Opinion ID: 2227492
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Propriety of probation revocation.

Text: In concluding that probation was properly revoked, the Court of Appeals relied on Lind v. State (1990), Ind. App., 550 N.E.2d 823. In Lind, the defendant pled guilty to child molesting and was placed on probation with the condition that he undergo counseling. His probation was revoked when he was terminated from the program because he failed to attend counseling sessions regularly. The Lind court concluded that the defendant's failure to adhere to the program's attendance policy shows a blatant disregard by the defendant for the trial court's order to undergo counseling and treatment, and affirmed the revocation of the defendant's probation. Id. at 824. Lind is distinguishable from the instant case. First, the violation at issue in Lind  whether the defendant had attended counseling regularly  was one easily ascertained, and we agree that probation may be revoked if the probationer does not regularly attend counseling sessions if ordered to do so. Second, the defendant in Lind pled guilty to child molesting. By pleading guilty, he had already admitted to having a problem in this area, and he was not contesting being required to make any further admissions during the course of therapy. Thus, in Lind, the defendant's probation was revoked because he did not abide by the administrative rules of the counseling program. By contrast, Gilfillen regularly attended the ordered counseling sessions. Also, he did not plead guilty and, therefore, has not admitted to having any child molesting problem. In fact, he continues to protest his innocence. Under these circumstances, requiring Gilfillen to admit that he has a problem with child molesting or face revocation of probation is tantamount to requiring that he admit that he is guilty of the crimes charged. Clearly, this is unacceptable. We recognize that probation is a matter of grace, and whether probation is granted is within the trial court's discretion. Hoffa v. State (1977), 267 Ind. 133, 136, 368 N.E.2d 250, 252. Reasonable conditions on probation may be imposed on a defendant, but thought control is not one of them. Thus, in a circumstance such as this, where the defendant has not pled guilty but was instead convicted while denying guilt, trial court may not insist on an admission of guilt as a condition of probation or use a continued denial of guilt as the basis for revocation. We do not mean to imply, however, that such facts may not be used by the trial court in determining whether a particular defendant is an appropriate candidate for probation in the first instance.