Court Opinion

ID: 9542672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:37:15.246426+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:08:38.502654
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion.
JACKSON, J.
I am unable to agree with the determination reached by the majority opinion herein and dissent thereto.
The statement of policy following the citation of the following cases, Ponos v. State (1962), 243 Ind. 411, 184 N. E. *5022d 10, Bush v. State (1968), 251 Ind. 84, 237 N. E. 2d 584, and Stock v. State (1966), 247 Ind. 532, 219 N. E. 2d 809, constitutes an extension of the holdings of those cases not found therein and is unsupported dicta. Furthermore, by implication, the stance here taken by the majority opinion would require this Court to abandon its duty to review the evidence in order to determine whether or not there was substantial evidence of probative value to sustain the verdict of the jury or the judgment of the trial court.
In the case at bar the State admits in its brief, “[t]he Nature of the Action, What the Issues Were, How the Issues Were Decided and What the Verdict Was, and the Summary of the Record, as set forth in Appellant’s. Brief, are substantially correct for the purposes of this appeal.”
The only evidence, in the case at bar, linking appellant with the crime charged came from only one source, Thomas Cook, the person who surrendered to the police at the scene and admitted his (Cook’s) guilt. Cook implicated appellant as testified to by officer Seay who testified about appellant from hearsay obtained outside the presence and hearing of appellant.
I admit that this Court has held that a conviction can be had on the uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice, but in so doing we have also held that the evidence was to be carefully scrutinized and carefully examined in the light of all other evidence. Kleihege v. State (1934), 206 Ind. 206, 188 N. E. 786.
I ask where in this case, outside Cook’s contradictory stories, is there any evidence that appellant was either a principal or accomplice to the alleged crime.
The indictment on which appellant was tried, in pertinent part, reads as follows:
“The Grand Jury for the County of Marion in the State of Indiana, upon their oath do present that Kenneth Wincel on or about the 7th day of December, A.D. 1966, at and in the County of Marion and in the State of Indiana, did then *503and there unlawfully, feloniously and burglariously break and enter into the building and structure of THE BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS then and there situated at 2815 English Avenue in the City of Indianapolis, County and State aforesaid, which building and structure was not a place of human habitation, with intent to commit a felony therein, to-wit: unlawfully and feloniously and knowingly obtain and exert unauthorized control over the property of THE BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS and to deprive said THE BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS permanently of the use and benefit of said property, then and there being .... contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana.”
At the conclusion of the State’s evidence, and after the State had rested, appellant’s attorney made a verbal motion to discharge the appellant for lack of evidence. The court overruled the motion and in doing- so stated:
“The Court: Well, I think the motion raises an issue of law into which I can not weigh the evidence most favorable to the State and the reasonable inferences which can be drawn therefrom; that coupled with the fact that an accessory can be charged and proven guilty as a principal leads me to only one ruling and that is motion overruled.”
I point out that this is a criminal case, that the defendant stands clothed with a presumption of innocence which follows him throughout the trial and until his guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That until the conclusion of the trial and the proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is established, all inferences, presumptions and doubts are and must be resolved in favor of the defendant’s innocence.
In the case at bar the case was tried to the court, a jury having been waived, it therefore was the mandatory duty of the judge, the trier of the facts, to do the very thing he said he could not do, viz: weigh the evidence of the State. At that time, and until this case reached this Court for appellant’s *504review, there was and could be no “evidence most favorable to the State,” at that time and place the only evidence before the court was the State’s evidence. At that time all presumptions and inferences had to be indulged in favor of the defendant’s innocence under our statutes, rules and case law, and it was the mandatory, sworn duty of the trier of the facts, the trial judge, to at that time weigh such evidence in view of the then pending motion to discharge the defendant.
The ruling of the court, denying appellant’s motion, clearly indicates the court’s error, misunderstanding and misapprehension as to his obligations and duty under the law. Such error constituted an abuse of discretion prejudicial to the rights of the defendant-appellant in that it denied him a fair and impartial trial before a fair and impartial tribunal. A trial court that at the trial level states he cannot there weigh the State’s evidence, as well as all other evidence adduced, certainly cannot give and did not, in the case at bar, a fair and impartial trial to the defendant.
On the record before us, this cause should be reversed and remanded to the trial court with instructions to sustain appellant’s motion for a new trial.
Note. — Reported in 242 N. E. 2d 508.