Johnson v. State
| Decision Date | 06 April 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 44A05-0505-CR-285.,44A05-0505-CR-285. |
| Citation | 845 N.E.2d 147 |
| Parties | James R. JOHNSON, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Kimberly A. Jackson, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Justin F. Roebel, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
James Johnson challenges his thirty-year sentence for child molesting, a Class A felony,1 a $5000.00 fine, and an order requiring him to pay restitution for the victim's counseling. We affirm and remand.
Johnson raises four issues for our review, which we reorder and restate as:
I. whether the trial court violated certain federal and state constitutional rights during his sentencing hearing;
II. whether the trial court abused its discretion in crafting his sentence;
III. whether the trial court erred by fining him $5000.00; and
IV. whether the trial court erred by ordering him to pay an indeterminate amount of restitution if the victim seeks counseling.
The State's information and probable cause affidavit allege that on July 27, 1999, Johnson touched a ten-year-old girl's vagina with his tongue after enticing her into his trailer with promises of money and stuffed animals. The victim then told her father what had happened, and he contacted the police. The police took Johnson into custody and transported him to the sheriff's department for questioning. Johnson was subsequently arrested and agreed to undergo a polygraph examination. Before consulting counsel, Johnson signed a consent form agreeing that the results of the examination would be admissible in court. The State filed its information on October 1, 1999, charging Johnson with child molesting and with being an habitual offender.
On March 6, 2000, without a written plea agreement, Johnson pled guilty to both charges. His sentencing hearing was held on April 6, 2000. During the sentencing hearing, the State called several witnesses to testify regarding Johnson's guilt, including Officer Herbert Bergman. Officer Bergman testified that Johnson had agreed to the polygraph examination and that he signed the consent form stating that his testimony would be admissible in court. He further testified that another inmate told police that Johnson had admitted to the conduct that was the basis for the child molesting charge.
In its written sentencing order, the trial court found several aggravating factors — Johnson's criminal history, the fact that the victim was Johnson's relative, and the fact that the victim was less than twelve years old — and several mitigating factors — Johnson's guilty plea, his military service, and the fact that the victim suffered no physical injuries.2 The trial court then sentenced Johnson to thirty years at the Department of Correction for the child molesting conviction and further ordered him to pay a $5000.00 fine. The trial court also ordered Johnson to pay restitution to his victim should she decide to seek counseling. After being granted permission to file a belated appeal, Johnson now challenges his sentence.
Johnson asserts that the trial court violated his right against self-incrimination as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and his right to confront witnesses as guaranteed by Article I, Section 13 of the Indiana Constitution by admitting, respectively, evidence related to his polygraph examination and statements from a jailhouse informant who did not himself testify at the sentencing hearing.
We review a trial court's decision to admit or exclude evidence for an abuse of discretion. Pickens v. State, 764 N.E.2d 295, 297 (Ind.Ct.App.2002), trans. denied. However, an error is harmless "when the conviction is supported by substantial independent evidence of guilt which satisfies the reviewing court that there is no likelihood that the erroneously admitted evidence contributed to the conviction." Moore v. State, 827 N.E.2d 631, 639 (Ind. Ct.App.2005), trans. denied. Similarly, "we will not reverse a conviction if the erroneously admitted evidence was cumulative of other evidence appropriately admitted." Pickens, 764 N.E.2d at 297.
Johnson claims that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated by the trial court's admission of the testimony related to his polygraph examination and that he was prejudiced because, during that examination, he "attacked the victim's credibility and accused the victim of inappropriate behavior." Appellant's Br. p. 12. Johnson further argues that certain portions of the admitted examination "left open the possibility ... that Johnson had committed other uncharged molestations." Id. With regard to his Article I, Section 13 argument, he claims he was prejudiced because the jailhouse informant's statements "indicated that Johnson viewed child molestation as appropriate and, thus, suggested his likely recidivism." Id. at 15.
Despite his contentions, there is no evidence in the record to support Johnson's argument that he was prejudiced by the admission of this evidence because the trial court did not rely on any of the arguably prejudicial material in sentencing him. The trial court identified three aggravating factors, none of which was related to what Johnson argues could be a perceived attack on the victim's credibility or accusation of her inappropriate behavior, the evidence of other uncharged molestations, or the likelihood of his recidivism. Johnson suffered no prejudice as a result of the admission of the results of the polygraph examination or the informant's statements to police. Further, Johnson had previously pled guilty to the charged offense, and the contested evidence, whether properly admitted or not, did not affect the outcome of this case.
We conclude that any irregularities in the admission of evidence that may have occurred during Johnson's sentencing hearing were harmless, if error at all, because this evidence merely supplemented Johnson's admission of guilt through his guilty plea and because nothing in the record indicates that Johnson was prejudiced by such admission.
Johnson next contends that the trial court abused its discretion by finding the victim's age and relationship to Johnson as aggravating factors. He argues that the mitigating factors outweigh the one valid aggravator — his criminal history — and that his sentence should be reduced. In Hope v. State, 834 N.E.2d 713, 717 (Ind.Ct.App.2005), we discussed a two-step process for analyzing a non-Blakely challenge to an enhanced sentence.
[T]he first step is to determine whether the trial court issued a sentencing statement that (1) identified all significant mitigating and aggravating circumstances; (2) stated the specific reason why each circumstance is determined to be mitigating or aggravating; and (3) articulated the court's evaluation and balancing of the circumstances. See Cotto v. State, 829 N.E.2d 520, 523-24 (Ind.2005). If we find an irregularity in a trial court's sentencing decision, "we have the option to remand to the trial court for a clarification or new sentencing determination, to affirm the sentence if the error is harmless, or to reweigh the proper aggravating and mitigating circumstances independently at the appellate level." Id. at 525. Even if there is no irregularity and the trial court followed the proper procedures in imposing sentence, we still may exercise our authority under Appellate Rule 7(B) to revise a sentence that we conclude is inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender. See Ruiz v. State, 818 N.E.2d 927, 928 (Ind.2004).
Id. at 717-18. Employing the formula set out in Hope, we conclude that any irregularity in the trial court's sentencing procedure constituted harmless error, and we affirm Johnson's sentence.
Johnson argues, the State concedes, and we agree, that the trial court improperly relied on the victim's age as an aggravator because, "when the age of the victim constitutes a material element of the crime, then the victim's age may not also constitute an aggravating circumstance. . . ." Appellee's Br. p. 10 (quoting McCarthy v. State, 749 N.E.2d 528, 539 (Ind.2001)). However, in McCarthy, our supreme court noted that "the trial court may properly consider the particularized circumstances of the factual elements as aggravating factors." McCarthy, 749 N.E.2d at 539. In this case the trial court did not explain why it considered the victim's age—less than twelve years old—to be an aggravating circumstance. Thus, the trial court erred in identifying the victim's age as an aggravator.
Johnson next argues that the trial court improperly found Johnson's relationship with the victim as an aggravator because he was not related to the victim. The State concedes that the evidence "shows the victim was a neighbor's child," Appellee's Br. p. 9, and at the sentencing hearing the trial court did identify the victim not as Johnson's relative, but as a friend of Johnson's daughter. When read together, however, the trial court's statement at the sentencing hearing and the sentencing order plainly indicate that it is the nature of Johnson's relationship with the victim that the trial court identified as an aggravator. This does not constitute error because the nature and circumstances of a crime may be a proper aggravating factor. See Devries v. State, 833 N.E.2d 511, 515 (Ind.Ct.App.2005), trans. denied.
Although we have identified error in the trial court's sentencing procedure, that error is harmless because we conclude that the weight of the remaining aggravators balances the weight of the mitigators. As well as Johnson's relationship with his victim, the trial court also recognized his extensive criminal history as an aggravator. In addition to the instant offense and the criminal sexual conduct and...
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