Opinion ID: 2149090
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reduction of Felony Class

Text: The State argues that the trial court erred by reducing appellant's robbery convictions from class A to class B felonies. On January 10, 1984, the State filed an information alleging commission of two class A robberies. It alleged that the robberies occurred on November 23, 1983, and that bodily injury was inflicted upon the two victims. On December 5, 1984, prior to voir dire, defense counsel requested that the information be amended to class B felonies. The trial court denied this motion. On December 12, 1984, the jury found defendant guilty of robbery as charged in the information and judgment was entered accordingly. On January 31, 1985, the State filed a memorandum to support its request that the defendant be sentenced as a class A felon. A sentencing hearing was held the following day. Defense counsel argued that the felonies should be reduced to class B because an amendment to the robbery statute had reduced a robbery which resulted in bodily injury to a class B felony. [1] Robbery which resulted in bodily injury was a class A felony at the time the crime was committed, but prior to the trial the legislature amended the statute. P.L. 186, Acts 1984. The court elected to treat both robberies as class B felonies pursuant to its interpretation of the applicable case law. This Court has consistently held that certain procedural mechanisms must be followed to preserve an issue for appellate review. Failure to abide by these procedural rules has often resulted in waiver of the issue. In this case, the State did object to the trial court's decision to reduce appellant's convictions to class B felonies. However, the State did not pursue this issue any further until it raised the question in the brief it filed in Griffin's appeal. One may not piggyback an issue on his opponent's appeal. In order to preserve the issue of an erroneous sentence for appellate review, the State is required to file a written motion to correct the sentence, accompanied by a memorandum of law which specifically delineates the defect in the original sentence. Ind. Code § 35-38-1-15 (Burns 1985). Judgment Affirmed. GIVAN, C.J., and DeBRULER, PIVARNIK and DICKSON, JJ., concur.