Higgason v. State

• Decision Date: 23 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 45S00-8605-CR-545,45S00-8605-CR-545
• Citation: 523 N.E.2d 399
• Parties: James HIGGASON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 399

523 N.E.2d 399

James HIGGASON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 45S00-8605-CR-545.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

May 23, 1988.

Diane McNeal, Crown Point, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., John D. Shuman, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

DeBRULER, Justice.

This is a direct appeal following conviction of the offense of burglary, a class C felony. The trial court imposed a five year sentence for the burglary, enhanced by twenty years due to an habitual determination, for a total sentence of twenty-five years.

These are the issues presented for review: (1) whether appellant's arrest violated his constitutional rights; (2) whether the trial court erred in admitting State's exhibit No. 2; (3) whether the trial court erred in admitting State's exhibits 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13; (4) whether appellant was denied due process of law; (5) whether there was sufficient evidence presented to support the burglary conviction; (6) whether during the habitual phase the court erred in admitting State's exhibit "I"; (7) whether there was sufficient evidence presented to support the habitual determination; and (8) whether a future challenge to the validity of the prior unrelated felony convictions will be precluded due to failure to address the issues in this appeal.

These are the facts pertinent to the issues raised: During the early morning hours of September 4, 1985, two individuals entered the Whiting police station and informed police they had observed an individual, dressed in a multi-colored shirt, jeans, and a red bandana, going from garage door to garage door in a residential area, apparently attempting to gain entry. They also reported that a yellow automobile was involved and provided police with the license number. The police officers did not obtain identification information from the two individuals. Based upon the information received, Officers Gima and Detterline left the station to investigate the behavior and look for the described individual and vehicle. They spotted the vehicle and activated their siren and lights. The vehicle did not stop and a high speed chase ensued. The vehicle subsequently hit a parked car and the driver ran from the scene, pursued by both officers.

The pursuit ended at appellant's residence. The officers were given permission to enter by appellant's father and arrested appellant. Clothing matching that described by the original unidentified witnesses was found on the floor of the bedroom. Appellant's car was impounded by police, after it had been abandoned at the scene of the collision, and subjected to an inventory search by police after it was locked and towed to a police garage. That inventory disclosed items stolen from Robert Samano's garage, which had been broken into that same night. A prybar was also recovered from the car and was determined to be the one used to gain entry to Samano's garage.

I

Appellant contends that the police officers lacked both probable cause and reasonable suspicion to either arrest him or to conduct an investigatory stop and consequently their attempt to stop him while he was driving and his subsequent arrest violated his 4th and 6th Amendment rights. A police officer is justified in making an initial or investigatory stop of a person or automobile when at the time of the stop the facts known to the officer are such to warrant a man of reasonable caution in believing that an investigation is appropriate. Terry v. Ohio (1968), 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889; Broadus v. State (1986), Ind., 487 N.E.2d 1298.

In the case before us, police were informed that an individual was seen going from garage door to garage door in a residential neighborhood at 5:00 o'clock in the morning. They were given a description of the man and the vehicle in addition to the license plate number. Upon observation of the vehicle still in the neighborhood where the suspicious behavior occurred, the officers were justified in stopping the car in order to question the occupant concerning this behavior. Broadus, supra.

Further, the events which occurred between the activating of the squad car lights and siren and appellant's arrest provided probable cause for that arrest and for the inventory search of his car. When the officers signaled for appellant to pull over, instead of complying he led officers on a high speed chase. He eventually crashed into a parked car, fled on foot, was followed by the officers and arrested at his residence. At this point he had at a minimum committed, in the presence of the officers, the offense of leaving the scene of a accident, thereby justifying his arrest. See I.C. 9-4-1-134. The admission of items seized pursuant to appellant's arrest was not error.

II

At trial appellant asserted that the State violated the court's discovery order by failing to provide him with a copy of an inventory of the items recovered from appellant's car. He urges that the inventory was significant as there were certain items, namely a prybar, flashlight and a pair of gloves, which were found in the car but were not items stolen from the garage, thus indicating these items commonly used in burglaries belonged to appellant.

Appellant urges that the failure to produce this document prejudiced his case in that he might have entered plea negotiations had he been aware of this evidence. This argument, however, is too speculative to show prejudice. The trial judge sits in the best position to evaluate the impact of a discovery violation and to determine the appropriate sanction or remedy. Chandler v. State (1981), 275 Ind. 624, 419 N.E.2d 142. Prior to the discovery of the alleged violation, Samano, the owner of the burglarized garage, testified without objection that the prybar, flashlight and gloves recovered did not belong to him. Admission of the inventory relating the same information later in the proceedings was merely cumulative. While the defense was entitled to all items covered by the discovery order, the decision of the trial court to admit this document cannot be considered error.

III

Appellant asserts that the trial court erred by admitting State's exhibits 3, 4, 7, 10 and 13 due to the State's failure to establish a sufficient chain of custody. Exhibits 3, 4, and 7 are photographs of items removed from appellants car, exhibit 10 is a prybar, and exhibit 13 is a lock from Samano's garage.

The chain of custody for the photographs is questioned based on the fact that appellant's car was stored in a police garage to which numerous people had access and the fact that the photographs depict items which were not listed on the inventory sheets. Appellant urges that the car was stored for twelve days between the time it was towed to the garage and the time it was inventoried and that the evidence could have been intentionally or accidentally substituted. As support he points out that items in the photograph do not appear on the inventory sheets.

The record does not support appellant's contention that twelve days elapsed between the date of seizure and the inventory. Rather, both occurred the same day, September 4, 1985, which was also the day the photographs were taken. The September 16, 1985 date on the inventory sheets indicates the date the items were released to Mr. Samano. Since the car was inventoried and photographed the same day it was towed to the garage, the opportunity for tampering with the evidence would be minimal. As for the allegation that items appear in...