Corey Goodnight v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), Dec 01 2015, 8:50 am
this Memorandum Decision shall not be
regarded as precedent or cited before any
court except for the purpose of establishing
the defense of res judicata, collateral
estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Hilary Bowe Ricks Gregory F. Zoeller
Indianapolis, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Paula J. Beller
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Corey Goodnight, December 1, 2015
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
49A02-1505-CR-452
v. Appeal from the Marion Superior
Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable Marc Rothenberg,
Appellee-Plaintiff Judge
Trial Court Cause No.
49G02-1406-FB-031330
Bailey, Judge.
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Case Summary
[1] Corey Goodnight (“Goodnight”) was convicted of Theft, as a Class D felony, 1
and Attempted Robbery, as a Class B felony.2 He now appeals, raising for our
review the sole question of whether there was sufficient evidence to sustain his
conviction of Attempted Robbery.
[2] We affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[3] During their lunch break on June 9, 2014, Shirley Fleming (“Fleming”) and
Troyce Golden (“Golden”), sisters who worked nearby one another, had eaten
lunch together and were walking along Washington Street toward Meridian
Street in Indianapolis. Fleming was carrying her wallet under her arm, and
Golden was carrying a lunch bag that was suspended by a strap from her
shoulder.
[4] Goodnight was riding his bicycle along Washington Street after having left an
intensive outpatient treatment program for heroin use, and wanted money to
1
Ind. Code § 35-43-4-2(a). Goodnight’s offenses were committed on June 9, 2014, and the Indiana General
Assembly revised Indiana’s criminal statutes effective July 1, 2014. We refer at all times to the version of the
statutes applicable at the time of Goodnight’s offenses.
2
I.C. §§ 35-42-5-1 & 35-31.5-2-168.
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purchase heroin. Goodnight saw Fleming and Golden walking down the street,
and noticed Fleming’s wallet.
[5] After looking to see whether he could easily take Fleming’s wallet, Goodnight
circled his bicycle around, rode up behind Fleming and Golden, and grabbed
Fleming’s wallet. Golden also felt a pull from behind and underneath where
she was carrying her lunch bag, fell onto the wheel of Goodnight’s bicycle, and
fell to the ground. Golden had scrapes on her elbows, deep cuts in her knees,
and bruising and bleeding on her face and eye.
[6] As Goodnight tried to ride away, Fleming yelled out, saying that someone had
stolen her wallet. Quentin Bey (“Bey”), a nearby pedestrian, saw Goodnight
take Fleming’s wallet and saw Golden fall, and grabbed Goodnight as he rode
by. Bey took Fleming’s wallet and returned it to her, and began to wrestle
Goodnight to the ground.
[7] At some point during the struggle with Bey, Goodnight said that he had a knife
and attempted to retrieve it from his pocket, but Bey kicked it away. A nearby
electrical contractor, Chadd Sherman (“Sherman”), saw the incident from his
cherry picker, returned to the ground, and helped Bey subdue Goodnight before
police arrived. A third man also helped subdue Goodnight, and Sherman was
able to secure Goodnight’s hands with zip ties. Once police arrived, Goodnight
was placed into handcuffs and arrested.
[8] On June 10, 2014, Goodnight was charged with two counts of Robbery: one as
to Fleming (Count I), and one as to Golden (Count II). A bench trial was
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conducted on February 26, 2015. During the trial, Goodnight admitted to
having committed Theft as to Fleming. At the trial’s conclusion, the court
found Goodnight guilty of Theft, as a Class D felony, as a lesser included
offense to Robbery with respect to Count I, and guilty of Attempted Robbery,
as a Class B felony, as a lesser included offense to Robbery with respect to
Count II.
[9] On May 6, 2015, a sentencing hearing was conducted. At the end of the
hearing, the trial court sentenced Goodnight to 180 days imprisonment for
Theft and seven years imprisonment for Attempted Robbery, with the sentences
run concurrent with one another, yielding an aggregate term of imprisonment
of seven years. The trial court ordered 662 days of the sentence to be served as
executed time in the Department of Correction, ordered 1,528 days to be served
on home detention, and suspended the rest of Goodnight’s sentence to
probation.
[10] This appeal ensued.
Discussion and Decision
On appeal, Goodnight challenges only the sufficiency of the evidence as to his
conviction for Attempted Robbery. Our standard of review in such cases is
well-settled.
This court will not reweigh the evidence or assess the credibility of
witnesses. Cox v. State, 774 N.E.2d 1025, 1028 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002).
Only the evidence most favorable to the judgment, together with all
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reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom will be considered.
Id. If a reasonable trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty
based on the probative evidence and reasonable inferences drawn
therefrom, then a conviction will be affirmed. Id. at 1028-29.
Sargent v. State, 875 N.E.2d 762, 767 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007).
[11] To convict Goodnight of Attempted Robbery, as a Class B felony, the State was
required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Goodnight attempted to
commit the offense of Robbery, as a Class B felony, by engaging in conduct that
constituted a substantial step toward the commission of that crime. See I.C. §
35-31.5-2-168. Robbery, as a Class B felony, occurs when a defendant
knowingly or intentionally takes property from another person or from
the presence of another person: (1) by using or threatening the use of
force on any person; or (2) by putting an person in fear … while armed
with a deadly weapon or [engaging in conduct that] results in bodily
injury to any person other than the defendant.
I.C. § 35-42-5-1.
[12] Goodnight’s challenge to his conviction centers on whether his conduct
amounted to Attempted Robbery with respect to Golden. Goodnight argues
that the “backwards jerk” Golden experienced, even taken in conjunction with
her injuries, was insufficient to establish that Goodnight committed robbery.
[13] Interpreting the robbery statute under which Goodnight was charged, the
Indiana Supreme Court in Maul v. State observed:
We have held that the degree of force used to constitute the crime of
robbery has to be a greater degree of force than would be necessary to
take possession of the victim’s property if no resistance was offered
and that there must be enough force to constitute violence.
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467 N.E.2d 1197, 1199 (Ind. 1984).
[14] This Court has also considered the use of force in distinguishing a robbery from
a theft in Cooper v. State, 656 N.E.2d 888 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995). In Cooper, the
defendant took a firearm from Bailey’s back pocket, and the evidence indicated
“that the gun slipped easily from Bailey’s pocket.” Id. at 889. However, Bailey
gave chase, and the two struggled in Bailey’s front yard. Id. Cooper was only
able to escape after biting Bailey’s arm, but was subsequently arrested and
found guilty of robbery. Id. On appeal, this Court affirmed Cooper’s
conviction, noting that “if the person in possession of the property resists before
the property has been removed from the person’s presence or premises, the
taking is not completed immediately,” and that “it is not until the property is
successfully removed from the premises or person’s presence that the robbery is
complete.” Id. Moreover, “[i]f the use of force is necessary to accomplish the
theft and elude the person in possession of the property, it is part of the
robbery.” Id.
[15] Here, Golden testified that as Goodnight rode by, she felt something like “a jerk
that pulled me down,” that came “[u]nder her arm” where she was carrying her
lunch bag. Tr. at 27. Golden further testified that she struck the ground from
“a jerk when the young man came up beside me and pulled me down.” Tr. at
27. This, taken together with testimony from Fleming, Bey, and Sherman that
Goodnight was stopped within six feet of Fleming and Golden and continued
to offer resistance afterward, permitted a reasonable inference that Goodnight
used force in excess of that needed to take Golden’s bag, even if Golden had
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not offered resistance. To the extent Goodnight now argues that “[t]he possible
attempted theft of Golden’s lunch bag did not become an attempted robbery
simply because she was somehow injured in the aftermath,” Appellant’s Br. at
15, and compares the difference between the Theft conviction in Count I with
the Attempted Robbery conviction in Count II, we decline Goodnight’s
invitation to reweigh evidence.
[16] We accordingly conclude there was sufficient evidence to sustain Goodnight’s
conviction for Attempted Robbery.
[17] Affirmed.
Vaidik, C.J., and Crone, J., concur.
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