Court Opinion

ID: 9740889
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:44:09.993299+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:19.212897
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
Jackson, J.
I am unable to concur in the majority opinion herein and dissent thereto.
Appellant was charged by affidavit filed in Marion Criminal Court with the crime of robbery. The affidavit, omitting heading, formal parts and signatures, reads as follows, to-wit:
“BE IT REMEMBERED, That, on this day before me, NOBLE R. PEARCY, Prosecuting Attorney of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, personally came DONALD C. ANDERSON who, being duly sworn, upon his oath says that HOWARD HALLUMS on or about the 16th day of NOVEMBER, A.D. 1965, at and in the County of Marion in the State of Indiana, did then and there unlawfully, feloniously, forcibly by violence and putting DOMINICK GENTILE, doing business as PINKY’S MARKET, in fear, take from the person and possession of the said DOMINICK GENTILE, doing business as Pinky’s Market, money then and there of the value of ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000.00) in lawful money, which property the said DOM*314INICK GENTILE, doing business as PINKY’S MARKET, then and there lawfully held in his possession and was then and there the property of DOMINICK GENTILE, doing business as PINKY’S MARKET, then and there being contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana.”
Appellant waived arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty.
The cause was tried to the court without the intervention of a jury, resulting in the appellant being found guilty of Assault with Intent to Commit a Felony. The appellant was sentenced to the Indiana State Reformatory for not less than one (1) year nor more than ten (10) years.
Appellant contends on appeal that the decision of the trial court was contrary to law and not sustained by sufficient evidence in that the State failed to sustain the burden of proof as to him being the man or one of the men involved in the alleged robbery.
The evidence most favorable to the State shows that Dominick Gentile was the owner of the grocery known as Pinky’s Market, located at 2636 North Harding Street, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. On November 16, 1965, he was in the market when someone came in the door, shoved a gun into the side of his head and forced him to go to the back of the store. The assailant took Gentile’s wallet and some money in an envelope in his side pocket. Gentile was then told to go to the front of the store and clean out the cash register which he did. He estimated that approximately $1,200.00, including cash and checks, was taken. He was not acquainted with the appellant. Gentile did not see the man who robbed him. He had no idea who it was. He did not know whether the robber was white or negro.
Leona Brady, who lived in an apartment over a hardware store next door to Pinky’s Market, saw the appellant standing under her window at approximately 10:10' on November 16, *3151965. She heard the appellant tell another person, “You go on, I think I can take him now because he is in the back.” She grabbed a hammer and ran downstairs just in time to see the appellant run up the alley. He had on a short, dark coat and dark looking pants. Mrs. Brady went back up to her apartment and stayed there until the police came. She then came back downstairs and told the police that she had seen this man and had talked to him. Mrs. Brady told the police that the man she saw outside her windows was dark complexioned and had on a short, dark coat. She estimated that he was 5'9" tall, but she did not know his approximate weight. She did not see the appellant with a gun, nor did she see him hold a gun to Mr. Gentile’s head. She was positive that the man she saw running was the same man she had cautioned earlier not to do anything. She was not sure whether he limped. She had not paid any attention as to whether he favored his right leg.
As she was walking toward Pinky’s Market on November 16, 1965, Myrtle Josephine Winters saw a man standing behind the owner of the store. The man had on a red knitted cap, dark sunglasses and a handkerchief over his face. He was a dark negro man about 6/3" and about 175 pounds. She estimated his age to be 23 or 24 years. He looked like and was the same height as the appellant.
At the time he arrested the appellant, Donald Anderson, an Indianapolis police officer, noticed that the appellant walked with a limp and that he favored his left foot. Anderson had known the appellant for about 12 years and knew that appellant was about 31 years of age.
This. Court cannot weigh evidence, but we will examine it to determine whether there is substantial evidence of probative value for the trial court to have reasonably inferred that the appellant was guilty. It is not enough that the evidence merely tends to support the conclusion of guilt; it must support it. Johnson v. State (1957), 236 Ind. 509, 141 N. E. 2d 444.
If the evidence merely tends to establish a suspicion of guilt, *316it is not sufficient to sustain a conviction. Robertson v. State (1952), 231 Ind. 368, 108 N. E. 2d 711.
The State has the burden not only to prove the commission of the crime .charged beyond a reasonable doubt but also to prove to the same degree that the defendant was the person who committed it.
An identification made by a stranger without sufficient opportunity to definitely fix features or characteristics is an opinion or conclusion of the identifying witness. A conviction resting upon an identification which is doubtful, vague or uncertain is not a conviction of guilt to a moral certainty, and it should be reversed.
From an examination of the entire record in this case I am unable to see how a prudent man could find that appellant was proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In such case the issue is one of law for a decision of this Court. Lee v. State (1954), 233 Ind. 176, 118 N. E. 2d 115.
The prosecution has failed to sustain the burden of proof against the appellant. The appellant’s motion for a new trial should have been sustained.
Note. — Reported in 232 N. E. 2d 597.