MEMORANDUM DECISION FILED
Feb 27 2017, 11:58 am
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
CLERK
this Memorandum Decision shall not be Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
regarded as precedent or cited before any and Tax Court
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
Steven E. Ripstra Curtis T. Hill, Jr.
Ripstra Law Office Attorney General of Indiana
Jasper, Indiana
Tyler G. Banks
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Katie M. Wilson, February 27, 2017
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.
82A01-1607-CR-1714
v. Appeal from the Vanderburgh
Superior Court
State of Indiana, The Honorable Sheila M.
Appellee-Plaintiff. Corcoran, Magistrate
Trial Court Cause No.
82D03-1507-CM-3886
Najam, Judge.
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Statement of the Case
[1] Katie M. Wilson appeals her conviction for theft, as a Class A misdemeanor,
following a bench trial. Wilson presents a single issue for our review, namely,
whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support her conviction. We
affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[2] On July 2, 2015, loss prevention officer Joshua Price was working at a Walmart
store located in Evansville when he observed two women placing unpurchased
merchandise into a brown bag. Price followed the women and observed them
place additional unpurchased merchandise into the bag. Price then watched as
the women left the store with the merchandise without paying for any of it.
Price was “not able to get up there before they hit the parking lot to actually
stop them,” so he called the Evansville Police Department “and informed them
what [he] had observed.” Tr. at 11. Price “followed [the two women] to the
vehicle that they got into,” which he described as a red Hyundai Sonata, and he
gave dispatch the license plate number. Id. Price further described that he saw
that vehicle being driven into a nearby Best Buy parking lot, but he then lost
sight of the vehicle.
[3] Evansville Police Department (“EPD”) Detective Tony Mayhew was in the
area at the time and found the red Sonata with the license plate given by
dispatch parked outside a department store located near Best Buy. Detective
Mayhew saw two women get out of the car and enter Gordman’s department
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store, and he told two other EPD officers what he had observed. After those
officers arrived at the scene, they approached the women, who identified
themselves as Wilson and Ja’La Lyle. The officers contacted Price, who came
to the scene and identified Wilson and Lyle as the shoplifters he had seen at
Walmart. The officers placed Wilson and Lyle under arrest. Detective
Mayhew observed items of clothing with price tags on them in the backseat of
the Sonata. Detective Mayhew obtained a search warrant for the car and
recovered several items that had been stolen from Walmart.
[4] The State charged Wilson with theft, as a Class A misdemeanor. After a bench
trial, the trial court found Wilson guilty as charged and entered judgment and
sentence accordingly. This appeal ensued.
Discussion and Decision
[5] Wilson contends that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support
her conviction for theft. In our review of such claims, “we consider only the
evidence and reasonable inferences most favorable to the conviction[,] neither
reweighing evidence nor reassessing witness credibility.” Griffith v. State, 59
N.E.3d 947, 958 (Ind. 2016). “We affirm the judgment unless no reasonable
factfinder could find the defendant guilty.” Id.
[6] To prove that Wilson committed Class A misdemeanor theft, the State was
required to show that she knowingly or intentionally exerted unauthorized
control over property of another person, with intent to deprive the other person
of any part of its value or use. Ind. Code § 35-43-4-2(a) (2017). At trial, Price
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testified that he saw Wilson and Lyle place clothing items in a brown bag and
leave the Walmart without paying for anything. After the EPD officers
apprehended Wilson and Lyle, Price identified them as the women he had seen
shoplift items from Walmart. And after Wilson’s arrest, Detective Mayhew
found items stolen from Walmart in the backseat of the car in which Wilson
and Lyle had been driving.
[7] On appeal, Wilson maintains that the evidence is insufficient to support her
conviction because “the brown bag/purse [that] Price [had] identified [as
having been the receptacle for the stolen clothing items] was not recovered; the
brown purse was carried by Lyle, not [Wilson]; and no video tape was
preserved by Wal[mart].” Appellant’s Br. At 9. But those contentions amount
to nothing more than a request that we reweigh the evidence, which we will not
do. We hold that the State presented sufficient evidence to support Wilson’s
theft conviction.
[8] Affirmed.
Bailey, J., and May, J., concur.
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