Aaron E. Keaton v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

MEMORANDUM DECISION
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED
regarded as precedent or cited before any Nov 15 2018, 10:46 am
court except for the purpose of establishing
CLERK
the defense of res judicata, collateral Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
estoppel, or the law of the case. and Tax Court
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Jerry T. Drook Curtis T. Hill, Jr.
Marion, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Monika Prekopa Talbot
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Aaron E. Keaton, November 15, 2018
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
18A-CR-1256
v. Appeal from the Grant Circuit
Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable Mark Spitzer,
Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge
Trial Court Cause No.
27C01-1612-F4-63
Tavitas, Judge.
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Case Summary
[1] Aaron Keaton appeals his conviction for theft, a Level 6 felony. We affirm.
Issue
[2] Keaton states a single issue in his brief, which we restate as whether the
evidence is sufficient to convict Keaton for theft.
Facts
[3] On September 2, 2016, Mike Harrison went on an overnight trip, leaving his
home unattended. Harrison returned home on September 3, 2016, at
approximately 7:00 p.m. When Harrison approached the back of his home,
Harrison immediately noticed the back door was open. Harrison always closes
and locks the back door when he leaves the house. Harrison walked toward the
house and noticed damage to the door and papers scattered all over the floor.
Harrison walked through the house to see the other damage before calling
police.
[4] Several cabinets and doors throughout the home were opened, and their
contents removed. In surveying his home, Harrison saw that a jewelry box,
which typically sat on a bedroom dresser, was disturbed. Specifically, Harrison
noticed two bracelets from the jewelry box were missing. These bracelets were
given to Harrison for years of service at General Motors. In total, Harrison
owned six bracelets, but only two were missing that day. The two missing
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bracelets were different than the other bracelets in that the missing bracelets
contained diamonds.
[5] When Harrison went into his garage, Harrison noticed bags were pulled out of
their storage space and scattered across the floor, the door to his safe was open,
and the drawers on his two file cabinets were also open. The safe door was
closed, but not locked, when Harrison left for his trip. Harrison typically stored
the following items in the safe: a pistol, personal paperwork, a coin purse, and
a manila envelope, which contained two rings, two bracelets, and a necklace.
These items were missing from the safe, and the safe was “totally empty.” Tr.
Vol. II p. 67. The necklaces and rings from the safe belonged to Harrison’s late
wife. Harrison and his wife had the rings custom-made at a local jewelry store.
[6] Officer Joe Ryder of the Grant County Sheriff’s Department responded to
Harrison’s call. Officer Ryder identified the damage to the door as consistent
with his other burglary investigations in the past. Harrison walked through
each room with Office Ryder, and Harrison reported the missing items and
pointed out contents in the house that were different than how Harrison left
them before his trip. Officer Ryder was able to locate a partial finger print on
the safe. The lab later determined that the “partial latent print was not suitable
for comparison.” Id. at 89-90. The next day, another officer went to local
pawn shops to determine if any items matching the description of Harrison’s
stolen items had been sold or pawned.
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[7] Officers discovered that, on September 3, 2016, at approximately 12:15 p.m.,
Keaton brought two rings to the Trading Post Pawn Shop (“Trading Post”) to
sell. Brian Sills, the Trading Post owner, purchased the rings for a total of six
hundred dollars. The video surveillance from the Trading Post showed Keaton
selling the rings.
[8] A few days after September 3, 2016, Officer Ryder arrived at Harrison’s home
to show him photos of rings that matched the description of Harrison’s rings.
When Harrison first looked at the rings, he did not believe them to be his.
Harrison was then taken to the Trading Post to look at the rings in person.
When Harrison arrived and viewed the rings, Harrison recognized them
immediately as belonging to his late wife.
[9] Officer Ryder questioned Keaton regarding the transaction. When Officer
Ryder asked Keaton how he came into possession of the jewelry, Keaton told
Officer Ryder that a friend gave Keaton the rings one week before the incident.
Later, Keaton changed his story and told Officer Ryder that Keaton received
the rings two weeks before the incident. Keaton refused to give Officer Ryder
the name of the friend who allegedly gave him the rings.
[10] Harrison had previously met Keaton several times when Keaton stayed with
one of Harrison’s neighbors whom Harrison visited frequently. On one
occasion, Keaton visited Harrison’s property to help Harrison start a lawn
mower. Keaton and Harrison worked on the lawn mower in Harrison’s back
yard.
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[11] Keaton was subsequently charged with burglary, a Level 4 felony, and theft, a
Level 6 felony. A jury found Keaton not guilty of burglary and guilty of theft.
The trial court sentenced Keaton to two and one-half years executed at the
Indiana Department of Correction.
Analysis
[12] Keaton challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for his theft conviction.
When there is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, “[w]e neither
reweigh evidence nor judge witness credibility.” Gibson v. State, 51 N.E.3d 204,
210 (Ind. 2016) (citing Bieghler v. State, 481 N.E.2d 78, 84 (Ind. 1985)). Instead,
“we ‘consider only that evidence most favorable to the judgment together with
all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom.’” Id. (quoting Bieghler, 481 N.E.2d
at 84). “We will affirm the judgment if it is supported by ‘substantial evidence
of probative value even if there is some conflict in that evidence.’” Id. (quoting
Bieghler, 481 N.E.2d at 84); see also McCallister v. State, 91 N.E.3d 554, 558 (Ind.
2018) (holding that, even though there was conflicting evidence, it was “beside
the point” because that argument “misapprehend[s] our limited role as a
reviewing court”). Further, “[w]e will affirm the conviction unless no
reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a
reasonable doubt.” Love v. State, 73 N.E.3d 693, 696 (Ind. 2017) (citing Drane v.
State, 867 N.E.2d 144, 146 (Ind. 2007)).
[13] Keaton was charged with theft, a Level 6 felony, pursuant to Indiana Code
Section 35-43-4-2. Under Indiana Code Section 35-43-4-2, the State must prove
that Keaton “knowingly or intentionally exert[ed] unauthorized control over
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property of another person, with intent to deprive the other person of any part
of its value or use. . . .” Relevant here, the theft was a Level 6 felony as “the
value of the property [was] at least seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) and less
than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).” See Ind. Code § 35-43-4-2(a)(1)(A). The
State proved the value of the rings to be a combined total of at least $750
through Sills’ testimony that Sills paid $600 for both rings, which was the
“wholesale” price. Tr. Vol. II p. 101. Sills testified that the wholesale price will
be “ten to fifteen percent” of the retail price. Id. at 114.
[14] “‘Knowledge that property is stolen may be inferred from the circumstances
surrounding the possession.’” Purifoy v. State, 821 N.E.2d 409, 414 (Ind. Ct.
App. 2005) (quoting Bennett v. State, 787 N.E.2d 938, 946 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003),
trans. denied), trans. denied. “The test of knowledge is not whether a reasonable
person would have known that the property had been the subject of theft but
whether, from the circumstances surrounding the possession of the property,
the defendant knew that it had been the subject of theft.” Purifoy, 821 N.E.2d at
414 (citing Gibson v. State, 643 N.E.2d 885, 891 (Ind. 1994)). “Possession of
recently stolen property when joined with attempts at concealment, evasive or
false statements, or an unusual manner of acquisition may be sufficient
evidence of knowledge the property was stolen.” Id. (citing Gibson, 643 N.E.2d
at 891). Our supreme court has held:
[T]he mere unexplained possession of recently stolen property
standing alone does not automatically support a conviction for
theft. Rather, such possession is to be considered along with the
other evidence in a case, such as how recent or distant in time
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was the possession from the moment the item was stolen, and
what are the circumstances of the possession (say, possessing
right next door as opposed to many miles away). In essence, the
fact of possession and all the surrounding evidence about the
possession must be assessed to determine whether any rational
juror could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Fortson v. State, 919 N.E.2d 1136, 1143 (Ind. 2010) (citing Barnett v. State, 834
N.E.2d 169, 172) (Ind. Ct. App. 2005)).
[15] There is no dispute that Keaton was the person who sold Harrison’s jewelry.
Similarly, Keaton did not appear to dispute that the property was stolen from
Harrison’s home. Instead, Keaton’s argument seems to center around whether
there was evidence Keaton knew the rings were stolen. Keaton told Officer
Ryder that he received the jewelry from a friend. The first time Keaton told
Officer Ryder his version of the facts, Keaton indicated that he received the
rings from his friend one week before Keaton sold them. Later, Keaton told
Officer Ryder he received the rings two weeks before Keaton sold them.
Keaton refused to identify the friend to Officer Ryder. Harrison took his trip on
September 2, and Keaton sold the items on September 3.
[16] Keaton’s account of the source of the rings was inconsistent and vague.
Keaton’s responses to Officer Ryder were evasive, and Keaton stated he
received the rings one week prior and then changed his story and stated he
received the rings two weeks prior to September 3rd. Both time frames were
impossible and false. There was also evidence presented that Keaton was
familiar with Harrison’s neighborhood. Keaton was familiar with the back of
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Harrison’s house, and Keaton previously spent some time in the back yard with
Harrison on at least one occasion. This circumstantial evidence was sufficient
to lead a jury to conclude that Keaton knowingly exerted unauthorized control
over Harrison’s property, with the intent to deprive Harrison of its value or use.
To the extent Keaton invites us to reweigh the evidence to reach a different
conclusion, we decline to do so. The surrounding facts and circumstantial
evidence demonstrate more than just possession of recently stolen property, and
a reasonable jury could have found Keaton guilty of theft beyond a reasonable
doubt.
Conclusion
[17] The evidence is sufficient to convict Keaton of theft, a Level 6 felony.
Accordingly, we affirm.
[18] Affirmed.
Brown, J., and Altice, J., concur.
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