RUCKER, Justice.
In this consolidated appeal juvenile cohorts Blake Layman and Levi Sparks challenge their convictions for felony murder in the perpetration of a burglary. We remand this cause to the trial court for further proceedings.
On the morning of October 3, 2012 sixteen-year-old Blake Layman and seventeen-year-old Levi Sparks were present at the home of sixteen-year-old Jose Quiroz. At some point, the trio discussed committing burglary in the neighborhood. They decided to search for a house where the residents were away because they were aware that the presence of a homeowner during a burglary could result in injuries and more severe legal consequences. Sparks knocked on the door of the first house targeted. When the juveniles heard dogs barking they ran away. Someone was home at the second house they targeted.
Believing no one was home at the time, the juveniles finally settled on the house across the street from where Quiroz lived, which belonged to Rodney Scott. They then contacted their friends, eighteen-year-old Anthony P. Sharp, Jr., and twenty-one-year-old Danzele Johnson, to "help to get into the house." Tr. at 925. Unbeknownst to them, however, Scott was actually asleep in an upstairs bedroom. Unarmed, the group proceeded to break into Scott's house. While Sparks stayed at Quiroz's house serving as a lookout, Layman, Johnson, Sharp, and Quiroz entered Scott's home by kicking in the rear door to the kitchen. Scott was awakened when he heard a "boom, and [his] whole house just shook." Tr. at 1058. After hearing a second loud boom, Scott immediately grabbed his handgun and cell phone and ran loudly downstairs to scare away any intruders. When Scott reached the bottom of the stairs he saw Sharp run out the back door. He then saw three of the intruders standing near a downstairs bedroom door. Scott began firing his weapon and Layman, Johnson, and Quiroz ran into the bedroom closet. Scott then held the young men at bay in the closet and called 911. While Scott was on the phone the closet door opened and Scott saw Johnson fall to the floor. Quiroz, whom Scott recognized as a neighbor, told Scott that Johnson had been shot. Shortly thereafter Layman yelled that he also had been shot.
When the police arrived, Quiroz attempted to flee. He ran out of the closet and crashed through a glass window. One of the officers pursued Quiroz on foot and he was soon after taken into custody. In the meantime other officers entered the house and arrested Layman who was treated for a gunshot wound to his leg. Johnson's body was found on the bedroom floor just outside the closet. He died at the scene from a gunshot wound. Scott's wallet and watch, which were previously located on the kitchen counter, were retrieved from the closet in which Layman, Johnson, and Quiroz had been hiding.
The State charged Layman, Sparks, Quiroz, and Sharp with felony murder in the perpetration of a burglary. And although Layman, Sparks, and Quiroz were
In a consolidated appeal, Layman and Sparks raised several constitutional claims.
On transfer Layman and Sparks advance many of the same constitutional claims raised before the Court of Appeals. We decline to address them for two reasons.
Second, and more importantly, it is long established that "a constitutional question unnecessary to a determination of the merits should not be decided." Bureau of Motor Vehicles v. Scott, 497 N.E.2d 557, 559 (Ind.1986) (quoting Passwater v. Winn, 248 Ind. 404, 229 N.E.2d 622, 623 (1967); accord Hammond City Ct. v. State ex rel. Hofbauer, 247 Ind. 300, 208 N.E.2d 682, 684 (1965)); see also Greene v. Holmes, 201 Ind. 123, 166 N.E. 281, 284 (1929) ("The Supreme Court will not consider constitutional questions when the determination thereof is not necessary to dispose of the appeal."). Indeed it is "the duty of the court not to enter upon the consideration of a constitutional question where the court can perceive another ground on which it may properly rest its decision." Scott, 497 N.E.2d at 559 (quoting Applegate v. State ex rel. Bowling, 158 Ind. 119, 63 N.E. 16, 18 (1902)). As discussed in more detail below the propriety of the Appellants' convictions may be resolved on non-constitutional grounds.
Indiana Code section 35-42-1-1(2) (2012) provides in relevant part: "A person who kills another human being while committing or attempting to commit . . . burglary . . . commits murder, a felony." We had occasion to apply this statute in Palmer v. State, 704 N.E.2d 124 (Ind. 1999). In that case a parolee had recently been released from jail after being apprehended on a new charge. Summoned to report to his parole officer and expecting to be arrested, the parolee asked the defendant to accompany him. At the parole office, correctional officers attempted to arrest and handcuff the parolee. When the parolee resisted and attempted to escape, the defendant produced a gun, held it to the head of one of the officers, and said, "I'm going to blow you away. Do what I tell you." Id. at 125. Upon defendant's
Among other offenses the defendant was charged with and convicted of felony murder in the perpetration of a kidnapping. This Court in a three to two decision held that the statutory language "kills another human being while committing" does not restrict the felony murder statute solely to instances in which the felon is the killer. Palmer, 704 N.E.2d at 126. Rather, the felony murder statute may also apply equally when, in committing any of the designated felonies, the felon, although not the killer, reasonably should have foreseen that his felonious conduct would result in the "mediate or immediate cause" of the victim's death. Id.
Appellants invite us to revisit and overrule Palmer and instead adopt the view expressed by the dissenting Justices in that case, namely, that a plain reading of the felony murder statute does not authorize the imposition of liability for murder where the defendant's fellow perpetrator was the person killed. As the dissent opined:
Palmer, 704 N.E.2d at 128 (Sullivan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part; joined by Shepard, C.J.).
We decline the invitation to overrule Palmer. First, it has been the law in this jurisdiction now for over a decade and a half. And we have since affirmed its validity on two occasions. See Forney v. State, 742 N.E.2d 934, 938 (Ind.2001) (noting, "[t]he fact that the robbery resulted in the death of a co-perpetrator does not save Forney from criminal liability for murder"); Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268, 269-70 (Ind.2000) (rejecting defendant's contention that felony murder statute does not impose criminal liability for murder when resulting death is that of co-perpetrator). The doctrine of stare decisis requires that we apply "a principle of law which has been firmly established." Marsillett v. State, 495 N.E.2d 699, 704 (Ind. 1986). It is a maxim of judicial restraint supported by compelling policy reasons of continuity and predictability that we should be "reluctant to disturb long-standing precedent," Id., and "a rule which has been deliberately declared should not be disturbed by the same court absent urgent reasons and a clear manifestation of error." Id. at 704-05. Although Layman and Sparks disagree with Palmer and direct our attention to jurisdictions that take a different view on the proper application of the felony murder rule, we perceive no urgent reason to revisit our long-standing precedent nor are we convinced that Palmer is clearly erroneous.
Further, Appellants' contention that the dissenting view in Palmer more accurately reflects the correct reading of Indiana's felony murder statute is at odds with the fact that in the years since Palmer was decided the Indiana Legislature has amended the felony murder statute on at
Layman and Sparks also contend the felony murder statute was not properly applied in this case. Br. of Layman at 9 ("Indiana's felony murder statute was not applicable in this case. . . . Prior precedent from our Supreme Court holding otherwise should be overruled or, in the alternative, should not be followed with juveniles, given that they are incapable of foreseeing the risks inherent in their actions."); Br. of Sparks at 24-25 ("When a co-felon is killed by a non-participant, there is no dispute over whether the non-participant, and not an intervening cause, was the reason for the co-felon's death. Rather, the issue is whether the defendant should be held criminally responsible for the actions of another."). The essence of their argument is that the death of their friend and co-perpetrator was not reasonably foreseeable. We view this claim as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. "In reviewing a sufficiency of the evidence claim, we do not reweigh the evidence or assess the credibility of the witnesses." Treadway v. State, 924 N.E.2d 621, 639 (Ind. 2010). "Rather, we look to the evidence and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom that support the verdict, and we will affirm the convictions if there is probative evidence from which a reasonable jury could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Id.
The evidence is clear that Layman, Sparks, and three co-perpetrators participated in a home invasion.
In like fashion we affirmed the felony murder conviction for the death of a co-perpetrator during the course of a robbery in Jenkins. The evidence in that case showed that "the defendant held a gun to [robbery victim's] stomach, . . . defendant and [co-perpetrator] then taped [victim's] ankles together and his hands behind his back, . . . defendant retrieved [victim's] girlfriend[] from the second level of the apartment, . . . defendant handed the gun to [co-perpetrator], and the defendant taped [victim's girlfriend's] eyes, mouth, and hands and instructed her to sit in a chair [after which] defendant then took a spoon from a kitchen drawer and heated it, threatening to torture the two victims." Jenkins, 726 N.E.2d at 270. Accordingly, we concluded "the defendant and his co-perpetrator engaged in dangerously violent and threatening conduct and that their conduct created a situation that exposed persons present to the danger of death at the hands of a non-participant who might resist or respond to the conduct. . . and that the defendant's role in creating this dangerous situation, which included the use of at least two guns during the episode, was an intermediary, secondary, or medium in effecting or bringing about the death." Id. at 271 (emphasis added) (internal quotation omitted).
Similarly, in Forney we affirmed the defendant's felony murder conviction based on accomplice liability where, in the perpetration of a robbery, the defendant instructed his co-perpetrator to "get the money by saying, `get the scrill get the scrill.'" Forney, 742 N.E.2d at 936. Upon which, the co-perpetrator pulled out a gun, pointed it at the stomach of the intended robbery victim and said, "Shut up, empty your pockets." Id. A struggle over the gun ensued. The co-perpetrator fired the weapon, striking another co-perpetrator in the chest who died as a result.
Aside from the fact that in each case a co-perpetrator was fatally injured by someone other than the defendant, the common thread uniting Palmer, Jenkins, and Forney was that an armed defendant engaged in violent and threatening conduct, either as a principle or an accessory, that resulted in the "mediate or immediate cause" of a co-perpetrator's death. By contrast the record here shows that when the group broke and entered the residence of the homeowner intending to commit a theft—a burglary—not only were they unarmed, but also neither the Appellants nor their cohorts engaged in any "dangerously violent and threatening conduct." Jenkins, 726 N.E.2d at 271. There was simply nothing about the Appellants' conduct or the conduct of their cohorts that was "clearly the mediate or immediate cause"
But what next? For reasons that are unclear from the record before us the State did not follow common practice and file an additional count of burglary against the defendants. It chose instead to file a single count of felony murder in the perpetration of a burglary. Nonetheless, "the completed or attempted underlying felony is always a lesser included offense of felony murder. Therefore, charging a person with felony murder also, in effect, necessarily charges him with the underlying felony." Douglass v. State, 466 N.E.2d 721, 722-23 (Ind.1984) (quotation and citation omitted).
Here the underlying felony is burglary which may be enhanced from a class C to a class B felony "if[] the building or structure is a . . . dwelling" and to a class A felony "if it results in[] bodily injury; or[] serious bodily injury; to any person other than a defendant." I.C. § 35-43-2-1 (2012). At first blush it would appear the Appellants should be resentenced for burglary as a class A felony, based on the "serious bodily injury" to co-perpetrator Johnson.
App. at 69. In fact the verdict form given to the jury provided three choices: "Guilty of Felony Murder," "Guilty of Burglary, a Class B felony, a lesser-included offense," and "Not Guilty." App. at 94. Essentially all parties understood and agreed that the un-charged lesser-included offense in this case was burglary as a class B felony. We thus remand this cause with instructions to enter verdicts of guilty to burglary as a class B felony and resentence the Appellants accordingly.
We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand this cause for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
RUSH, C.J., and DICKSON, DAVID and MASSA, JJ., concur.