Tyrie v. State
Decision Date | 12 March 2020 |
Docket Number | Court of Appeals Case No. 19A-CR-692 |
Citation | 143 N.E.3d 991 |
Parties | David A. TYRIE, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff |
Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Attorneys for Appellant: Daniel A. Moon, Daniel Moon Law Offices, LLC, Princeton, Indiana, Steven L. Whitehead, Steven Whitehead, Attorney at Law, Princeton, Indiana
Attorneys for Appellee: Curtis T. Hill, Jr., Attorney General of Indiana, George P. Sherman, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana
[1] In this interlocutory appeal, David A. Tyrie appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss the charges against him. He presents two issues for our review, one of which we find dispositive – whether the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed the State to refile charges against Tyrie.1 We affirm and remand.
[2] On March 7, 2017, the State charged Tyrie with Level 4 felony sexual misconduct with a minor2 under cause number 26C01-1703-F4-220 ("Cause 220"), based on a report that he engaged in a sexual act with J.S., who was between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. The charging information alleged Tyrie committed the crime "on or about December 18, 2016[.]" (App. Vol. II at 17.) Police arrested Tyrie on March 10, 2017, and he appeared with counsel the same day for arraignment. The trial court set an omnibus date of May 22, 2017, and a pretrial conference for June 7, 2017. On Tyrie's motion, the pretrial conference was rescheduled for August 24, 2017.
[3] At the pretrial conference, the trial court set a trial date of February 26-28, 2018, and scheduled a final pretrial conference for January 24, 2018. On August 29, 2017, Tyrie filed a notice of alibi. On October 7, 2017, the State filed an amended charging information, alleging Tyrie committed the crime "on or between November 1, 2016 and December 23, 2016[.]" (Id. at 22) (emphasis in original omitted).
[4] On February 20, 2018, six days prior to trial, the State filed a second amended charging information, alleging Tyrie committed the crime "on or between September 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016[.]" (Id. at 23) (emphasis in original omitted). On the same day, Tyrie filed an amended notice of alibi giving more details regarding his whereabouts on December 18, 2016, and a motion to continue his trial based on the State's second amended charging information. The trial court granted Tyrie's motion to continue and rescheduled the trial for April 9-11, 2018. On March 22, 2018, Tyrie filed a motion to continue the April trial date in order to conduct further discovery. The trial court granted his motion and rescheduled the trial for September 24-26, 2018.
[5] On August 20, 2018, Tyrie filed a "Motion for State to Elect Specific Act for Which State of Indiana Intends to Seek Conviction[.]" (Id. at 10.) On August 24, 2018, the trial court held a pretrial conference. On that date, the trial court scheduled a hearing on Tyrie's August 20 motion for September 25, 2018, and vacated the September trial dates. The trial court set Tyrie's trial for December 17-19, 2018, with a final pre-trial conference to be held on December 6, 2018.
[6] On September 25, 2018, the trial court held a hearing on Tyrie's motion. At that hearing, the State told the trial court:
(Tr. Vol. II at 5-6.) The trial court granted Tyrie's motion.
[7] On December 6, 2018, the State charged Tyrie with three counts of Level 4 felony sexual misconduct with a minor, alleging he committed those crimes "on or about October, 2016," "on or about November, 2016," and "on or about December, 2016," (App. Vol. II at 29-31), under cause number 26C01-1812-F4-1338 ("Cause 1338"). On the same day, the trial court held what should have been the final pre-trial hearing in Cause 220. At that hearing, the State and Tyrie informed the trial court of the new filing under Cause 1338. The State indicated it had not filed a probable cause affidavit in Cause 1338 and asked the trial court to set a probable cause hearing. Tyrie requested time to file "responsive documents" to the charging information under Cause 1338. (Tr. Vol. II at 14.) The trial court set a probable cause hearing for Cause 1338 for January 30, 2019.
[8] On December 19, 2018, Tyrie filed a motion to dismiss the counts under Cause 1338. On January 30, 2019, the trial court did not hold a probable cause hearing. Instead it heard argument on Tyrie's motion to dismiss. During that hearing, the trial court denied Tyrie's motion to dismiss Cause 1338 and sua sponte dismissed Cause 220. Following the trial court's decision, Tyrie indicated he needed to "think about ... whether or not this may be something that we may want to consider as interlocutory." (Id. at 23.)
[9] On February 27, 2019, Tyrie filed a motion asking the trial court to certify its denial of his motion to dismiss in Cause 1338 for interlocutory appeal. The trial court certified the matter for interlocutory appeal, and we accepted jurisdiction on April 25, 2019.
[10] Haywood v. State , 875 N.E.2d 770, 772 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007) (internal citations omitted). Tyrie argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied his motion to dismiss the charges in Cause 1338 because the State should not have been permitted to refile charges against him.
[11] Tyrie relies on our Indiana Supreme Court's decision in Davenport v. State , 689 N.E.2d 1226 (Ind. 1997), affirmed on reh'g 696 N.E.2d 870 (Ind. 1998). In Davenport , the State charged Davenport with murder on July 14, 1994, in Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division 5. Id. at 1228-9. On February 2, 1995, four days before Davenport's jury trial was to commence, the State filed a motion to amend the charging information to add charges of felony murder, attempted robbery, and auto theft. Id. at 1229. The trial court denied the State's motion.
[12] On February 6, 1995, the State dismissed the murder charge against Davenport and refiled it, along with the three other charges of felony murder, attempted robbery and auto theft. The State then transferred the case to Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division 1. Id. Davenport filed a motion to dismiss the new charges, which the trial court denied. The case went to a jury trial, Davenport was convicted on all counts, and sentenced to an aggregate sentence of eighty-eight years. Id. at 1228.
[13] Davenport appealed, arguing in part that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to dismiss because "it allowed the State to abuse its power to his prejudice." Id. at 1229. The court set forth the law concerning the dismissal and refiling of charging information:
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