Harris v. State
Harris v. State
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from two separate trials of the co-defendants Donald Grayfield Harris and Leonard Harris. The trials although separate were held on the same day before the same judge. The cases have been consolidated for the purposes of appeal.
Donald Harris was tried and convicted of armed robbery on the morning of June 13, 1969. He received a sentence of not less than ten years nor more than twenty-five years. The third co-defendant George Whitfield entered a plea of guilty of robbery as charged under the minor statute. His case is not before us. In the afternoon Leonard Harris was tried and found guilty of theft of the sum of less than $100 and sentenced to not less than one year nor more than five years.
The facts in the Donald Harris case were as follows:
A robbery occurred at the Gay Dan restaurant in Indianapolis at about 8:30 P.M. on March 11,1969. A waitress on duty at the time testified that two men came in and after threatening her with a revolver took approximately $70 in cash. She testified that she saw the two men leave in a white, 1961 Chevrolet. The police were called and within 10 to 15 minutes stopped a 1961 Chevrolet, white over light green, with the three co-defendants as occupants. At the time of the arrest the automobile and the occupants were searched. The police found one toy revolver, one chrome plated Italian gas gun, and a hook bill knife. Approximately $70 was found in the coat pocket of Donald Harris. Leonard Harris was the driver of the car.
Donald Harris made an oral confession of his participation in the crime some 17 hours after the arrest and immediately after signing a waiver of his constitutional rights.
Appellants also questioned the testimony of the police officer that Donald Harris orally confessed his participation in the robbery, pointing out that on cross-examination the officer testified that the usual practice in such cases is to reduce an accused’s statement to writing. We have repeatedly stated that in reviewing the sufficiency of evidence this Court will not weigh the evidence nor resolve questions of credibility of the witnesses. We will look only to that evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom which support the findings of the trial court. Asher v. State (1969), 253 Ind. 25, 244 N. E. 2d 89, 16 Ind. Dec. 429. The evidence submitted by the state as above recited was sufficient to support the finding that Donald Grayfield Harris was guilty of robbery as charged.
The record discloses the following evidence in the trial of Leonard Harris:
The Gay Dan restaurant on 16th Street in Indianapolis was robbed at about 8:30 P. M. on March 11, 1969, by two armed men, one fitting the description of either Donald Harris or Leonard Harris (these men are twin brothers), and the other man fitting an altogether different description. Following the robbery the two men left in a 1961 white Chevrolet automobile. Less than 15 minutes later the Indianapolis police, who had been advised of the robbery, observed a white over green 1961 Chevrolet proceeding southeast on Indiana Avenue. They observed it turn south on Blake Street where it was stopped by the arresting officers. In a conversation with Leonard Harris, who was driving the vehicle at the time it was stopped,
The fact that Leonard Harris was driving the vehicle less than 15 minutes after the robbery, the fact that he attempted to establish an alibi with the police officer that he had been playing pool in a pool hall which officers had observed him passing immediately prior to the apprehension, is evidence from which the trier of fact could conclude that Leonard Harris was attempting to hide the fact that he had participated in the robbery. An attempt to conceal one’s participation in a crime may be considered by the trier of fact as evidence of guilt. Reno v. State (1967), 248 Ind. 334, 228 N. E. 2d 14, 11 Ind. Dec. 43.
The testimony of the waitress that one of the robbers looked like one of the Harrises and the other was of an entirely different description was evidence from which the trier of fact could conclude that one of the Harrises accompanied by Whitfield entered the restaurant, while the other Harris remained in the car as a lookout and get away driver. We, therefore, hold the evidence was sufficient to support the finding of the trial court that Leonard Harris was guilty of theft of the sum of less than $100.
The decision of the trial court is affirmed both as to Donald Grayfield Harris and Leonard Harris.
Arterburn, C. J. and Hunter, J., concur; DeBruler, J., and Prentice, J., concur and dissent with opinions.
Concurring in Part
Concurring and Dissenting Opinion
Like my colleague Prentice, I concur with the majority in the case of Donald Grayfield Harris, but dis
During the trial of Leonard Harris, the victim testified that she was held up by two men at gunpoint and that they left in a 1961 White Chevrolet. She made no mention of a third man in the car. She indicated that the defendant “looked like” one of the men in the restaurant, but she could not say definitely that he was present, admitting that she did not know. The arresting officer testified that he stopped a white 1961 Chevrolet about one mile from the robbery scene. Leonard Harris was driving the car and there were two passengers riding with him. The officer testified that he placed them under arrest for robbery and searched the car. However, no evidence of an incriminating nature was found or introduced against the appellant in this case.
Unlike the previous trial, there was no evidence in this case that placed the appellant at or near the scene of the robbery; no evidence of any inculpatory statement by the appellant; no evidence that anyone else in the car was connected with the crime; and no evidence that any proceeds of the robbery were found in the car. Restricting our review to the evidence actually introduced at this trial I can find no evidence from which a trier of fact could infer beyond a reasonable doubt that the appelllant had any relation to the robbery in question. Thus, the evidence presented by the State against Leonard Harris is not sufficient to support a conviction, and in my opinion he should be discharged.
The majority states and finds great significance in the fact that Leonard Harris said he had been playing pool before the stop while the officer testified that he saw the car pass the pool hall prior to the apprehension. There are two rather obvious problems with this interpretation of the record of the Leonard Harris trial. In the first place, the officer admitted that he did not know where the car had been prior to the stop
If the State had introduced evidence that indicated that the car or its other occupants were indeed connected with the robbery, and if Leonard Harris indeed had made statements to the effect that he had been playing pool just prior to the stop, then there would at least be some evidence to support this conviction. However, neither of these suppositions are supported by the record, and, therefore, the conviction of Leonard Harris should be reversed.
Concurring in Part
Opinion Concurring in Part, Dissenting in Part
I concur in the majority opinion with respect to the affirmance of the conviction of Donald Harris but dissent from such opinion as to the affirmance of the conviction of Leonard Harris.
It is my opinion that the consolidation of these appeals has confused the majority into a commingling of the evidence from the two separate trials, and that the same understandable error was committed by the trial judge, who presided over both trials in the same day. The evidence being so similar in the two trials, it is difficult to erase from one’s mind the evidence of one while considering the evidence in the other. However, my meticulous examination of Leonard’s Bill of Exceptions has convinced me that the evidence presented in his trial was insufficient, as a matter of law, to sustain his conviction under the tests set forth in Baker v. State (1956), 236 Ind. 55, 138 N. E. 2d 641 and Manlove v. State (1968), 250 Ind. 70, 232 N. E. 2d 874.
The evidence in Leonard’s trial, with regard to the actual
From a review of the Bill of Exceptions in the trial of Donald Harris, a finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, was warranted that Donald was the one who entered the restaurant and committed the robbery. Were this evidence presented in
Note. — Reported in 281 N. E. 2d 85.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Donald Grayfield Harris, Leonard Harris and George Whitfield v. State of Indiana
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published