Court Opinion

ID: 9719678
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:59:15.172536+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:08.947520
License: Public Domain

*506MATHIAS, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the State failed to prove that Christian was located in a public place. Although Christian claimed she was parked in her friend’s driveway, Officer Siefker testified that the parking area was “not really so much as a driveway, it’s just a parking area off the street, a place where people can pull in and park perpendicular to the flow of traffic.” Tr. p. 19. Moreover, Christian admitted that the parking area was shared by at least two residences, that of her friend and the neighboring residence. Tr. p. 11. Our role is not to reweigh the credibility of the witnesses and their testimony. Cox v. State, 780 N.E.2d 1150, 1154 (Ind.Ct.App. 2002).
In Cornell and Jones, the two major cases relied upon by Christian and the majority, the evidence established that the defendants were sleeping in a vehicle located either in a private driveway or a private lane. In Moore, the defendant was located in a private driveway and backyard. In Haynes, the defendant was on the porch of a private residence. However, in this ease, the State presented evidence that Christian was standing outside of a vehicle in a parking area accessible to the neighboring public, which was adjacent to a public thoroughfare.
Furthermore, in the case before us, Christian had attempted to jam her ignition key from her own vehicle into the door of a truck that did not belong to her. She had also kicked the truck several times, and it appeared to Officer Siefker that she had climbed into the bed of the truck and tried to kick out the back window. Tr. p. 6. Christian’s behavior was apparently loud enough and obnoxious enough to attract the attention of a neighboring individual, who called the police to report that she was attempting to break into the truck.4 I, for one, would hope that such intoxicated behavior (Christian does not contest that she was intoxicated at the time), would warrant an arrest and conviction for a misdemeanor as was the case here.
The long-established purpose of the public intoxication statute is “to protect the public from the annoyance and deleterious effects which may and do occur because of the presence of persons who are in an intoxicated condition.” State v. Sevier, 117 Ind. 338, 340, 20 N.E. 245, 246-47 (1898). More recently, our court has remarked, “[t]he spirit of the public intoxication statute is to prevent people from becoming inebriated and then bothering and/or threatening the safety of other people in public places.” Jones, 881 N.E.2d at 1098.
As the majority noted, our court has defined the term “public place” as “a place ‘visited by many persons, and usually accessible to the neighboring public.’ ” Wright v. State, 772 N.E.2d 449, 455 (Ind.Ct.App.2002) (quoting Martin v. State, 499 N.E.2d 273, 276 (Ind.Ct.App.1986)). “We have also deemed the term to include a place open to common and general use, participation and enjoyment; a place accessible to the public.” Id. I would conclude that Officer Siefker’s description of the parking area, and Christian’s admission that the area is shared by at least two residences, supports the trial court’s conclusion that Christian was located in a public place.
Indeed, if the majority’s definition of a public place becomes law, then it is difficult to distinguish why an apartment complex parking lot or common parking area *507owned by condominium owners would be a “public place.” This cannot be the intent of the law or consonant with the well-settled public policy behind the law. See Jones, 881 N.E.2d at 1098; Sevier, 117 Ind. at 340, 20 N.E. at 246-47.
Perhaps we might have made a different arresting decision than Officer Siefker, or come to a different conclusion than Judge Collins; perhaps not. But that is not our standard of review. Our constitutional role is to determine whether a reasonable trier of fact could conclude that Christian was guilty of public intoxication beyond a reasonable doubt. We are not permitted to reweigh the evidence or substitute our judgment for that of Officer Siefker or the trier of fact, Judge Collins. For all of these reasons, I would affirm Christian’s conviction for Class B misdemeanor intoxication.

. For this reason, I disagree with the majority’s statement that “the State presented no evidence that members of the neighborhood were disturbed or offended by Christian’s actions.” See Op. p. 505 n. 3.