Opinion ID: 852833
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Following a collision in August, 2002, in which a man was killed, Defendant Valentin Jaramillo was charged with Operating While Intoxicated Causing Death, [1] a Class C felony. The State sought to have the offense enhanced to a Class B felony on grounds that he had been convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in March, 1998, and sought to have Defendant adjudicated a habitual substance offender on grounds of the instant charge, the March, 1998, conviction, and a third conviction for operating while intoxicated in June, 1997. [2] In a bifurcated proceeding, a jury first found Defendant guilty of the Class C felony and then the Class B felony and to be a habitual substance offender. Defendant appealed the convictions, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support the enhancement of his conviction for driving while intoxicated from a Class C felony to a Class B felony and that there was insufficient evidence to support the determination that he is a habitual substance offender. [3] The Court of Appeals resolved both claims in Defendant's favor, finding that the State had failed to prove that a conviction was entered on Defendant's March, 1998, guilty plea. That offense was the predicate offense for the Class B enhancement and a necessary predicate for the habitual substance offender enhancement. Jaramillo v. State, 803 N.E.2d 243 (Ind.Ct. App.2004). The State does not challenge this determination on transfer. However, the Court of Appeals also held that federal double jeopardy principles did not bar the State from retrying the defendant on the Class B and habitual substance offender enhancements. Id. at 250. Defendant seeks transfer on this issue.