Craig v. State, 579S133

• Citation: 272 Ind. 385,398 N.E.2d 658
• Decision Date: 27 December 1979
• Docket Number: No. 579S133,579S133
• Parties: Pierre CRAIG, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 658

398 N.E.2d 658

272 Ind. 385

Pierre CRAIG, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 579S133.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Dec. 27, 1979.

Jerry E. Levendoski, Fort Wayne, for appellant.

Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Philip R. Blowers, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

DeBRULER, Justice.

Appellant was charged with the crime of robbery with resultant bodily injury, a class A felony. Ind.Code § 35-42-5-1. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict of guilty as charged and appellant was sentenced to prison for a term of thirty years pursuant to Ind.Code § 35-50-2-4. On appeal two issues are presented: (1) whether the jury verdict was supported by sufficient evidence; and (2) whether the trial court erred in sustaining the State's motion In limine aimed at preventing appellant and his counsel from injecting the matter of the possible penalties into the trial.

On May 15, 1978, at 12:30 a. m., a Clark gas station was being operated by a lone attendant. Two young men entered the station, one armed with a stick and the other with a gun. They wore apple hats and sunglasses. The man with the gun demanded money from the attendant and took money, a coin changer and belt, cartons of cigarettes and a cardboard display of sunglasses. In the course of these events the attendant was struck twice in the face with the butt of the gun. The two men thereafter left the station. At trial the attendant testified that appellant was the man holding the gun during the robbery and the man who struck him.

At trial Minniefield, an acquaintance of appellant, testified that he drove appellant and others around the town looking for a place to rob on the night in question. They drove to the Wattley residence located near the Clark station and parked there about midnight. Minniefield went into the residence to talk to Shawn Wattley, but appellant remained outside. Both Minniefield and Wattley testified that appellant returned to the Wattley residence with two others at about 12:30 a. m., and that appellant had a gun, cigarettes, and money, and stated that they had just robbed the filling station. The appellant divided up the stolen items among those present. Later the belt taken in the robbery was found in appellant's possession.

Appellant contends that the evidence serving to identify him as a participant in the robbery is wholly insufficient to support the jury verdict. This contention is predicated upon the assertion that the in-trial testimony of the attendant was tainted by an unnecessarily suggestive photographic identification procedure which gave rise to a strong likelihood of misidentification. As posed in this case the propriety of the identification procedures employed by the investigating officers presents a sufficiency issue rather than an admissibility of evidence one. Accordingly, we do not weigh the evidence nor resolve questions of credibility but look to the evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom which support the verdict. The conviction will be affirmed if from that viewpoint there is evidence of probative value from which a reasonable trier of fact could infer that appellant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Glover v. State, (1970) 253 Ind. 536, 255 N.E.2d 657. Appellant was pointed out by the attendant at the trial as his assailant. After the crime he selected two photographs from an array provided him by the investigating officers as depicting persons who resembled the assailant. Neither of these were photos of appellant. Later he was delivered a 1975 junior high yearbook to examine, and unequivocally selected a photograph of appellant as...