Opinion ID: 2247526
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: issues

Text: We have reviewed Defendant's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence in light of the erroneous admission of evidence of his prior convictions. The undisputed evidence reveals that a home in Hammond was burglarized on the evening of February 22, 1981. Defendant testified that on that evening he had accompanied Robert Bailey and Andrewella Johnson to Hammond to pick up some things Bailey had left at a friend's home. On arrival, Bailey stated he was going to commit a Burglary, which Defendant took as a joke. After requesting that Defendant knock on the door of the premises, an act which Defendant declined to do, Bailey left the automobile. About fifteen minutes later, he returned carrying a television set, a speaker, and a pillow case, the contents of which Defendant had not seen. The loot was placed in the automobile, and while Bailey rummaged through the pillow case, the police drove by, made a u-turn, and parked at the back of the car. Defendant and Bailey exited the car, as the officer exited his automobile, and they were arrested after one officer noticed the loot. Bailey offered a slightly different version of the events. He testified that they had agreed enroute to commit a burglary and to split the loot three ways. Defendant was to act as lookout. On arrival, they knocked on the door to determine if anyone was at home. All three then went to the back of the house where someone, probably Defendant, broke a window with a rock or a brick. Defendant then returned to the automobile while the others gathered the loot. Defendant asks us to discount the accomplice's testimony because he had initially denied being involved in the Burglary. He also asks us to consider the plea bargain obtained upon behalf of the accomplice and his extensive criminal record all of which were disclosed to the jury. Further, he notes that in his testimony, the accomplice contradicted his prior statement given to the police, wherein he had stated, in accord with the arresting officers' testimony, that the police had approached as he and Defendant were jointly carrying the television set to the car. He adds that the police officers made no note in their report either of such participation by him or of whether Johnson was holding the car door or seat as the television was being placed inside. Upon a review for sufficient evidence, this Court will look only to the evidence most favorable to the State and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. If the existence of each element of the crime charged may be found therefrom, beyond a reasonable doubt, the verdict will not be disturbed. In such a review, we will not weigh conflicting evidence nor will we judge the credibility of the witnesses. Loyd v. State, (1980) Ind., 398 N.E.2d 1260, 1264, cert. denied, (1980) 449 U.S. 881, 101 S.Ct. 231, 66 L.Ed.2d 105. (citations omitted). There is nothing inherently incredible about the police officers' testimony or the accomplice's testimony. Thomas v. State, (1982) Ind., 436 N.E.2d 1109, 1111; Bentley v. State, (1981) Ind., 414 N.E.2d 573, 574. In addition to the directly inculpating testimony of the accomplice, the police officers arrested Defendant while he was exercising control over property that had been just stolen in a burglary. Other evidence reveals that Defendant did not offer his explanation of the circumstances until after Johnson and Bailey had implicated him, although he had denied having any connection with the break-in. The jury was not obligated to believe his explanation. He further admitted that he had discussed the possibility of turning State's evidence with co-defendant Johnson. This additional evidence cast considerable doubt upon the credibility of his testimony, more so we believe than did the revelation of the details of his criminal history following his general disclosure that he had a criminal history. The evidence was not only sufficient to sustain the conviction but also of such probative value as to render it unlikely that the erroneously admitted particularized evidence of Defendant's criminal history contributed to the verdict. See Emerson v. State, supra .