Griffin v. State

BOEHM, Justice,

concurring in result.

I concur in parts 1, 2 and 3a of the majority’s opinion and concur in result in 3b. I agree that Griffin’s convictions for robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery were not improper. As explained in my opinion concurring in result in Richardson v. State, 717 N.E.2d 32, 57 (Ind.1999), I base this conclusion on the common law rule announced in Thompson v. State, 259 Ind. 587, 592, 290 N.E.2d 724, 727 (1972), that requires convictions to be supported by facts that were “independently supportable, separate and distinct.” In contrast, this Court has often held that convictions for both conspiracy and the substantive crime are not permitted where the overt act charged in the conspiracy offense is the substantive crime. See, e.g., Derado v. State, 622 N.E.2d 181, 184 (1993). In light of the numerous overt acts charged and the evidence of each presented at trial, I agree that there is no reasonable possibility that the jury relied solely on the taking of marijuana (the robbery) as the overt act for the conspiracy conviction. Accordingly, convictions on both are proper under Thompson.

SELBY, J., concurs.