Jerome Harris a/k/a Lawrence Brown v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) ( 2017 )

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED
regarded as precedent or cited before any
Dec 21 2017, 9:59 am
court except for the purpose of establishing
the defense of res judicata, collateral CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
estoppel, or the law of the case. Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Richard Walker Curtis T. Hill, Jr.
Anderson, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Caroline G. Templeton
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Jerome Harris December 21, 2017
a/k/a Lawrence Brown, Court of Appeals Case No.
Appellant-Defendant, 48A05-1706-CR-1323
Appeal from the Madison Circuit
v. Court
The Honorable Mark Dudley,
State of Indiana, Judge
Appellee-Plaintiff Trial Court Cause No.
48C06-9806-CF-160
May, Judge.
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[1] Lawrence Tyron Brown 1 appeals the revocation of all six-years of his suspended
sentence. Brown asserts the court abused its discretion by revoking his full
suspended sentence “for technical violations not for commission of new crimes
or testing positive for illegal substances.” (Br. of Appellant at 14.) As one of
Brown’s violations was a failure to report for probation, which resulted in his
absconding for over a decade, we see no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s
imposition of the full suspended sentence and accordingly affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[2] Brown stole a car at gunpoint in Anderson, Indiana, on June 26, 1998. He was
arrested a few days later in the car in Cook County, Illinois. The victim
identified Brown as the person who took the car, the State charged Brown with
Class B felony carjacking, 2 and Brown pled guilty. The court sentenced Brown
to twelve years, but suspended six of the years to probation.
1
In 1998, when Brown was arrested for the carjacking that began the proceedings herein, Brown reported his
name was “Jerome Harris” and provided identifying information for Harris. Brown, as Harris, was
convicted, served six years, and then failed to report for probation and disappeared, which resulted in the
court entering a warrant for Harris’ arrest. In 2014, the actual Jerome Harris wrote the trial court asking the
court to clarify why his criminal record included a bench warrant for probation violation on a crime for
which he had not been convicted. (App. Vol. II (Not For Public Access) at 38.) Further investigation by the
prosecutor’s office and police detectives revealed that Brown provided false information at arrest and his true
identity is Lawrence Tyron Brown. Based thereon, in May 2015, the State filed a motion to correct record,
and the court entered an order to remove Harris’ name and identifiers from the case file and replace it with
Brown’s name and identifiers. (Id. at 70.) We accordingly refer to Brown as “Brown.”
2
Ind. Code § 35-42-5-2 (1993).
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[3] After serving his six years, Brown was released from custody on May 10, 2002,
to begin serving probation. Three weeks later, the State filed a notice of
probation violation because Brown had not reported for probation. Brown did
not appear for the initial hearing on his probation violation, so the court issued
an arrest warrant on June 25, 2002.
[4] In May 2015, when authorities determined Brown’s true identity, see supra n.1,
they found he was in jail in Florida. The State of Indiana put a hold on him,
and Brown was returned to Indiana’s custody on September 11, 2016. On
October 4, 2016, the State filed a corrected notice of probation violation that
asserted Brown violated probation by failing to report to probation, failing to
obtain the substance abuse evaluation ordered, failing to pay the probation fee,
and failing to pay court costs. The trial court found Brown violated all four of
those conditions of probation, and it imposed all six years of Brown’s
suspended sentence.
Discussion and Decision
[5] “Probation is a matter of grace left to trial court discretion, not a right to which
a criminal defendant is entitled.” Prewitt v. State, 878 N.E.2d 184, 188 (Ind.
2007). The trial court has discretion to set the conditions of probation and “to
revoke probation if the conditions are violated.” Heaton v. State, 984 N.E.2d
614, 616 (Ind. 2013). When a defendant appeals from a trial court’s
determination of violation and sanction, we review the court’s decision for an
abuse of discretion. Id. “An abuse of discretion occurs where the decision is
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clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances, or when the
trial court misinterprets the law.” Id. (internal citation omitted).
[6] Revocation of probation is a two-step process. Id. The court first must
determine whether a violation occurred. Id. After finding a defendant violated
his probation, the trial court may continue the probation, extend the term of
probation, or “[o]rder execution of all or part of the sentence that was
suspended at the time of initial sentencing.” Ind. Code § 35-38-2-3(h).
[7] Brown asserts the trial court abused its discretion in ordering execution of all six
years of his suspended sentence for what Brown calls “technical violations.”
(Br. of Appellant at 14.) In support thereof he cites Heaton, in which our
Indiana Supreme Court noted a trial court has discretion to continue a
probationer on probation when violations are only “technical in nature.” 984
N.E.2d at 618. While a trial court may have discretion to do so, we cannot say
this trial court abused its discretion when it refused to do so.
[8] Assuming arguendo failure to report to probation is merely a “technical
violation” of probation, Brown was not just an hour, a week, or a month late in
reporting to probation. Fourteen years passed between when Brown was
released to probation in May 2002 and when the State took custody of Brown
in Florida in September 2016. We cannot say the trial court abused its
discretion when it declined to give Brown a second opportunity to flee the
jurisdiction rather than serve the sentence imposed. See Wilson v. State, 403
N.E.2d 1104, 1106 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980) (no abuse of discretion in revoking
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suspension of full ten-year sentence when defendant failed to report to jail on
one of ten weekends he was to serve as a condition of probation).
Conclusion
[9] Brown has not demonstrated the trial court abused its discretion in revoking all
six years of Brown’s suspended sentence. We accordingly affirm.
[10] Affirmed.
Vaidik, C.J. and Altice, J., concur.
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