Title: Seats v. State
Citation: 254 Ind. 457, 260 N.E.2d 796
Docket Number: 1168S185
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: July 30, 1970

254 Ind. 457 (1970)
260 N.E.2d 796
SEATS
v.
STATE OF INDIANA.
No. 1168S185.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed July 30, 1970.
*458 Gil I. Berry, Jr., of Indianapolis, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Attorney General, Curtis C. Plopper, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.
No petition for rehearing filed.
JACKSON, J.
Appellant was charged by affidavit, signed by Donald Okey and filed April 25, 1968, with the crime of robbery by putting in fear. The affidavit omitting formal parts, signatures, and jurat, reads in pertinent part as follows:
Appellant waived arraignment on the above charge and entered a plea of not guilty. On August 5, 1968, appellant waived trial by jury and the cause was submitted to the court for trial. The court found appellant guilty and, thereupon, ordered a pre-sentence investigation made by the probation department for said county. Sentencing was set for August 23, 1968, and on said date the court sentenced appellant to the Indiana Reformatory for a period of not less than ten nor more than 25 years, disfranchised him, and rendered him incapable of holding any office of trust or profit for a period of ten years.
A motion for new trial was filed by appellant August 23, 1968, such motion, omitting formal parts and signatures, reads in pertinent part as follows:
Thereafter, appellant's Motion For New Trial was over ruled. His sole Assignment of Error on appeal is that: "1. The Court erred in overruling Appellant's motion for new trial."
From the evidence adduced at trial it appears that at approximately 4:00 a.m. on the morning of April 22, 1968, the appellant entered the filling station where one Gary Stahl was employed as an attendant and started a conversation concerning *460 a particular type of beverage, continuing the same for approximately five (5) minutes. Appellant then turned from the attendant and walked out of the station. Immediately upon the appellant turning and walking away from the attendant, another man approached the said Gary Stahl from the rear with a gun and took from him $107.88. At 4:08 a.m. on the same date appellant was arrested by Irvin Wuttke, a Marion County Deputy Sheriff, who stopped the red 1965 Pontiac automobile in which appellant was riding, on information and belief that he had committed a felony. Gary Stahl was brought to the scene of the arrest by the Sheriff's Department and there identified the appellant as being at the service station earlier. At the same time Stahl also identified the hold-up man who was then in the presence of the appellant. Appellant requested that he have the assistance of counsel at the scene of his arrest and subsequent "show-up" but none was provided prior to the identification by Stahl.
On appeal appellant argues that there was insufficient evidence of probative value introduced below upon which his conviction could be sustained, and that he was denied his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel at the time the complaining witness was brought to the scene of appellant's arrest and there identified him in the presence of the "hold-up man." The appellee claims that the issues raised by this latter argument are not properly before this Court. It contends that since the appellant failed to: (a) properly object during the trial to the testimony then being taken from the arresting officers, (b) move to strike their testimony from the record, and (c) mention this ground as assigned error in his motion for new trial, he cannot now present the question on appeal. Appellee's point is well taken. In Fletcher v. State (1961), 241 Ind. 409, 172 N.E.2d 853, this Court stated:
Likewise, in Woods v. State (1967), 248 Ind. 256, 226 N.E.2d 326, this Court held that:
Therefore, since appellant failed to object during the course of the trial to the admission of the testimony given by the arresting officers, failed to move to strike said testimony, and failed to include in his motion for new trial or the attached memorandum the allegation that the trial court erred in admitting certain evidence arrived at in violation of his constitutional guarantees, this specification of error cannot now be considered by this Court.
Consequently, we are left with appellant's initial argument that the evidence introduced before the trial court is insufficient to sustain his conviction for the crime as charged and that, therefore, said conviction should be reversed. Although the affidavit charged appellant as a principal with the crime of robbery, it was the theory of the prosecution that he was an accessory under Burns Ann. Stat. § 9-102 which provides:
Therefore, under its theory of the case, it was incumbent upon the State to prove that the appellant was actually aiding or abetting in the commission of the crime in question.
*462 This Court has stated on numerous occasions that whenever the sufficiency of the evidence is raised as an issue on appeal it will consider only that evidence which is most favorable to the State together with all logical and reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. McGill v. State (1969), 252 Ind. 293, 247 N.E.2d 514; Croney v. State (1969), 252 Ind. 319, 247 N.E.2d 501; Wagner v. State (1963), 243 Ind. 570, 188 N.E.2d 914. And that a conviction will be sustained if there is any evidence of the facts essential to support the judgment. Majko v. State (1965), 246 Ind. 506, 207 N.E.2d 212.
Notwithstanding the principles laid down by the above cited cases, this Court has set forth the standard by which we review the evidence to determine the sufficiency thereof when challenged on appeal.
To sustain its contention that appellant was acting as a decoy in order to distract the complainant's attention thereby allowing the alleged hold-up man the opportunity to position himself so as to effectuate his crime, the State relies heavily on the case of Cotton v. State (1965), 247 Ind. 56, 211 N.E.2d 158, wherein this Court stated:
In reviewing the entire record of the case at bar, we are of the opinion the actions of the appellant can under no stretch of the imagination bring him within the scope of such language so as to render him guilty of participation in the commission of the crime as charged.
Regardless of the language in the case of Cotton v. State, supra, in order for the conviction to stand it was and is incumbent on the State to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Rhoades v. State (1946), 224 Ind. 569, 70 N.E.2d 27.
The only evidence offered by the State to prove the charges against the appellant was that he was present in the service station immediately prior to the commission of the robbery and that subsequently thereafter he was arrested while in the presence of the perpetrator of said crime. The evidence was, therefore, circumstantial requiring the trier of fact to infer from the circumstances that appellant was indeed a participant in the robbery.
In Easton v. State (1967), 248 Ind. 338, 228 N.E.2d 6, this Court said:
In Manlove v. State (1968), 250 Ind. 70, 232 N.E.2d 874, this Court stated that:
Therefore, since the evidence in the case at bar is wholly circumstantial, it is our duty to determine whether the evidence is sufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence of the appellant.
With respect to his actions immediately prior to the commission of the robbery, there is absolutely no evidence present in the record that appellant signaled, spoke to, or in any manner communicated with the alleged hold-up man, nor that he (appellant) in any way acquiesced in the commission of the crime. In fact, there was nothing to show that appellant even knew that a robbery was about to take place.
The complainant testified that appellant walked into and out of the station. Nothing was said with respect to the automobile in which appellant was riding shortly after the robbery. There was no evidence that appellant was seen driving said car or that he in any other manner aided in the felon's escape. When he was searched subsequent to his arrest, the only articles found on his person were small amounts of change. And when the complainant was brought to the scene of appellant's arrest the most that he could swear to was that appellant had been present at the station a short time earlier. The State's evidence at most tends to establish merely a suspicion of guilt. This is not enough. Crawford v. State (1968), 251 Ind. 437, 241 N.E.2d 795; Robertson v. State (1952), 231 Ind. 368, 108 N.E.2d 711; Todd v. State (1951), 230 Ind. 85, 101 N.E.2d 922.
We cannot, therefore, say that the circumstantial evidence is "* * * so conclusive and compelling in character that it excludes every reasonable hypothesis of the assumption of innocence of the defendant." Easton v. State, supra. Indeed a very reasonable hypothesis which may be drawn from the evidence is that appellant merely went to the service station to buy a soft drink and later hitched a ride *465 with someone whom he subsequently discovered had committed a felony shortly before their meeting. Thus, applying the rule of law set out in Manlove v. State, supra, the "* * * evidence is not sufficiently persuasive to allow a reasonable man to find the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and such finding of guilty cannot stand."
There is a total lack of sufficient evidence of probative value to sustain the conviction of the appellant.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed, and this cause is remanded to the trial court with instructions to grant the appellant's motion for new trial.
Arterburn and Givan, JJ., concur; DeBruler, J., concurs in result; Hunter, C.J., dissents.
NOTE.  Reported in 260 N.E.2d 796.