Court Opinion

ID: 9721087
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:48:13.812391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:23.356874
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
GIVAN, Justice.
Appellant was convicted of Murder and Felony Murder. The jury recommended the death penalty and additionally found him to be a habitual offender. The trial court sentenced appellant to death. No sentence was pronounced on the habitual offender status. We affirmed the judgment of the trial court upon direct appeal. Smith v. State (1985), Ind., 475 N.E.2d 1139.
Appellant subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief, which was denied by the trial court. Upon direct appeal from that denial, we found that his original trial counsel had rendered him ineffective assistance. Accordingly, we vacated his death sentence, reversed his conviction and remanded for a new trial. Smith v. State (1989), Ind., 547 N.E.2d 817. Both appellant and the State have filed petitions for rehearing.
In its petition, the State contends we erred in finding that appellant’s trial counsel’s performance was so deficient as to undermine our confidence in the trial’s outcome. The State merely reargues the matters covered in our original opinion. The State’s petition is denied.
In his petition, appellant contends we neglected to address his issue of insufficiency of the evidence to support the finding of his status as a habitual offender. He further maintains that because the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law, he cannot be retried upon the habitual of*823fender count. An examination of the trial record reveals that during appellant’s testimony at the guilt phase of his trial, his two prior convictions for burglary were brought out in the course of his direct and cross-examination. This testimony subsequently was incorporated into the evidence introduced at the habitual phase of the trifurcated proceeding.
Also during the habitual phase, State’s Exhibits Nos. 13 and 14 were introduced to document appellant’s prior felony convictions, apparently the same two burglary convictions mentioned during his trial testimony. Exhibit No. 13 consisted of an entry of judgment and a sentencing order in Cause No. CCR-75-88, wherein appellant was convicted on November 3, 1976 of burglary and sentenced on November 29, 1976 to one (1) to ten (10) years. Exhibit No. 14 documented his conviction on April 21, 1977 of burglary in Cause No. CCR-76-179 and his sentence of ten (10) to twenty (20) years rendered on May 16, 1977.
Appellant argues that because no evidence was adduced to show the dates of commission of the prior felonies, the second burglary was not proved to have been committed after the sentencing on the first conviction as required by Ind.Code § 35-50-2-8(b); and thus they were insufficient as a matter of law to sustain his habitual offender finding. He is correct in this regard.
A finding of habitual offender status, absent proof of the commission dates of the prior felonies, constitutes fundamental error and must be reversed. Steelman v. State (1985), Ind., 486 N.E.2d 523. Even in a habitual offender proceeding, if reversal is due to evidentiary insufficiency as opposed to “trial error,” retrial is barred due to double jeopardy considerations. Phillips v. State (1989), Ind., 541 N.E.2d 925. Therefore, on remand in the instant case, while appellant may be retried on the murder, robbery and felony-murder charges, he may not again be subjected to a habitual offender determination upon these same charges.
The State’s petition for rehearing is denied; appellant’s petition for rehearing is granted; and this cause is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
SHEPARD, C.J., DeBRULER and DICKSON, JJ., concur.
PIVARNIK, J., not participating.