Title: Turner v. State
Citation: 255 Ind. 427, 265 N.E.2d 11
Docket Number: 1069S234
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: December 23, 1970

255 Ind. 427 (1970)
265 N.E.2d 11
TURNER
v.
STATE OF INDIANA.
No. 1069S234.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed December 23, 1970.
Rehearing denied March 3, 1971.
*428 Charles W. Symmes, of Indianapolis, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Attorney General, Robert A. Zaban, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.
GIVAN, J.
The appellant was charged by indictment with the crime of conspiracy to commit a felony, to-wit: Second degree burglary. Appellant was tried by the court without a jury. Appellant was found guilty as charged and sentenced to the Indiana State Reformatory for a period of two to fourteen years.
The facts in this case are as follows:
On December 27, 1968, at 9:30 P.M. Indianapolis Police Officer Roger Bair received radio communication directing him to the Dixon Vending Company at 602 East New York Street, Indianapolis, Indiana. At the same time Wayne Meyer, a representative of the American District Telephone Company, was sent to the same address by his company where an alarm signaling a breaking into the building had been received.
When Officer Bair and Mr. Meyer arrived at the scene they heard the sound of pounding on brick at the rear of the building. Each man went in an opposite direction around the building to converge upon the area from whence the sound *429 was coming. As Mr. Meyer rounded the corner of the building he saw Walter Turner on the roof of a small garage immediately adjacent to the Dixon Vending Company. Joseph Turner and Orville Hall were on the ground next to the Dixon Vending Company building. As Officer Bair and Mr. Meyer appeared, the three men started to run; however, they each stopped upon the order of Officer Bair.
The officer found that a brick had been removed from the side of the building. He also found a hammer and a rubber mallet laying on the ground at the scene.
This Court has repeatedly held that flight of an accused or other related conduct calculated to hide a crime or escape from the scene of a crime is admissible as evidence of guilt. It is for the trier of fact to determine what weight and value should be given to such evidence. Reno v. State (1967), 248 Ind. 334, 228 N.E.2d 14, 11 Ind. Dec. 43. This Court will not weigh the evidence. Smith v. State (1969), 252 Ind. 425, 249 N.E.2d 493, 18 Ind. Dec. 189.
Conspiracy cannot be established by mere suspicion nor is it established by mere showing of relationship or association between the parties. However, in the case at bar the facts justify a finding which goes beyond a mere suspicion or association. Walter Turner was on the roof of a nearby garage. Orville Hall and Joseph Turner were on the ground at a place where a brick had been knocked from the side of the building. A hammer and rubber mallet were laying on the ground. The trier of fact had ample evidence from which it could be inferred that Walter Turner was a lookout and that the other two men were attempting to effect entry into the building. This Court has previously said:
The facts in the case at bar support the finding of the trial court that the defendant was in fact guilty of conspiring with others to effect burglary.
The trial court is, therefore, affirmed.
Hunter, C.J., and Arterburn, J., concur; Jackson, J., dissents with opinion in which DeBruler, J., concurs.
JACKSON, J.
I am unable to concur in the majority opinion and dissent thereto.
Appellant was charged by indictment with the crime of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony, to-wit: Second Degree Burglary, said indictment reading in pertinent part as follows:
On April 30, 1969, appellant waived arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty to the crime as charged. On June *431 27, 1969, appellant filed a Waiver of Jury Trial, and this cause was immediately thereafter tried to the court without the intervention of a jury. On the same day, and after all of the evidence in this cause was heard, the court found appellant guilty as charged. On July 10, 1969, the court sentenced appellant to the Indiana State Reformatory for a period of Two (2) to Fourteen (14) years.
Appellant filed his Belated Motion For New Trial on December 16, 1969. Said motion attacked the finding of the court as not sustained by sufficient evidence and contrary to law; it also alleged that the court erred in overruling appellant's motions for discharge at the close of the State's evidence and at the close of all the evidence. Said Belated Motion For New Trial was overruled by the court on December 19, 1969.
Appellant's sole Assignment of Error on appeal is that: "1. The court erred in overruling appellant's motion for a new trial."
From the evidence adduced at the trial of this cause, viewed most favorably to the State, it appears that at 9:39 p.m. on December 27, 1968, Officer Roger Bair of the Indianapolis Police Department was ordered to proceed to the Dixon Vending Company, located at 602 East New York Street, City of Indianapolis, in response to an alarm. Upon his arrival, Officer Bair observed three men standing near the east side of the building, one on the roof of an adjacent garage and two on the ground. As he approached the point where the men were standing, they began to run, but were immediately apprehended by Officer Bair and Wayne S. Meyers, an employee of American District Telegraph Company who also answered the alarm. After Officer Bair placed the three men in his squad car, he returned to where he had first observed the two men standing on the ground. At that point he found a rubber mallet and a hammer. Upon further investigation, Officer Bair found that a brick had been knocked loose from the building and was laying on the ground.
*432 Officer Bair and Mr. Meyers positively identified the appellant as one of the three men apprehended in the vicinity of the Dixon Vending Company on the date in question. However, neither Officer Bair nor Mr. Meyers could testify as to whether or not the hammer and/or mallet was ever in the possession or under the direct control of the appellant. They did testify that at no time did they overhear any conversation between the individuals involved.
Appellant contends that the evidence, as presented to the trial court, was grossly inadequate and insufficient to sustain his conviction. In Baker v. State (1956), 236 Ind. 55, 138 N.E.2d 641, this Court stated:
Therefore, it was incumbent upon the State in the case at bar to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant did, in fact, "* * * knowingly and feloniously unite, combine, conspire, confederate and agree to and with each other for the object and purpose of unlawfully, feloniously and burglariously breaking and entering into the building and structure of WILLIAM DIXON d/b/a DIXON VENDING CO. * * * with the intent (to) commit a felony therein * * *." as charged in the indictment.
The statute under which the appellant was charged is found in Acts of 1905, Ch. 169, § 641, p. 584, being Burns Ann. Stat. § 10-1101, which reads as follows:
In DeVault v. State (1970), 254 Ind. 546, 261 N.E.2d 232, this Court stated that:
In the case at bar there was absolutely no evidence whatever to prove that the appellant did, in fact, conspire to commit the crime of Second Degree Burglary. Such evidence as was presented, at most, merely placed him on or near the premises of the Dixon Vending Company sometime after an alarm had sounded therein. The testimony of Officer Roger Bair is significant:
In short, there was a total absence of proof of "an intelligent and deliberate agreement to commit the offense charged." DeVault v. State, supra. Neither Officer Bair nor Mr. Meyers could testify as to any communication having taken place between the appellant and any other individual involved. Also, there was absolutely no proof of a "concurrence of sentiment and cooperative conduct in an unlawful and criminal enterprise," DeVault v. State, supra, for there was no evidence presented that the appellant or anyone else had possession of or control over the alleged instrumentalities of the crime (the hammer and mallet), no evidence that he ever broke or entered the building, and, therefore, no substantial evidence of an existing criminal intent to commit a felony therein. This Court has stated on numerous occasions that the mere *435 opportunity to commit a crime is insufficient to sustain a conviction. Baker v. State, supra; Myers v. State (1954), 233 Ind. 66, 116 N.E.2d 839; Osbon v. State (1938), 213 Ind. 413, 13 N.E.2d 223.
The only evidence presented by the State to prove the charge against the appellant was that he ran upon observing Officer Bair approaching his position. While it is true that such evidence of attempted flight is competent, admissible, and a matter for the consideration of the trier of fact, Meredith v. State (1966), 247 Ind. 233, 214 N.E.2d 385; Wilson v. State (1944), 222 Ind. 63, 51 N.E.2d 848; State v. Torphy (1940), 217 Ind. 383, 28 N.E.2d 70; it does not follow that said evidence, by itself, is sufficient to sustain a conviction upon a charge of conspiracy to commit a felony.
The evidence in the case at bar establishes, at most, a mere suspicion of guilt. I reiterate here the long-standing rule of this Court that conspiracies cannot be established by a mere suspicion. DeVault v. State, supra; Mattingly v. State (1957), 237 Ind. 326, 145 N.E.2d 650; Coughlin v. State (1950), 228 Ind. 393, 92 N.E.2d 718.
The judgment of the trial court should be reversed and this cause should be remanded with instructions to grant appellant's motion for new trial.
DeBruler, J., concurs.
NOTE.  Reported in 265 N.E.2d 11.