Opinion ID: 853837
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Venue for a False BMV Affidavit

Text: The question remains whether Turpin’s pretrial challenge to venue was properly denied on the facts of his case. The perjury count of the grand jury’s indictment reads as follows: On or about October 21, 1994, Samuel R. Turpin did make a false material statement under oath or affirmation, by submitting an affidavit to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, for processing at a Bureau of Motor Vehicles center in Marion County, Indiana, which affidavit was under oath or affirmation subject to penalties for perjury, and in such affidavit Samuel R. Turpin stated that the actual purchase date for a vehicle was October 21, 1994, when Samuel R. Turpin knew that such statement was false in that the actual purchase date for such vehicle was May 30, 1994. Although the allegedly perjurious affidavit is not in the record before us, the parties stipulated that the allegedly perjurious affidavit was submitted to a Bureau of Motor Vehicles branch office in Hendricks County. Article I, Section 13 of the Indiana Constitution provides in relevant part that an accused shall have a right to a public trial “in the county in which the offense shall have been committed . . . .” This principle is also embodied in statute: “Criminal actions shall be tried in the county where the offense was committed, except as otherwise provided by law.” Ind. Code § 35-32-2-1(a)(1998). Although the term “commit” is not defined by statute, its plain and ordinary meaning is “to carry into action deliberately : perpetrate . . . .” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 231 (10th ed. 1993); see also Black’s Law Dictionary 273 (6th ed. 1990) (defining “commit” as “[t]o perpetrate, as a crime”). Perjury is defined by statute as: “A person who: (1) makes a false, material statement under oath or affirmation, knowing the statement to be false or not believing it to be true . . . .” Ind. Code § 35-44-2-1 (1998). The question of venue accordingly turns on the county in which Turpin allegedly made a false material statement. The State concedes that this statement was made in an affidavit for a title transfer that was submitted to a BMV office in Hendricks County. According to the State, however, a representative of the BMV testified before the Marion County Grand Jury that the documents submitted by the Defendant in Hendricks County had no effect until those documents were transmitted and received by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles office in Marion County. . . . The representative . . . testif[ied] that the actual transfer of title to the motor vehicle would not occur until the transfer papers were prepared at the office of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Marion County. The branch office . . . in Hendricks County only had the authority to transmit the papers submitted by the Defendant to the office in Marion County. Accordingly, the Marion County grand jury charged Turpin with perjury because this affidavit was submitted “for processing at a Bureau of Motor Vehicles center in Marion County, Indiana . . . .” The State argued in the trial court that “the crime of perjury for submitting a false affidavit to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles occurs when that affidavit is filed in the office of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Marion County, Indiana.” It relied on State v. Moles , 166 Ind. App. 632, 337 N.E.2d 543 (1975) to support this contention. In Moles , the Court of Appeals considered the proper venue for charges of making false tax returns. Id. at 634-35, 337 N.E.2d at 545. The defendants argued that the alleged offenses were committed where the tax returns were prepared (Lake County). The State, however, contended that the offenses were committed where the tax returns were filed (Marion County). Id. at 637-38, 337 N.E.2d at 547. Relying on a number of federal cases, the Court of Appeals held that “a taxpayer does not ‘make’ a tax return until the return is filed with the Department of Revenue.” Id. at 639, 337 N.E.2d at 548. Accordingly, the only proper venue for the offenses was held to be Marion County. The submission of an affidavit to a county BMV office is not the same as the filing of a tax return in Moles . Taxpayers are required to mail their returns to Indianapolis rather than taking them to a county or regional office of the Department of Revenue. The taxpayer takes the positive action of mailing a return to Marion County, necessarily knows that the return is going to Marion County by virtue of the address on the envelope, and launches the return for an inexorable landing in Marion County. In this respect the tax return is analogous to firing a gun across a county line. The offense is committed in both the county where the shooting starts and the county where the victim is hit. Here, according to the limited facts on this record, Turpin filed an affidavit with a Hendricks County branch office of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. There is no suggestion that Turpin knew, or for that matter that any other defendant would know, that this affidavit would ultimately be processed in Marion County. Unlike the taxpayers in Moles , Turpin took no action directed at Marion County. The BMV’s administrative decision to allow individuals to submit affidavits to county BMV branches for ultimate processing in Indianapolis in no way relates to the alleged perjury committed by Turpin, nor should it subject Turpin, or any other similarly situated defendant, to a prosecution in Marion County for filing an affidavit with a BMV office in any of the ninety-one other Indiana counties. Turpin suggests, correctly in our view, that under the State’s logic the Marion County prosecutor would be empowered to function as a “super-prosecutor” for the entire state. Hoosiers in Lake and Stueben counties may find unattractive the potential application of the State’s argument. If the BMV decided to move its processing center to Posey County, the Posey County prosecutor could then prosecute individuals statewide who are charged with submitting false affidavits to their county BMV offices. For the reasons stated above, we decline to extend to the Marion County prosecutor the authority to prosecute individuals alleged to have submitted perjurious affidavits to BMV offices in counties other than Marion. The State also points to Indiana Code § 35-32-2-1(d), which provides “[i]f an offense is committed in Indiana and it cannot readily be determined in which county the offense was committed, trial may be in any county in which an act was committed in furtherance of the offense.” The Court of Appeals similarly observed that “[i]f the commission of an offense is commenced in one county and is consummated in another county, trial may be had in either of the counties.” Wurster , 708 N.E.2d at 599 (citing Andrews v. State , 529 N.E.2d 360, 363 (Ind. Ct. App. 1988)). As explained above, the allegedly perjurious statement was submitted to a BMV office in Hendricks County. Turpin is not alleged to have done anything in Marion County. Rather, the BMV merely sent Turpin’s affidavit there for processing. There is no basis for venue in Marion County.