Opinion ID: 2074316
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Murder & Feticide

Text: Shane challenges his murder conviction. To sustain a murder conviction, the evidence must show that the defendant intentionally or knowingly killed another. Ind.Code § 35-42-2-1(a) (1998). Furthermore, Indiana Code § 35-41-2-4 allows a defendant to be convicted of a crime based on his accomplice liability, providing that one who knowingly or intentionally aids, induces, or causes another person to commit an offense commits that offense. An accomplice can be held criminally liable for everything done by his confederates which was a probable and natural consequence of their common plan. Harris v. State, 425 N.E.2d 154, 156 (Ind.1981) (citing Proctor v. State, 272 Ind. 357, 397 N.E.2d 980 (1979)). In determining accomplice liability, the jury may infer participation from defendant's failure to oppose the crime, companionship with the one engaged therein, and a course of conduct before, during, and after the offense which tends to show complicity. Harris, 425 N.E.2d at 156. An accomplice is equally as culpable as the one who commits the actual crime. See Johnson v. State, 687 N.E.2d 345, 349 (Ind.1997). Therefore, if the evidence shows that Shane, by his course of conduct, assisted Hicks in the Koontz murder, he may be charged with and convicted of murder. To sustain a feticide conviction, the state must show that Shane either knowingly or intentionally terminated a human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus, or knowingly or intentionally aided, induced, or caused another to commit that offense. See Ind.Code §§ 35-42-1-6 and 35-41-2-4 (1998). Because Shane and Hicks knew that Koontz was pregnant when the murder occurred, and because the fetus died as a result of the death of the mother, by showing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the murder conviction, sufficiency of the evidence supporting the feticide conviction follows. The following evidence supports Shane's murder conviction. Shane had a long-standing dislike of Koontz, and referred to her as a foul-mouthed bitch. (R. at 744.) Amy Case, Shane's ex-wife, testified that Shane wanted a divorce in order to spend more time as a single man with Hicks. Several other witnesses testified that Shane and Hicks spent all of their free time together. A reasonable juror could infer from this testimony that Shane resented Koontz for interfering in his friendship with Hicks. Mere days before the murder, Shane disclosed to Jessica Daniels that Hicks wanted to kill Koontz and wanted Shane to help him by driving him over to Koontz's residence one night. Shane did, in fact, drive Hicks over to Koontz's house the night of the murder. Further, Shane's gun was used to murder Koontz. Finally, Shane helped Hicks dispose of the murder weapon the next morning. While Shane provided alternative explanations for his behaviors, these alternative explanations also gave the jury reason to believe he was untruthful. A reasonable jury could believe, based on the above evidence, that Shane knew that Hicks intended to kill Koontz on the night of the murder, and facilitated the murder by driving Hicks to Koontz's residence, providing the murder weapon, and assisting in disposal of the weapon the following morning. Contrast the present facts with those in Harris where we upheld the defendant's conviction despite his claim that the evidence showed only that he was in the vicinity during the commission of the crime. See Harris, 425 N.E.2d at 155. The evidence is sufficient to support Shane's murder conviction.