Court Opinion

ID: 9711339
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:29:41.726092+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:03.837719
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority that it was error to permit Amy Case to testify as to the conversation she overheard between Shane and Hicks concerning the commission of a “perfect murder.” I do not agree, however, that the error was harmless.
The standard for harmless error applicable here was articulated by Justice Dickson in Fleener v. State, 656 N.E.2d 1140, 1142 (Ind.1995): “[A]n error will be found harmless if its probable impact on the jury, in light of all of the evidence in the case, is sufficiently minor so as not to affect the substantial rights of the parties.” Here, the evidence was extremely attenuated that Shane knowingly or intentionally aided Hicks in committing murder and that he and Hicks conspired to commit murder. Because the evidence of guilt was so attenuated, testimony that the defendant had engaged in a discussion of how to commit a “perfect murder” might well have had a substantial effect on the jury’s view of Shane’s guilt. I believe that the testimony’s probable impact on the jury cannot be said to be sufficiently minor so as not to have affected Shane’s substantial rights.