Court Opinion

ID: 9540357
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:15:01.062186+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:41.165654
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
According to statute, I.C. 35-41-5-1, a person who attempts to commit a crime, that is, one who, having the required criminal state of mind, takes a substantial step toward commission of that crime, is guilty of and subject to the penalties provided for the intended crime. What therefore is considered by courts to be such a substantial step is of substantial importance. Here, appellant received three concurrent eighteen year sentences for attempted child molesting because of his criminal plan and his conduct in asking both parents of the three children for their permission to and cooperation in sexually exploiting the girls, and handing over to the parents the means by which he intended to achieve his criminal purpose. Last year, this Court adopted a three-part test for determining when a solicitation constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of the crime of child molesting. Ward v. State (1988), Ind., 528 N.E.2d 52. There must be (1) an urging, (2) of immediate cooperation of a person (3) whose cooperation or submission is an essential feature of the crime. In my view, appellant’s solicitation fails to meet the legal test because the parents were given time to consider the proposal and because their cooperation was not essential. Due to the fact that mothers and fathers are the natural guardians of their children and for the most part have the welfare of their children at heart, this solicitation of both parents posed less of a risk to the children than did the personal solicitation of the child, R.C., in a park, reversed in Ward for insufficient evidence.
One could reasonably consider this situation the historical equivalent of one in which a would-be bank robber approached a bank guard and asked the guard to rob a bank guard, asked the guard to rob the bank, and handed him a paper bag to put the money in. Obviously, that would not be an attempt to commit the crime of robbery.
*518I would therefore reverse appellant’s three convictions for attempted child molesting for insufficient evidence and affirm his convictions for actual child molesting and carrying a handgun.
DICKSON, J., concurs.