Court Opinion

ID: 9505664
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:14:12.250223+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:41.017060
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN,
Justice, concurring.
I congratulate Justice Dickson on his comprehensive and enlightening analysis. I concur because I believe his formulation encompasses those limited number of specific situations (deemed “superseded”) where this Court has been unwilling to impose multiple punishments upon a defendant who commits two crimes at the very same time against the same victim. At this time, however, I am unwilling to extend this formulation beyond these situations.
My own analysis suggests that these situations fall into five categories:
1.Conviction and punishment for a crime which is a lesser-included offense of another crime for ivhich the defendant has been convicted and punished. Examples of this situation are provided by such cases as Bivins v. State, 642 N.E.2d 928, 945 (Ind.1994) (vacating a conviction for theft because it was a lesser-included offense of robbery), and Wethington v. State, 560 N.E.2d 496, 506 (Ind.1990) (vacating a conviction for theft because it was a lesser-included offense of robbery).
However, this category does not include situations where the two crimes have different victims, e.g., Reaves v. State, 586 N.E.2d 847, 851 (Ind.1992), or where the crimes occur separate and independent of each other, e.g., Bean v. State, 460 N.E.2d 936, 943 (Ind.1984).
2. Conviction and punishment for a crime which consists of the very same act as another crime for which the defendant has been convicted and punished. An example of this situation is Jones v. State, 523 N.E.2d 750, 754 (Ind.1988) (vacating a battery conviction because the information showed that the identical touching was the basis of a second battery conviction).
3. Conviction and punishment for a crime which consists of the very same act as an element of another crime for which the defendant has been convicted and punished. Mr. Richardson’s situation in this case falls into this category. Another example is Wethington v. State, 560 N.E.2d 496, 508 (Ind.1990) (vacating a confinement conviction because the confinement was coextensive with the behavior or harm necessary to establish an element of a robbery conviction).
We have not extended relief, however, in situations where the subject behavior or harm is either separate from or more extensive than that necessary to constitute the element of the first crime. Examples of relief being denied on this basis include Webster v. State, 628 N.E.2d 1212, 1214 (Ind.1994) (affirming attempted rape, criminal deviate conduct and confinement convictions because the confinement extended beyond that necessary to establish an element of the attempted rape and criminal deviate conduct convictions); Purter v. State, 515 N.E.2d 858, 860 (Ind.1987) (affirming rape and confinement convictions because the confinement extended beyond *56that necessary to establish an element of the rape conviction); Edwards v. State, 479 N.E.2d 541, 545 (Ind.1985) (affirming attempted rape and confinement convictions because the confinement extended beyond that necessary to establish an element of the attempted rape conviction).
4. Conviction and punishment for an enhancement of a crime where the enhancement is imposed for the very same behavior or harm as another crime for which the defendant has been convicted and punished. The legislature has provided that the punishment classification of certain crimes may be enhanced if the behavior which constitutes the crime is accompanied by certain specified additional behavior or causes certain specified additional harm.1 In situations where a defendant has been convicted of one crime for engaging in the specified additional behavior or causing the specified additional harm, that behavior or harm cannot also be used as an enhancement of a separate crime; either the enhancement or the separate crime is vacated. Recent examples include Kingery v. State, 659 N.E.2d 490, 496 (Ind.1995), and Moore v. State, 652 N.E.2d 53, 60 (Ind.1995), both reducing a Class A enhancement to a robbery conviction because the very same killing that was the basis of the enhancement was also the basis of a murder conviction. Today’s decision in McIntire v. State, 717 N.E.2d 96 (Ind.1999), also falls into this category.
A closely related set of cases provide that to the extent that a defendant’s conviction for one crime is enhanced for engaging in particular additional behavior or causing particular additional harm, that behavior or harm cannot also be used as an enhancement of a separate crime. See Campbell v. State, 622 N.E.2d 495, 500 (Ind.1993) (reducing a Class C enhancement to a battery conviction because the very same serious bodily injury that was the basis of the Class C enhancement was also the basis of a Class A enhancement to a burglary conviction).
On the other hand, where separate victims are involved or the behavior or harm that is the basis of the enhancement is distinct and separate, no relief will be provided. See Woods v. State, 677 N.E.2d 499, 501-02 (Ind.1997) (affirming a Class A enhancement to a robbery conviction because the serious bodily injury that was the basis of the enhancement was separate and distinct from that which was the basis of a murder conviction); Jackson v. State, 625 N.E.2d 1219, 1222 (Ind.1993) (same); Hansford v. State, 490 N.E.2d 1083, 1089 (Ind.1986) (affirming Class A enhancements to burglary and robbery convictions because the serious bodily injuries that were the bases of the enhancements were inflicted on different victims).
5. Conviction and punishment for the crime of conspiracy where the overt act that constitutes an element of the conspiracy charge is the very same act as another crime for which the defendant has been convicted and punished. Conspiracy requires an agreement by two or more people to commit a crime and an overt act in furtherance of the agreement. While a defendant can be guilty of both conspiracy to commit a crime and the underlying crime itself, what is at stake in this category is assuring that indeed the conspiracy is a separate and distinct act from the underlying crime. Put more concretely, in situations where the overt act itself is no more than the underlying crime, any time two or more persons commit a crime, at least one will be guilty of both conspiracy and the *57underlying crime — the element of agreement can be inferred from their concerted action and the overt act found in their commission of the crime.
This point was explained in Chiesi v. State, 644 N.E.2d 104, 106 (Ind.1994). There the defendant was charged with both Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Murder. While this case turned to some extent on the adequacy of the charging information, the defendant cited Buie v. State, 633 N.E.2d 250, 261 (Ind.1994), as authority for setting aside the conspiracy conviction. But we noted, “It is evident that in Buie the conspiracy to commit and the subject crime were committed virtually simultaneously and that the only overt act completing the conspiracy was the murder itself.... [U]nlike Buie where the conspiracy and killing constituted a single offense, in the case at bar, appellant not only entered into a lengthy conspiracy but committed several overt acts following the conspiracy in order to participate in the carrying out of the actual murder.” Chiesi, 644 N.E.2d at 106-07. Guffey v. State, 717 N.E.2d 103 (Ind.1999), which we decide today falls into this category.

. For example, a person commits Robbery, a Class C felony, by knowingly or intentionally taking property from another person or from the presence of another person by using or threatening the use of force on any person or by putting any person in fear. However, the crime is enhanced to a Class B felony if it is committed while armed with a deadly weapon or results in bodily injury to any person other than a defendant. And the crime is enhanced to a Class A felony if it results in serious bodily injury to any person other than a defendant. Ind.Code § 35-42-5-1 (1998).