Title: Springfield v. State

State: indiana

Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court

Document:

I N  T H E  
Indiana Supreme Court 
Supreme Court Case No. 19S-CR-348 
Dwayne A. Springfield,  
Appellant, 
–v– 
State of Indiana, 
Appellee. 
Decided: June 10, 2019 
Appeal from the Marion Superior Court, No. 49G21-1612-F2-47464 
The Honorable Alicia Gooden, Judge 
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals,  
No. 18A-CR-1317 
Per Curiam Opinion 
All Justices concur.  
 
 
 
FILED
C L E R K
Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
Jun 10 2019, 1:40 pm
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 19S-CR-348 | June 10, 2019 
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Per curiam.  
Following a traffic stop that ended in a police chase, Dwayne 
Springfield was charged with the following offenses, as relevant to this 
appeal:  
• Count II: Possession of Cocaine under Indiana Code section 35-
48-4-6(a), enhanced to a Level 4 felony under Indiana Code 
section 35-48-4-6(c)(2);  
• Count IV: Possession of a Narcotic Drug under Indiana Code 
section 35-48-4-6(a), enhanced to a Level 5 felony under Indiana 
Code section 35-48-4-6(b)(2); and 
• Count V: Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent 
Felon, a Level 4 felony under Indiana Code section 35-47-4-5(c).  
The State later added another count to charge Springfield with being a 
habitual offender under Indiana Code section 35-50-2-8.  
A trifurcated trial was held in April 2018. The first phase of the trial 
involved Counts II and IV, and the jury found Springfield guilty of both. 
During the second phase, the jury determined that Springfield was guilty 
of Count V, the unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent 
felon. During the third phase, a bench trial, Springfield was adjudicated a 
habitual offender.   
At the sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced Springfield to 10 
years for Count II, enhanced by 20 years for being a habitual offender; six 
years for Count IV; and 12 years for Count V. These sentences were 
ordered to be served concurrently, for an aggregate sentence of 30 years in 
the Indiana Department of Correction.  
Springfield appealed, arguing that his conviction for Count V and the 
enhancements applied to Counts II and IV violated Indiana double 
jeopardy principles because they were based on the same evidence—his 
possession of a single firearm. This Court has held that “two or more 
offenses are the ‘same offense’ in violation of Article I, Section 14 of the 
Indiana Constitution, if, with respect to either the statutory elements of the 
challenged crimes or the actual evidence used to convict, the essential 
elements of one challenged offense also establish the essential elements of 
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 19S-CR-348 | June 10, 2019 
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another challenged offense.” Richardson v. State, 717 N.E.2d 32, 49 (Ind. 
1999) (emphases in original).  
Citing Richardson, the Court of Appeals affirmed Springfield’s 
convictions and sentences for Counts II and IV but reversed the conviction 
and sentence for Count V, the unlawful possession of a firearm by a 
serious violent felon. It remanded the matter to the trial court with 
instructions to vacate the Count V conviction and sentence Springfield 
accordingly. Springfield v. State, 116 N.E.3d 1160 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018), reh’g 
denied.  
We grant transfer solely to eliminate the residual double jeopardy 
violation—Springfield’s two drug-related convictions, both of which were 
enhanced based on the same evidence of his possession of a single firearm. 
Although the use of the same weapon during the commission of two or 
more distinct offenses may be used to enhance the level of each offense 
without offending double jeopardy protections, enhancing the level of two 
separate offenses for the continuous possession of a firearm would violate 
these principles. Miller v. State, 790 N.E.2d 437, 439 (Ind. 2003) (Sullivan, J., 
concurring). The appropriate remedy to address such violations is to 
reduce one of the offending convictions to a lesser included offense, if 
doing so will eliminate the violation. Richardson, 717 N.E.2d at 54.  
Therefore, we remand this matter to the trial court for the entry of 
judgment on the jury verdicts of guilt for  
• Count II: Possession of Cocaine as a Level 4 felony under 
Indiana Code section 35-48-4-6(c)(2); and  
• Count IV: Possession of a Narcotic Drug as a Level 6 felony 
under Indiana Code section 35-48-4-6(a);  
and for a determination of the appropriate sentence for each conviction. 
We summarily affirm the opinion of the Court of Appeals in all other 
respects. See App. R. 58(A)(2). 
All Justices concur.  
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 19S-CR-348 | June 10, 2019 
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A TT O R N E Y F O R  A PP E LLA N T  
Valerie K. Boots 
Indianapolis, Indiana 
A TT O R N E YS F O R  AP P EL L E E 
Curtis T. Hill, Jr. 
Attorney General of Indiana  
Angela N. Sanchez 
Deputy Attorney General 
Indianapolis, Indiana