Court Opinion

ID: 9534323
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:38:38.714002+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:30:17.914328
License: Public Domain

BUCHANAN, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent on the grounds that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the conviction.
We who have worshipped so long at the shrine of the trial court’s unfettered weighing of the evidence, will affirm a conviction if there is evidence of probative value from which the trier of fact could infer that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Priest v. State (1979), Ind., 386 N.E.2d 686; Stubblefield v. State (1979), Ind., 386 N.E.2d 665; Boyking v. State (1979), Ind., 385 N.E.2d 1127. And there is such evidence.
On redirect examination, Ray Brummett, an area farmer, testified as follows:
Q. O.K. You said that Mr. Cornell was in a little roadway or little lane in his vehicle? Is there a gateway that he had to go through to get to that place with his vehicle?
A. No, this is just kinda of a worn down place to turn in, it’s not really a gateway, it’s just where farmers had went back and forth there, there is no roadway nor gateway there, just into the edge of the field where—
Q. O.K. Just basically on the edge of the road, on the berm, is that correct?
A. Right.
State Trooper Tony Corso, who investigated the incident and arrested Cornell, testified:
Q. O.K. And what time did you arrive on the scene?
A. I arrived at the scene approximately 8:00 A.M. in the morning.
Q. What did you observe when you arrived upon the scene?
A. I observed a pick-up truck, a green late model pick-up truck with a wrench on it, parked just off the roadway on the intersection of County Road 500 West and 1300 South.
And later:
Q. O.K. And can you describe the scene of where his vehicle was in relation to that intersection?
A. Yes, sir. The intersection at this location, the land around it was flat, the night before and, or may I say earlier that morning, there had been a light snowfall and the ground added to the snow on the ground at that time, the snow, the ground was white covered with snow. The intersection had no barriers at all between the road and the land adjacent to the road. The vehicle was headed in a South, excuse me, North Northwesterly direction. That would be the intersection looking straight at you, the car’s going would be off to my left a pad [sic] into the adjacent area of land to the intersection.
Q. O.K. And is there a road ditch there?
A. No, there is not.
Q. O.K. There is no shoulder, is there a shoulder to the road?
A. Not at that area.
Q. Just roadway or field?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is there any fences there?
A. No, sir.
And finally:
Q. O.K. Now at the location, the Defendant’s vehicle was located on the scene, is that a place I could go?
A. Yes.
In unwrapping the factual cocoon the trial court could have justifiably found in support of his judgment that the defendant simply pulled to the side of the road in a worn down spot at the entrance to a path into a field. He was either then intoxicated, or subsequently became so; and was in that state when Officer Corso arrested him. In my opinion Miles v. State (1966), 247 Ind. *1339423, 216 N.E.2d 847, controls this case. A citizen in hot pursuit of “demon rum” must do more than pull to the side of the road to escape our public intoxication statute.
This is not a case in which the defendant parked his vehicle in a private country lane. Construing the evidence most favorable to the judgment, he was not in a private place which could be distinguished from the public roadside, such as the front yard of a private residence. See State v. Tincher (1898), 21 Ind.App. 142, 51 N.E. 943.
Obviously I would not attribute to the term “public place” the narrow construction embraced by the majority. Indiana case law does not demand such a narrow construction and I am not persuaded by the majority’s citation to cases in other jurisdictions.
So I would affirm the conviction.