Court Opinion

ID: 9715400
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:04:26.352731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:34.666443
License: Public Domain

CONOVER, Presiding Judge.
Defendant-Appellant Ray Frost (Frost) appeals his jury conviction for aiding and assisting a criminal or a fugitive, a class D felony, IND.CODE 35-44-3-2.
We reverse.
Because we reverse, we address only the issue of whether the State presented sufficient evidence on each element of the crime charged.
In February, 1987, Rick Griffin's (Griffin) home was burglarized. He believed his fifteen year old son, Jeff, who had run away from home two weeks prior to the incident, was responsible. Griffin believed Jeff was staying at Frost's residence. Po*229lice went to Frost's home and inquired about Jeff. Frost denied Jeff was staying with him. The police informed Frost that Jeff was a runaway and wanted for the burglary and theft of his parents' home.
Approximately two weeks later a guest at Frost's house informed the police Jeff had been living at Frost's the entire time. He explained Frost warned Jeff when police arrived by means of an intercom and Jeff had hidden in a cabinet. Subsequent ly, a search warrant was obtained and served on Frost. During the search, Jeff was found hiding in the cabinet. He was taken into custody and subsequently adjudged a delinquent child. He was never charged as an adult.
Frost was convicted of aiding and assisting a criminal or a fugitive. He correctly contends the State did not present adequate evidence on each element of the crime charged.
IND.CODE 35-44-3-2, in pertinent part, reads:
Sec. 2. A person not standing in the relation of parent, child, or spouse to another person who has committed a crime or is a fugitive from justice who, with intent to hinder the apprehension or punishment of the other person, harbors, conceals, or otherwise assists the person commits assisting a criminal, a Class A misdemeanor. However, the offense is:
(1) a Class D felony if the person assisted has committed a Class B, Class C, or Class D felony; ... (Emphasis supplied).
Frost contends the acts committed by Jeff cannot constitute a crime, as required by statute, because he was a juvenile. IND.CODE 31-6-3-5, in pertinent part reads:
See. 5. (a) A child may not be charged with or convicted of a crime, except a crime excluded by IC 31-6-2-1(b), unless he has been waived to a court having criminal jurisdiction.
(b) A child may not be considered a criminal by reason of an adjudication in a juvenile court nor may such an adjudication be considered a conviction of a erime. Such an adjudication does not impose any civil disability imposed by conviction of a crime.
It has long been held proceedings in juvenile court are civil in nature and not criminal. State ex rel. Atkins v. Juvenile Court of Marion County (1969), 252 Ind. 237, 247 N.E.2d 53, 54. An act of juvenile delinquency is not a crime. Bible v. State (1970), 253 Ind. 373, 254 N.E.2d 319, 323.
Here, the State failed to present any evidence indicating Jeff committed a crime. There is no evidence Jeff was waived from juvenile to adult criminal court. Without such waiver, Jeff could not have committed a "crime," as required by IND.CODE 85-44-8-2, The State, therefore, failed to prove Frost assisted a person who had previously committed a crime. Since the State charged Frost with a felony, it had the additional burden of proving Jeff committed a crime which was a felony. It also failed in this effort for the same reasons.
Additionally, there is no evidence Jeff is a fugitive from justice. A fugitive from justice is a person who has been charged with criminal activity in one state and flees from that jurisdiction to another state. Hogan v. O'Neill (1921), 255 U.S. 52, 41 S.Ct. 222, 223, 65 L.Ed. 497; Hartman v. Aveline (1878), 63 Ind. 344. Clearly, Jeff's actions do not come within this definition.
The conviction for aiding and assisting a criminal or fugitive is predicated on the commission of a crime or the presence of a fugitive from justice. The State failed to produce evidence on this requirement; therefore, Frost's conviction must be reversed.
Reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss these proceedings.
ROBERTSON, J., concurs.
MILLER, J., concurs with separate opinion.