appeals by state as provided by court rules for certain cases," provides that appeals to this court or the Indiana Supreme Court may be taken by the State in the following cases:
This rule applies with equal force when the State raises an issue by way of cross-appeal. See Hardley v. State, 905 N.E.2d 399, 401 (Ind.2009) (observing that generally Ind.Code § 35-38-4-2 applies to claims raised by the State including claims raised by cross-appeal as was the case therein).
We also observe that in Hardley the Court held that, in addition to the circumstances enumerated in Ind.Code § 35-38-4-2, there is an additional circumstance in which the State may appeal in criminal cases where, as a pure matter of law, the trial court's sentence is claimed to be illegal. 905 N.E.2d at 404. The Court determined that Ind.Code § 35-38-1-15 implicitly grants the State authority to challenge erroneous sentences and reasoned that "sound policy and judicial economy favor
The Court applied this principle in another case in which the defendant petitioned the trial court to modify his conviction for operating under the influence from a class D felony to a class A misdemeanor which the court granted. Brunner, 947 N.E.2d at 414. The Court held that the State "timely appealed a judgment entered by the trial court" which the court did not possess statutory authority to do and that under those circumstances, in which the issue was "a pure question of law that does not require evidence outside the record... the State has the limited availability to appeal a trial court's modification of conviction under these particular circumstances." Id. at 415-416. We note, however, that the statement in Hardley that such an appeal need not be filed within thirty days based upon Ind.Code § 35-38-1-15 was not applicable in this circumstance.
We turn next to State v. Holtsclaw, in which the Court addressed whether Ind. Appellate Rule 9 applied to the State in tolling the thirty-day deadline for filing a notice of appeal when a party files a motion to correct error. 977 N.E.2d 348, 349 (Ind.2012). In Holtsclaw, following the trial court's May 23, 2011 grant of the defendant's motion to suppress evidence, the State on June 21, 2011 filed a motion to correct error which the court denied on July 25. Id. On August 16, 2011, the State appealed the court's suppression ruling, and the defendant argued that the appeal was untimely and not authorized by statute because Ind.Code § 35-38-4-2 does not allow for appeals by the State stemming from the denial of a motion to correct error. Id. at 349-350. The State argued that Ind. Appellate Rule 9, which tolls the thirty-day filing deadline "if any party files a timely motion to correct error[,]... took precedence over Ind.Code § 35-38-4-2 and thus its appeal was timely." Id. at 350. The Court agreed, noting that "[o]ur `rules of procedure prevail over any statute or statutory construction'" and "in this conflict between Indiana Code § 35-38-4-2 and our Appellate Rule 9, the former must give way to the latter." Id. (quoting State ex rel. Crawford v. Del. Cir. Ct., 655 N.E.2d 499, 500 (Ind.1995)). It held that pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 9 the State had until August 24, 2011, to appeal from the denial of its motion to correct error, and that accordingly its appeal was timely. Id.
Here, by contrast, following the court's denial of the State's motion to correct error on May 10, 2010, the State elected not to appeal. It was two years later, after Whitener pursued a direct appeal by filing a petition to file a belated appeal pursuant to Ind. Post-Conviction Rule 2(1), that the State elected to raise this issue. We conclude that, under these circumstances, the State's cross-appeal issue is untimely, and accordingly we dismiss the State's appeal.
Even if the principle expressed in Hardley were to apply to the State's instant challenge, its claim could not be construed as challenging Whitener's sentence as illegal. Thus, any such claim would be subject to Ind. Appellate Rule 9(A) and the appeal must be brought within thirty days after the entry of a final judgment.
Affirmed.
BAILEY, J., and VAIDIK, J., concur.
We observe that this statute differs from the version recited in Weiss in that Ind.Code §§ 5-2-12, which related to sex offender registration in Indiana, was repealed by Pub. L. No. 140-2006, § 41, and Pub. L. No. 173-2006, § 55, and the current statute reflects that the sex offender registration is governed by Ind.Code §§ 11-8-8, among other revisions not pertinent in this matter.
We also note that, in Beatty, this court was addressing whether the State could raise on cross-appeal the question of whether the post-conviction court abused its discretion when it allowed the defendant to file a belated notice of appeal. As the Beatty court noted, the defendant's argument that Ind.Code § 35-38-4-2 precluded the State's cross-appeal was erroneous because "a petition to file a belated notice of appeal is authorized and governed by the Post-Conviction Rules; consequently, the proceeding herein is properly characterized as a post-conviction proceeding rather than a criminal proceeding." 854 N.E.2d at 409 (citing State v. Lawson, 272 Ind. 541, 400 N.E.2d 128, 128-129 (1980)) (emphases added). Thus, the court held "the State's right to cross-appeal from an order granting such a petition is governed by rule rather than statute." Id. Where the State challenges on cross-appeal the post-conviction court's decision to allow the defendant to file a belated notice of appeal, it is appealing a ruling made at a post-conviction proceeding, rather than from a direct criminal appeal, and accordingly the limitations imposed by Ind.Code § 35-38-4-2 do not apply to bar the State from bringing that issue.