Craft v. State

Decision Date30 April 2012
Docket NumberNo. 66A03–1104–CR–145.,66A03–1104–CR–145.
Citation967 N.E.2d 579
PartiesRodney D. CRAFT, Appellant–Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee–Plaintiff.
CourtIndiana Appellate Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from the Pulaski Circuit Court; The Honorable Michael A. Shurn, Judge; Cause No. 66C01–0808–FB–10.

David A. Brooks, Lois Jones Holiday, Brooks Law Office, P.C., Valparaiso, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Katherine Modesitt Cooper, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

MEMORANDUM DECISION—NOT FOR PUBLICATION

BAILEY, Judge.

Case Summary

Rodney D. Craft (Craft) appeals his convictions for Possession of Reagents and Precursors with Intent to Manufacture a Controlled Substance 1, Possession of Methamphetamine 2, and Possession of Cocaine 3, all as Class D felonies.

We affirm.

Issues

Craft raises numerous issues for our review, which we restate as:

I. Whether the trial court improperly denied Craft's motion for discharge under Criminal Rule 4(C);

II. Whether there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions; and

III. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting testimony regarding prior acts because such evidence was inadmissible under Evidence Rule 404(b).

Facts and Procedural History

During August 2008, Craft was living in a trailer in Pulaski County with his girlfriend, Kathryn Norem (“Norem”), and their infant daughter. Police and the Pulaski County Department of Child Services (“DCS”) had received anonymous reports that Craft and others were manufacturing methamphetamine in or near the home. Acting on this information, on August 14, 2008, Pulaski County Sheriff's Deputy Frederick Rogers (“Deputy Rogers”) accompanied two DCS caseworkers and Jason Shideler (“Shideler”), an investigator for the Pulaski County Prosecutor's Office, to Craft's and Norem's home.

When police and DCS arrived, Craft was not present, but Norem was home with their daughter. Norem admitted DCS and police officials. After initially denying any drug activity had occurred at the home, Norem eventually admitted that such activity had been occurring and retrieved a black bag that belonged to Craft and contained pseudoephedrine tablets and lithium batteries, items that are frequently used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Norem had purchased some of these items for Craft in the past and other individuals had brought Craft some of these items; taken all together, the pills recovered from Craft's and Norem's trailer contained 32,800 milligrams of pseudoephedrine. (Tr. 257.) Norem had also purchased camping fuel for Craft on one or two occasions; such fuel is also used for manufacturing methamphetamine.

Also while DCS and police were present at the home, Norem went into another room of the house and retrieved two tubes from tire pressure gauges. The ends of the tubes had been cut off and the tubes emptied, and one of the two tubes had gold wire in it. Norem and Craft had used these tubes to consume methamphetamine and cocaine.

Deputy Rogers and Indiana State Police Detective Aaron Campbell (“Detective Campbell”) collected, inventoried and preserved evidence, and disposed of methamphetamine waste found in and around the trailer. Outside the home were burn piles in which waste from the methamphetamine manufacturing process was burned. Among the supplies retrieved from inside and outside the home were additional cans of camping fuel, empty blister packs that had once contained tablets with pseudoephedrine, fire extinguishers that contained anhydrous ammonia, unusually large quantities of salt, coffee filters, a plastic jug, glassware, a digital scale, a blender used to crush pseudoephedrine pills, and a punctured aerosol can. All of these supplies are used to manufacture methamphetamine. In addition, a container with a white-and-pink sludge was found; the sludge tested positive for pseudoephedrine.

That same day, Pulaski County Sheriff's deputies arrested two of Craft's neighbors. One of these, Lacy Miller (“Miller”), worked with Craft to manufacture methamphetamine on multiple occasions between May and August 2008. Norem was arrested and charged at a later date.

On August 26, 2008, Craft was charged with Dealing in Methamphetamine, as a Class B felony; Possession of Chemical Reagents or Precursors with Intent to Manufacture a Controlled Substance, as a Class D felony; Maintaining a Common Nuisance, as a Class D felony; and Dumping Controlled Substance Waste, as a Class D felony. On August 27, 2008, Craft was arrested in Knox, Indiana, pursuant to an arrest warrant issued that day.

An initial hearing on the charges was conducted on September 16, 2008. On September 29, 2008, the State filed an amended charging information, which added a fifth count for Neglect of a Dependent, as a Class D felony.

On April 6, 2009, the trial court entered an order scheduling the case for jury trial on August 19, 2009, within 365 days of both the filing of the initial charging information and Craft's arrest. After a pre-trial conference on July 13, 2009, the trial court confirmed that a jury trial would be conducted from August 17, 2009, through August 19, 2009, and set a cutoff date of July 24, 2009, for entry of a plea.

On July 27, 2009, three days after the cutoff date specified in the pre-trial order, Craft notified the trial court that a plea agreement had been reached. The trial court therefore vacated the trial dates. On August 17, 2009, the parties appeared before the trial court and agreed that, even though a presentence investigation report had been completed, they would not enter a plea in order to allow Craft “to explore work release.” (App.6.) The trial court scheduled a status conference for September 21, 2009, at which Craft notified the court that he was “still getting more information on work release.” (App.6.) The court therefore reset the status conference to October 8, 2009, and charged the delay to Craft.

On September 29, 2009, Craft filed a motion to continue the October 8, 2009, status hearing, due to a scheduling change affecting Craft's trial counsel, Martin Bedrock (“Bedrock”). The trial court granted the motion, to which the State did not object, and rescheduled the status hearing to October 20, 2009. At the October 20, 2009, hearing, the Court scheduled a pre-trial conference for November 3, 2009.

During the pre-trial conference on November 3, 2009, Craft and the State entered into and submitted a plea agreement to the trial court. The trial court scheduled an entry of plea hearing for January 18, 2010. At the January 18, 2010, hearing, the trial court reviewed and rejected the plea agreement. In its order after the hearing, the trial court found congestion on its calendar and therefore set the case for jury trial on June 2 and 3, 2010, with an option (to which Craft objected) to proceed on March 3 and 4, 2010, in the event those dates became available. The trial court also set a pre-trial conference for January 28, 2010. At a pre-trial conference on January 28, 2009, the trial court struck the March 3 and 4, 2010, secondary trial dates.

On March 5, 2010, Bedrock moved to withdraw from his representation of Craft because Craft had lost his job and could no longer afford to pay for private counsel. On March 16, 2010, a hearing was held at which the trial court granted Bedrock's motion. Craft requested court-appointed counsel, and the trial court appointed Bedrock as counsel for Craft. The trial court also vacated the trial dates of June 2 and 3, 2010, rescheduled the trial to July 14, 15, and 16, 2010, and charged the delay to Craft; Craft concurred with the new trial dates.

On March 29, 2010, Craft filed a motion to discharge him under Criminal Rule 4, contending that more than one year had passed from the later of Craft's arrest or his initial hearing and that only about 1 1/2 months of that time were properly chargeable to him. Craft amended his motion on April 26, 2010, to reflect additional periods of delay that the trial court had charged to him. Craft still argued that much of the delay was not properly chargeable against him and that he therefore was entitled to a discharge. On April 29, 2010, the trial court denied the motion.

On May 25, 2010, a pre-trial conference was conducted, at which the trial court confirmed trial dates of July 15 and 16, 2010, and required the parties to submit any further pre-trial motions within ten days of the order.

On July 12, 2010, Craft moved the court to continue the trial from its July 15 and 16, 2010, dates “for the reason that counsel is not prepared to go to trial at this time because defendant has not cooperated with counsel.” (App.92.) The trial court granted Craft's motion that day.

On July 15, 2010, the trial court held a status hearing, at which it set the case for trial on January 11 and 12, 2011. The trial court made no statement in its order or in the Chronological Case Summary (“CCS”) about court congestion.

On January 3, 2011, the State amended the charging information, dismissing most charges and leaving only the charges for Possession of Chemical Reagents or Precursors with Intent to Manufacture a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Methamphetamine. On January 5, 2011, the State again amended the charging information, this time adding a charge of Possession of Cocaine, as a Class D felony. On January 5, 2011, the trial court held an initial hearing on the amended charges, at which Craft again pled not guilty to all the charges.

On January 6, 2011, the State again amended the charging information, this time more specifically identifying the items associated with the charge for Possession of Chemical Reagents or Precursors.

A jury trial was conducted on January 11 and 12, 2011, at the conclusion of which Craft was found guilty of Possession of Chemical Reagents or Precursors, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Possession of Cocaine. On March 15, 2011, the trial court entered judgments of conviction...

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