Collison v. State
| Decision Date | 03 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 1--1274A192,1--1274A192 |
| Parties | James L. COLLISON, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below). |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
William E. Weikert, Rice & Van Stone, Evansville, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Robert M. Lingenfelter, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
Before ROBERTSON, C.J., and LOWDERMILK and LYBROOK, JJ.
James l. Collison, defendant, is appealing his conviction of accessory after the fact 1 to second degree burglary 2 for which he was sentenced to the Indiana Department of Correction for a period of not less than one nor more than five years.
We affirm.
The facts viewed most favorably to the State reveal that on November 7, 1973, employees of the Workingman's Institute, a combination library and museum in New Harmony, Indiana, found that a number of items had been taken from the museum on the second floor. An investigation of the premises disclosed a back door left unlocked and open.
William Cox, Sheriff of Posey County, testified that after the burglary he sent a list of the stolen artifacts to various U.S. treasury agents in the midwest. Included on that list were a number of antique dolls, an antique watch and case, a mounted machinegun, single shot rifles and pistols. Cox stated further that on December 18, 1973 he received a call from agents in the Illinois Division of the U.S. Treasury Department concerning defendant's arrest in Illinois and the confiscation of numerous antique dolls and an antique watch with case. Cox and two of his deputies then went to defendant's rooming house in New Harmony to search the premises. Mary Rickens, defendant's aunt and owner of the residence in which he roomed, consented to the search by the authorities. However, no incriminating evidence was found.
On December 19, 1973, Cox went to the Carbondale, Illinois Police Department where defendant was in custody. After being advised of his rights, defendant related to Cox that one Steve Harrington broke into the Workingman's Institute and that defendant and Harrington brought several of the antique dolls from Indiana to Carbondale to be sold. When defendant was told that Cox and his deputies had searched his rooming house and that nothing had been found, defendant proceeded to describe a hidden room in the attic where a machinegun and two antique rifles were hidden. On December 19, 1973 Cox's deputy returned to defendant's rooming house and, based upon the information given by defendant, found the hidden room and the stolen goods.
On December 21, 1973 defendant was charged with being an accessory after the fact to second degree burglary. Trial by jury resulted in a verdict of guilty as charged.
Defendant claims as error the admission into evidence of his extra-judicial statement without proof of the corpus delicti, insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction, and the admission of evidence occurring at a time and place outside the State's answer to defendant's alibi notice.
Although defendant challenges the admissibility of certain extra-judicial statements he made to Cox while in the Carbondale jail, claiming the State failed to prove the corpus delicti, he was overlooked the fact that Officer Cox was allowed to relate the content of this conversation without objection. Furthermore, Defendant's Exhibit 1, also admitted without objection, sets forth the substance of Cox's conversation with defendant which coincides with testimony defendant later attempt to exclude. Thus, we feel that defendant has failed to preserve on appeal the issue of lack of proof of the corpus delicti. Ballard v. State (1974), Ind., 318 N.E.2d 798, 807; Harrison v. State (1972), 258 Ind. 359, 281 N.E.2d 98.
Nevertheless, it is well established in Indiana that a confession 3 must be excluded unless the State introduces corroborating evidence of the corpus delicti or 'specific crime charged.' Cambron v. State (1975), Ind., 322 N.E.2d 712. Generally, the corpus delicti consists of some independent evidence of each of the elements of the crime. Cambron, supra. The order of proof of the independent evidence is within the sound discretion of the trial judge and no abuse will occur where the nature of the case, the evidence, or convenience requires a deviation from the usual order. Thomas v. State (1975), Ind., 321 N.E.2d 194; Ballard, supra.
Although somewhat out of order, the independent evidence revealed that the Workingman's Institute was broken into and a number of historical articles taken from a second floor museum. Some of these articles were found in defendant's possession and his specific directions to a hidden attic room in his rooming house led authorities to others. Inasmuch as the independent evidence can be circumstantial and need not prove the corpus delicti beyond a reasonable doubt, we conclude that the State fulfilled its burden of proving second degree burglary of the Workingman's Institute and defendant's accessorial acts of concealing and then disposing of the stolen property. The court did not abuse its discretion by deviating from the usual order of proof.
In order to sustain a conviction, however, the State must prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Cambron, supra. Once the corpus delicti is proven, the confession can then be admitted into evidence and it is left to the jury to weigh the confession as with every other item of evidence. The elements of the crime of being an accessory after the fact which must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt are as follows:
". . . (1) A felony was committed. (2) Appellant did...
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Vacendak v. State
...or admission of guilt by the defendant. Cambron v. State, (1975) 262 Ind. 660, 322 N.E.2d 712, 715. In Collison v. State, (1975) 165 Ind.App. 596, 333 N.E.2d 787, 789, the Court of Appeals "Generally the corpus delicti consists of independent evidence of each of the elements of the crime. C......