Calvin v. State

• Decision Date: 21 December 2017
• Docket Number: No. 02S03–1709–CR–611,02S03–1709–CR–611
• Citation: 87 N.E.3d 474
• Parties: Darryl CALVIN, Appellant (Defendant), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

87 N.E.3d 474

Darryl CALVIN, Appellant (Defendant),

v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 02S03–1709–CR–611

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Filed December 21, 2017

Attorney for Appellant : P. Stephen Miller, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Attorneys for Appellee : Curtis T. Hill, Jr., Attorney General of Indiana, Ellen H. Meilaender, Laura R. Anderson, Andrew A. Kobe, Deputy Attorneys General, Indianapolis, Indiana

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 02A03–1701–CR–93

Rush, Chief Justice.

Indiana's habitual-offender statutes count all prior non-Indiana felonies as Level 6 felonies and do not allow a habitual-offender finding based only on two Level 6 felonies. Relying on these statutes, Calvin argues that his two prior Illinois felonies are insufficient to support his habitual-offender enhancement. The State responds that this result is absurd, so we should graft new language onto the statutes.

We reject the State's invitation. The habitual-offender statutes' plain meaning, though curious, has prevailed in Indiana for nearly thirty years. Judicially rewriting it now would violate separation-of-powers principles and our strict construction of criminal statutes. We thus reverse Calvin's habitual-offender enhancement for insufficient evidence and remand to the trial court.

Facts and Procedural History

Darryl Calvin broke into a Fort Wayne home and stole a PlayStation 4, a sixty-inch plasma television, and a pair of gym shoes. Thanks to a vigilant neighborhood watch, he was promptly caught and arrested.

The State charged Calvin with Level 4 felony burglary and alleged that he was a habitual offender based on two prior convictions. Both of those convictions were Class 1 felony residential burglary convictions from Illinois—one from 1992 and the other from 1998. A jury convicted Calvin on the new burglary charge and found that he was a habitual offender. The trial court sentenced him to six years for the burglary, and ten additional years for the habitual-offender enhancement.

Calvin challenged the enhancement on appeal, arguing that his two Illinois felonies could not make him a habitual offender since Indiana's habitual-offender statutes treat all non-Indiana felonies as Level 6 felonies, and two Level 6 felonies cannot support the enhancement. The State responded that this reading leads to absurd results by treating defendants differently based on where they committed their prior offenses.

The Court of Appeals affirmed Calvin's habitual-offender enhancement. First, it agreed with the State that the absurdity doctrine applied. Calvin v. State, 80 N.E.3d 226, 228–29 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017). Then, the court compared Calvin's Illinois burglaries to burglary in Indiana and concluded that his out-of-state convictions should be treated as Level 4 felonies. Id. at 229.

We granted Calvin's petition to transfer, vacating the Court of Appeals opinion. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A).

Standard of Review

We first address the meaning of Indiana's habitual-offender statutes. This is an issue of statutory interpretation, so our review is de novo. Day v. State, 57 N.E.3d 809, 811 (Ind. 2016). We then determine whether, under that interpretation, sufficient evidence supports Calvin's habitual-offender enhancement. See id.; Pierce v. State, 29 N.E.3d 1258, 1264–65 (Ind. 2015).

Discussion and Decision

Under the plain meaning of Indiana's habitual-offender statutes, prior non-Indiana felonies count as Level 6 felonies. The State argues that this leads to absurd results, but we decline to cast aside the plain meaning through the absurdity doctrine.

I. Indiana's Habitual–Offender Statutes Treat Non–Indiana Felonies as Level 6 Felonies.

A habitual-offender finding is not a separate crime, but an enhancement that attaches to an underlying felony. Ind. Code § 35–50–2–8(j) (2017). Here, Calvin's Level 4 felony burglary conviction was enhanced under Indiana Code subsection 35–50–2–8(b):

(b) A person convicted of murder or of a Level 1 through Level 4 felony is a habitual offender if the state proves beyond a reasonable doubt that:

(1) the person has been convicted of two (2) prior unrelated felonies; and

(2) at least one (1) of the prior unrelated felonies is not a Level 6 felony or a Class D felony.

I.C. § 35–50–2–8(b) (Supp. 2016).

But Calvin argues that he cannot be a habitual offender under subsection 8(b) because both of his prior felonies count as Level 6 felonies. He relies on the statutory definition of "Level 6 felony conviction":

(a) As used in this chapter, "Level 6 felony conviction" means:

(1) a conviction in Indiana for:

(A) a Class D felony, for a crime committed before July 1, 2014; or

(B) a Level 6 felony, for a crime committed after June 30, 2014; and

(2) a conviction, in any other jurisdiction at any time, with respect to which the convicted person might have been imprisoned for more than one (1) year.

I.C. § 35–50–2–1(a) (2014). So Calvin contends that his two prior Illinois convictions are Level 6 felonies under subsection (a)(2) and thus cannot support his habitual-offender enhancement.

For most of this appeal, the State agreed with Calvin's plain-meaning interpretation of these statutes and argued only that it led to absurd results. But at oral argument, the State noted for the first time that the definitions section defines the term "Level 6 felony conviction," I.C. § 35–50–2–1(a) (emphasis added), while the habitual-offender statute says only "Level 6 felony," I.C. § 35–50–2–8(b).

The parties' initial agreement was correct.¹ Applying the defined term "Level 6 felony conviction" to subsection 8(b) gives meaning to the legislature's decision to include non-Indiana felonies in the definition of a "Level 6 felony conviction." I.C. § 35–50–2–1(a)(2). That part of the definition would serve no purpose if it applied only where the legislature used the full "Level 6 felony conviction" term. See I.C. §§ 35–50–2–6(c), –7(d), (f) (2014); In re ITT Derivative Litig., 932 N.E.2d 664, 670 (Ind. 2010) ("We interpret a statute in order to give effect to every word and render no part meaningless if it can be reconciled with the rest of the statute.").

Applying the "Level 6 felony conviction" definition in subsection 8(b) also aligns with nearly thirty years of Indiana precedent. Our Court of Appeals has consistently said that the habitual-offender statutes count non-Indiana felonies as the lowest-level Indiana felonies. See Rowold v. State, 629 N.E.2d 1285, 1287 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994) ; Cain v. State, 594 N.E.2d 835, 842–43 (Ind. Ct. App.), clarified on reh'g, 599 N.E.2d 625 (Ind. Ct. App. 1992) ; Johnson v. State, 575 N.E.2d 282, 285 (Ind. Ct. App. 1991), trans. denied. In fact, Judge Shields dissented in Johnson, making the same argument the State makes today. 575 N.E.2d at 286–87 (Shields, J., dissenting) ("I find it difficult to accept the legislature intended to show favoritism and leniency to out-of-state felons."). We denied transfer, leaving intact Johnson's statement that weighing Indiana felonies heavier than non-Indiana felonies "appears to be the unmistakable choice of the legislature." Id. at 285 (majority opinion).

We finally note that if non-Indiana felonies could count as something other than Level 6 felonies, we would need a method for deciding what level to assign them. Yet the legislature has not provided one. This absence of legislative direction contrasts with the many statutes where the legislature allows the use of non-Indiana convictions if their elements are "substantially similar to the elements of" corresponding Indiana convictions. E.g., Ind. Code §§ 4–33–8–11(d), (e), –35–6.5–11(d), (e) (2017) (disqualifications for riverboat and racetrack gambling licenses); I.C. § 7.1–1–3–13.5 (2017) (definition of "[c]onviction for operating while intoxicated"); I.C. § 31–19–9–8(a) (2017) (exceptions to parental consent for adoption); I.C. § 33–23–6–2(f) (2017) (ineligibility for mediation); I.C. §§ 35–42–2–1(g), –1.3(b) (2017) (elevations for battery and domestic battery); I.C. § 35–47–4–5(a) (2017) (unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon). Here, the lack of a statutory method for comparing non-Indiana convictions bolsters the plain-language mandate that all non-Indiana felonies count as Level 6 felonies for habitual-offender enhancements.²

With this plain meaning in hand, we turn to the State's claim that it leads to absurd results.

II. We Will Not Increase Criminal Liability by Rewriting Unambiguous Statutes Through the Absurdity Doctrine.

The absurdity doctrine is strong medicine; it defeats even the plain meaning of statutes. Morgan v. State, 22 N.E.3d 570, 575 (Ind. 2014) (citing Storms v. Stevens, 104 Ind. 46, 50, 3 N.E. 401, 403 (1885) ). Here, we will not prescribe it to defeat a statutory plain meaning upheld by a trifecta of cases dating back to 1991. See Rowold, 629 N.E.2d at 1287 ; Cain, 594 N.E.2d at 842–43 ; Johnson, 575 N.E.2d at 285. As explained above, the first of these cases was decided over a strong and well-reasoned dissent making the same absurdity argument the State now raises. Johnson, 575 N.E.2d at 286–87 (Shields, J., dissenting). That argument is less compelling today, now that the plain meaning has prevailed—and functioned—for nearly three decades.

Invoking the absurdity doctrine here would also expand criminal liability beyond the habitual-offender statutes' long-settled plain meaning—a result at odds with separation-of-powers principles and our narrow construction of criminal statutes.

Separation of powers is explicit in our Constitution. Ind. Const. art. 3, § 1. And the power to legislate "is vested exclusively in the Legislature under Article 4, Section 1 of the Indiana Constitution." Paul Stieler Enters. v. City of Evansville, 2 N.E.3d 1269, 1277 (Ind. 2014). We accordingly cannot rewrite statutes:

The courts cannot venture upon the dangerous path of judicial legislation to supply omissions or remedy defects in matters committed to a co-ordinate branch of the government. It is far

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