Ruel v. State, No. 45A03-8607-CR-219

• Docket Nº: No. 45A03-8607-CR-219
• Citation: 500 N.E.2d 1274
• Case Date: December 10, 1986
• Court: Court of Appeals of Indiana

Page 1274

500 N.E.2d 1274 Edward A. RUEL, Defendant-Appellant,
v.
STATE of Indiana, Plaintiff-Appellee. No. 45A03-8607-CR-219. Court of Appeals of Indiana,
Third District. Dec. 10, 1986.

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Michael W. Bosch, Joseph Banasiak, Bamber, Stodola & Bosch, Hammond, for defendant-appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Michael Gene Worden, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for plaintiff-appellee.

GARRARD, Judge.

Facts

On October 22, 1984, Hammond Police Officers Pavlina and Lawson took a written statement from J.N., a borderline mentally retarded youth, age 10, in which J.N. alleged in detail that his babysitter, Edward Ruel (Ruel) forced J.N. to submit to oral and anal sex. Based on this statement, Ruel was arrested and later charged with child molesting and criminal deviate conduct.

At trial, J.N., now age 11, testified that in September 1984, while babysitting J.N., Ruel forcibly pulled J.N.'s pants down and performed fellatio on him. In addition to this and other occasions on which Ruel performed fellatio on him, J.N. also testified that Ruel forcibly sodomized him. Officer

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Pavlina testified over Ruel's objection that J.N. told Pavlina during an interview at Lafayette School that Ruel sexually assaulted J.N.

Consequently, Ruel was convicted at the conclusion of a bench trial for child molesting, a Class C felony ¹ and Criminal Deviate Conduct, a Class B felony. ² Ruel now appeals.

Issues

Two issues are presented for our consideration on appeal:

I. Whether Ruel's convictions are supported by sufficient evidence. ³

II. Whether the state's failure to satisfy the foundational requirements of the Patterson rule constitutes reversible error.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Ruel initially argues that sufficient evidence to support his convictions below is lacking in that J.N.'s testimony at trial is inherently unbelievable. Ruel asserts that J.N.'s statements prior to and during trial were inconsistent as to whether Ruel had sodomized him and the number of times J.N. was sexually assaulted by Ruel and others. While acknowledging the standard of appellate review of sufficiency of the evidence, Ruel urges, in primary reliance on Meadows v. State (1968), ⁴ that this court should deem J.N.'s testimony incredible and, thus, reverse his conviction. ⁵ We disagree.

On appeal the standard of review of sufficiency of the evidence and witness

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credibility challenges has long been that we will neither reweigh the evidence nor redetermine the credibility of witnesses, but rather, will look to the evidence most favorable to the state together with all reasonable inferences therefrom. If there is substantial evidence of probative value from which the trier of fact might reasonably infer guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the conviction must stand. Coleman v. State (1986), Ind., 490 N.E.2d 711, 713; Mullins v. State (1985), Ind.App., 486 N.E.2d 623, 626. The conviction may stand solely on the uncorroborated testimony of a minor witness, Pearson v. State (1985), Ind., 486 N.E.2d 540, 541; Finchum v. State (1984), Ind.App., 463 N.E.2d 304, 307. However, where the conviction is based solely on the testimony of an inherently unbelievable witness, or where such testimony is replete with "incredible dubiosity," we will not let the conviction stand. Hill v. State (1986), Ind., 497 N.E.2d 1061.

Those cases in which our courts have deemed the sole witness' testimony incredibly dubious or unbelievable involved testimony prompted by coercion and threats, was utterly unbelievable, or evidenced "coaching." ⁶ Lessig v. State (1986), Ind.App., 489 N.E.2d 978. J.N.'s testimony in the instant case is free of such problems. Hence, Ruel's sufficiency challenge must stand our scrutiny pursuant to our general standard of review in sufficiency cases as stated, supra.

Our careful examination of J.N.'s testimony reveals that despite initial inconsistencies J.N.'s testimony sufficiently supports Ruel's convictions. J.N. provided at trial a graphic account of the two occasions upon which Ruel forcibly performed fellatio on him, and one occasion in which Ruel sodomized J.N. (see Record, pp. 257-60, 270-76, 278-9). We believe that viewing this evidence, as we must, in the light most favorable to the state, J.N.'s testimony was believable and sufficient to support Ruel's convictions.

II. Patterson Rule

The trial court allowed Detective Pavlina to testify, over Ruel's hearsay objection, concerning J.N.'s statement to Pavlina during an interview at Lafayette School charging Ruel with sexually assaulting J.N. Ruel...