Miller v. State
| Citation | 783 N.E.2d 772 |
| Decision Date | 25 February 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 82A01-0203-CR-89.,82A01-0203-CR-89. |
| Parties | Timothy MILLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Indiana |
Jon Aarstad, Vanderburgh County Public Defender Agency, Evansville, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Cynthia L. Ploughe, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
Timothy Miller and the State bring this consolidated interlocutory appeal pursuant to Indiana Appellate Rule 14(B) and raise two issues for review:
1. Whether the trial court erred when it determined that Miller's 1998 conviction for Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated ("OWI"), as a Class A misdemeanor, was void as a matter of law.
2. Whether the trial court erred when it determined that Indiana Criminal Rule 4(C) does not bar further proceedings on the charge that resulted in the void 1998 OWI conviction.
We affirm.
In January 1995, under Cause Number 82C01-9501-DF-23 ("Cause No. 23"), the State charged Miller with OWI, as a Class D felony.1 In July 1995, the State and Miller appeared in open court and filed a Sentencing Recommendation ("plea agreement"), which provided in relevant part that Miller agreed to plead guilty as charged, and the State accepted his plea. The plea agreement also recommended that the court: (1) withhold judgment for a period of three years and place Miller on the Alcohol Intensive Supervision Program ("AISP") for three years; (2) impose fees and suspend Miller's driver's license for a period of two years; and (3) enter judgment as a Class A misdemeanor after Miller's completion of AISP. That same day, the court found a factual basis for Miller's guilty plea, advised Miller of his rights, and scheduled sentencing for the following month.
In August 1995, Miller appeared with counsel for sentencing, and the court accepted the terms of the parties' plea agreement. The court further ordered that the parties reappear in August 1998 for entry of the withheld judgment. Three years later, in August 1998, the court found that Miller had complied with the terms and conditions of AISP and, pursuant to the plea agreement, entered judgment of conviction to OWI, as a Class A misdemeanor.
In March 2001, under Cause Number 82C01-0103-DF-278 ("Cause No. 278"), the State charged Miller with Resisting Law Enforcement, as a Class D felony, and OWI, both as a Class A misdemeanor and as a Class D felony enhancement. The basis for the OWI enhancement was Miller's prior OWI conviction in Cause No. 23.
In October 2001, Miller filed a Motion to Dismiss the enhancement in Cause No. 278, arguing that the parties' plea agreement in Cause No. 23 was void ab initio under Lighty v. State, 727 N.E.2d 1094 (Ind.Ct.App.2000). Miller then filed a Motion to Dismiss Cause No. 23 pursuant to Criminal Rule 4(C). In particular, Miller argued that because the parties' plea agreement was void ab initio, and the State had failed to bring him to trial on that charge within one year from the date Lighty was decided, any subsequent trial would violate Criminal Rule 4(C).
In November 2001, the court conducted a hearing on both of Miller's motions, during which it heard argument and took the motions under advisement. The court then denied Miller's motion to dismiss Cause No. 23, relevant part The motion [to dismiss Cause No. 23] was filed based upon Lighty v. State, and secondly upon the claim of the defendant that ... under Criminal Rule 4 he had been held more than a year without being brought to trial. Court finds that in Cause No. 23 that on August 26, 1998, the defendant was convicted of a Class A misdemeanor and at that point the case was closed satisfactorily, and on ... September the 11 th, 1998, the docket also shows that he was discharged from the [AISP], and finally on August the 28th, 1995, when the withheld judgment was entered, or when the order made with regard to there being a withheld judgment his bond was released and so the Court finds that under... all those circumstances he was not being held under this case to answer to the charges. For that reason the Court denies the Motion to Dismiss.
But the court also concluded that under Lighty, Miller's conviction under Cause No. 23 is void as a matter of law and, thus, the enhancement portion of Cause No. 278 could not be based on the Cause No. 23 misdemeanor conviction. Accordingly, the court granted Miller's motion to dismiss the enhancement in Cause No. 278.
Thereafter, both the State and Miller asked the court to certify its orders in both cause numbers for interlocutory appeal, and the court complied. This court accepted jurisdiction under Appellate Rule 14(B) and consolidated the trial court's orders in Cause No. 23 and Cause No. 278 for appeal.
We have explained that this consolidated appeal involves two orders, one from which the State appeals and one from which Miller appeals. Specifically, the State appeals the trial court's order granting Miller's motion to dismiss the enhancement in Cause No. 278, and Miller appeals the trial court's order denying his motion to dismiss Cause No. 23. But the parties agree that if we determine Miller's conviction in Cause No. 23 is a nullity, then that conviction cannot serve as the enhancement conviction in Cause No. 278. Accordingly, we must first address whether Miller's misdemeanor conviction in Cause No. 23 is void as a matter of law. Because the issue presented is a pure question of law, our standard of review is de novo. State v. Moss-Dwyer, 686 N.E.2d 109, 110 (Ind.1997).2
The trial court determined, and Miller agrees, that his 1998 OWI conviction is void under Lighty, 727 N.E.2d at 1097. Specifically, in its Order granting the parties' motions to certify orders for interlocutory appeal, the trial court stated in relevant part:
Court grants motion to dismiss [the enhancement in Cause No. 278] based upon [Lighty v. State, 727 N.E.2d 1094 (Ind.Ct.App.2000) ]. Court reasons that if the plea agreement was void in the defendant's prior conviction then the plea was void as well. In addition, if the court does not have authority to withhold a judgment then the court did not have authority to enter judgment as a Class A misdemeanor.
In Lighty, 727 N.E.2d at 1095, the State charged the defendant with two counts of Battery, one as a Class A misdemeanor and one as a Class D felony enhancement. The defendant entered into a plea agreement with the State wherein he pleaded guilty to battery as an A misdemeanor, and the parties agreed that the court would withhold judgment for one year. Id. During the one-year period, the parties agreed that the defendant would be subject to certain conditions, and if he completed the year without violating those conditions, the State agreed to dismiss the D felony battery charge. Id. The court accepted the plea agreement. Id.
Within the one-year period, the State filed a motion entitled "Motion to Reinstate Judgment," alleging that the defendant had failed to successfully complete one of the conditions of his plea agreement. Id. at 1096. Following a hearing, the trial court entered an "Order Revoking Probation," where the court found that the defendant had violated the terms of his plea agreement and ordered him to serve 180 days in jail, in addition to the balance of his original one-year sentence on probation. Id. The defendant filed a motion to correct error, which was denied, and then filed his direct appeal. Id.
On appeal, this court raised the following dispositive issue sua sponte: whether the parties' plea agreement was void ab initio. Id. In our analysis, we first addressed plea agreements in general and noted "that contracts made in violation of a statute are void and unenforceable." Id. at 1096 (). Next, we stated that "[b]oth the Indiana Code and Indiana case law provide that trial courts may not withhold judgments." Id. In support, we relied on Indiana Code Section 35-38-1-1(a), which provides, "After a verdict, finding, or plea of guilty, if a new trial is not granted, the court shall enter a judgment of conviction." We further cited three cases in which our court had determined that courts may not withhold judgments. Lighty, 727 N.E.2d at 1096 (). And because the parties entered into a plea agreement that was conditioned on the trial court's ability to withhold judgment, we determined that the agreement was a legal nullity and void ab initio. Id. at 1097. We, therefore, reversed for proceedings consistent with the opinion. Id.
The State maintains that Lighty was decided incorrectly. Specifically, the State asserts that: (1) the cases cited in Lighty are distinguishable from the facts in that case; (2) Lighty erroneously stated that plea agreements involving withheld judgments are prohibited by Indiana Code Section 35-38-1-1(a); and (3) Lighty incorrectly stated that plea agreements that conflict with a statute are void.
Initially, we agree with the State that the facts in Lighty are distinguishable from those in King, Chissell, and Robison. In King, 720 N.E.2d at 1236, the trial court entered judgment as a Class A misdemeanor and, following a probation revocation proceeding, re-entered judgment on the same charge as a D felony. In both Chissell, 705 N.E.2d at 505, and Robison,359 N.E.2d at 924, the trial court withheld judgments indefinitely. Chissell involved a jury trial, and Robison involved a bench trial. But regardless of the factual distinctions in those cases, the relevant rule of law which permeates all four of the decisions is that trial courts may not...
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Debro v. State
...the offense and place the person under the court's custody subject to conditions). 4. We therefore expressly overrule Miller v. State, 783 N.E.2d 772 (Ind.Ct.App.2003), trans. dismissed. There the Court of Appeals held: "a plea agreement, like the agreement in Lighty and in this case, which......
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Debro v. State
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