Opinion ID: 2762359
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: “In reviewing sufficiency of the evidence, we examine only the probative evidence and reasonable inferences that support the verdict.” Lock, 971 N.E.2d at 74 (citing Drane v. State, 867 N.E.2d 144, 146 (Ind. 2007)) (internal quotations omitted). The Court will not assess witness credibility nor reweigh evidence. Id. Rather, “we consider only the evidence most favorable to the trial court ruling and affirm the conviction unless no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” Lock, 971 N.E.2d at 74 (quoting Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268, 270 (Ind. 2000)) (internal quotations omitted). I. Constitutionality of Indiana’s Public Intoxication Statute Morgan has specifically challenged Indiana’s public intoxication statute as unconstitutionally vague. A criminal statute can be found unconstitutionally vague: “(1) for failing to provide notice enabling ordinary people to understand the conduct that it prohibits” or “(2) for the possibility that it authorizes or encourages arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement.” Brown, 868 N.E.2d at 467 (citing City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41, 56 (1999)). However, “[i]f a statute has two reasonable interpretations, one constitutional and the other not, we will choose the interpretation that will uphold the constitutionality of the statute.” Sims v. United States Fidelity & Guar. Co., 782 N.E.2d 345, 349 (Ind. 2003) (citing Boehm v. Town of St. John, 675 N.E.2d 318, 321 (Ind. 1996)). It is also necessary for “a penal statute [to] give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden so that ‘no man shall be held criminally responsible for conduct which he could not reasonably understand to be proscribed.’” Brown, 868 N.E.2d at 467 (citing Healthscript, Inc. v. State, 770 N.E.2d 810, 816 (Ind. 2002)). Yet, 4 “[t]his court should ‘nullify a statute on constitutional grounds only where such result is clearly rational and necessary.’” Sims, 782 N.E.2d at 349 (quoting Bd. of Comm’rs of the Cnty. of Howard v. Kokomo City Plan Comm’n, 263 Ind. 282, 286, 330 N.E.2d 92, 95 (1975)) (emphasis added). Furthermore, “[v]agueness challenges to statutes not threatening First Amendment interests are examined in light of the facts of the case at hand; the statute is judged on an asapplied basis.” Maynard, Warden, et. al. v. Cartwright, 486 U.S. 356, 361 (1988) (citing United States v. Powell, 423 U.S. 87, 92-93 (1975)). Here, the relevant portion of Indiana’s public intoxication statute provides: [I]t is a Class B misdemeanor for a person to be in a public place or a place of public resort in a state of intoxication caused by the person’s use of alcohol or a controlled substance . . . if the person: