Court Opinion

ID: 9744394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:01:51.807038+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:48.891269
License: Public Domain

KIRSCH, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the majority’s resolution of the issues regarding the prior statement of a witness and the sufficiency of the evidence to support Kendall’s aggravated battery conviction; from its holding that the evidence is insufficient to support the attempted murder conviction, however, I respectfully dissent.
*133The majority relies upon our supreme court’s decisions in Bethel v. State, 730 N.E.2d 1242 (Ind.2000) and Kiefer v. State, 761 N.E.2d 802 (Ind.2002). I believe both are distinguishable from the facts presented here. In Bethel, the victim interrupted a robbery. Bethel pointed his gun at the victim, and the victim ran out of the store where Bethel’s accomplice pointed his gun at the victim and fired. Our supreme court held that there was insufficient evidence that Bethel had the specific intent to kill the victim or that his accomplice kill the victim. In Kiefer, the court reversed the conviction where there was no evidence that the defendant had a motive to kill the victim, his conduct was inconsistent with that of a person who intended to kill, and the defendant’s activities after the shooting did not support the conclusion that he intended to kill the victim.
Here, unlike Bethel, this was not a robbery gone wrong, and there is no ambiguity about the accomplices’ specific intent to Mil. Unlike Kiefer, Kendall and his accomplices had a motive; his actions were consistent with those of a person participating in a murder; and his actions afterward in driving the getaway car support the conclusion that he intended to kill the victim. Here, following their eviction from the home, Kendall drove his accomplices to the residence where they exited the vehicle, went directly to the front door of the house, pulled out their guns and shot the victim. Afterwards, they returned to the car and left together. I believe the evidence supports the inference that Kendall had the specific intent that his accomplices Mil the victim and is sufficient to support the conviction. I would affirm the decision of the trial court in all particulars.