ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Terrance W. Richmond Karen M. Freeman-Wilson
Milan, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
Christopher L. Lafuse
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
SUPREME COURT OF INDIANA
TERRELL WILLIAMS, )
)
Appellant (Defendant Below), ) No. 49S05-0108-CR-378
) In the Supreme Court
v. )
)
STATE OF INDIANA, ) No. 49A05-0011-CR-485
) In the Court of Appeals
Appellee (Plaintiff Below). )
APPEAL FROM THE MARION SUPERIOR COURT
The Honorable David Dreyer, Judge
Cause No. 49G20-9812-CF-177765
February 15, 2002
SHEPARD, Chief Justice.
An undercover police officer bought drugs from Terrell Williams, then
allowed him to depart and radioed nearby uniformed officers to arrest him.
Williams fled into a nearby vacant apartment. The officers arrested him
there, finding more drugs in his possession. The State charged Williams
with breaking into the apartment and possessing cocaine there, and struck a
plea agreement. It then filed charges against him in another courtroom for
the undercover buy. We hold these second charges were barred.
Facts and Procedural History
On October 12, 1998, Indianapolis Police Detective Ernest Witten was
working undercover attempting to purchase drugs. He encountered Williams
in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Detective Witten approached
Williams and purchased a rock of crack cocaine for $20. After completing
the transaction, Detective Witten broadcast the following description of
Williams:
He’s walking [] west bound towards 38th Street. Do it in front of
3810. He’s wearing white with black pants, braids. He’s about 6 foot
about 230. He’s heavy set. You can see him walking west bound right
now. Walking towards Marietta Drive. He’s real nervous. One car
might do. Have Tony go up there.
(R. at 248.)
As he began to walk away from Witten, Williams saw several police cars
coming toward him. He “cut out running” toward a building where his
brother lived about a hundred yards away. (Supp. R. at 12, 25.) His knock
went unanswered, so he locked himself in the empty apartment across the
hall.
Officers Weaver[1] and Knecht saw a “black male, heavy build, wearing
a white T-shirt and black jogging pants” enter the apartment building.
(Supp. R. at 12.) They obtained the building manager’s consent to search
the empty apartment, where they found Williams and arrested him for
residential entry. Williams had two rocks of crack cocaine hidden inside
his right sock.
Later that day, the State charged Williams with residential entry and
possession of cocaine as class D felonies in Marion Superior Court 9 (the
“Court 9 charges”). Williams agreed to plead guilty to possession of
cocaine as a class D felony and serve 915 days in jail. In return, the
State agreed not to file “habitual or B felony” charges against him.
(Supp. R. at 11.) This deal was apparently negotiated on December 8th or
10th.[2] On December 29, 1998, the court entered judgment of conviction.
The court read into evidence the probable cause affidavit to serve as the
factual basis for Williams’ guilty plea.
In the meantime, on December 16, 1998, the State had filed charges
against Williams in a different room of the same court. It alleged dealing
cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school as a class A felony and possession of
cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school as a class B felony (the “Court 20
charges”). During an initial hearing December 23, 1998, Williams pled not
guilty. On January 29, 1999, the State added a charge that Williams was an
habitual offender.
It is unclear why the plea agreement was not withdrawn after the
Court 20 charges were filed, except that there was a fair amount of
confusion on both sides. Williams’ attorney notified Williams that
additional charges were pending against him in Court 20, but it seems
Williams was under the mistaken belief that the Court 20 charges stemmed
from an unrelated incident in mid-December 1998.[3] (Supp. R. at 7-8, 20-
21.) However, the Court 20 charges actually related to Williams’ sale of
drugs to Detective Witten on October 12th.
The prosecution also suffered from a disconnect. (Supp. R. at 22.)
Different deputy prosecutors handled the two cases, and the Court 9
prosecutor had no knowledge of the Court 20 charges. (R. at 38.)
Williams moved to dismiss the Court 20 charges, which are the subject
of this appeal. The motion was denied. A jury found Williams guilty of
dealing in cocaine as a class A felony, possession of cocaine as a class B
felony, and being an habitual offender. The trial court sentenced him to
forty years, with twenty suspended, for the dealing and possession charges
and added thirty years for the habitual offender finding. The Court of
Appeals affirmed. Williams v. State, No. 49A05-0011-CR-485, slip op. (Ind.
Ct. App. May 31, 2001).
Indiana’s Successive Prosecution Statute
Williams argues the Court 20 charges violate double jeopardy.
(Appellant’s Br. at 10.) He also argues the prosecution of these charges
was barred by Indiana Code § 35-41—4-4(a) because they “should have been
brought by way of the same information” as required by Indiana Code § 35-34-
1-10(c). (Id. at 13.)
We conclude that the Court 20 charges were barred by Indiana’s
successive prosecution statute, and therefore do not reach Williams’
constitutional claims.
Indiana Code Ann. § 35-41-4-4(a) (West 1998) provides:
A prosecution is barred if all of the following exist:
(1) There was a former prosecution of the defendant for a
different offense or for the same offense based upon different
facts.
(2) The former prosecution resulted in an acquittal or a
conviction of the defendant or in an improper termination under
section 3 [IC 35-41-4-3] of this chapter.
(3) The instant prosecution is for an offense with which the
defendant should have been charged in the former prosecution.
(Emphasis added.)
Williams’ circumstances satisfy the first two statutory provisions.
Williams was convicted in a former prosecution for possession of cocaine as
a result of his October 12th arrest. Thus, the outcome of this case
centers on whether the instant prosecution is for offenses with which
Williams should have been charged in the previous prosecution.
The words “should have been charged” must be read in conjunction with
Indiana’s joinder statute. Sharp v. State, 569 N.E.2d 962, 967 (Ind. Ct.
App. 1991) (citing State v. Burke, 443 N.E.2d 859 (Ind. Ct. App. 1983)).
The joinder statute provides in relevant part:
A defendant who has been tried for one (1) offense may thereafter move
to dismiss an indictment or information for an offense which could
have been joined for trial with the prior offenses under section 9 of
this chapter.[4] The motion to dismiss shall be made prior to the
second trial, and shall be granted if the prosecution is barred by
reason of the former prosecution.
Ind. Code Ann. § 35-34-1-10(c) (West 1998) (footnote added). Our Court of
Appeals has characterized the statute this way: “Thus, our legislature has
provided that, where two or more charges are based on the same conduct or
on a series of acts constituting parts of a single scheme or plan, they
should be joined for trial.” State v. Wiggins, 661 N.E.2d 878, 880 (Ind.
Ct. App. 1996) (emphasis in original). This statutory scheme “provid[es] a
check upon the otherwise unlimited power of the State to pursue successive
prosecutions.” Wiggins, 661 N.E.2d at 881. Where the State chooses to
bring multiple prosecutions for a series of acts constituting parts of a
single criminal transaction, it does so at its own peril.
This Court has interpreted the language of Indiana’s successive
prosecution statute on only one occasion. In Seay v. State, 550 N.E.2d
1284 (Ind. 1990), the defendant made four separate sales of controlled
substances to a police informant and an undercover police officer in the
late summer and early fall of 1986. Id. at 1286. The defendant was tried
and convicted of dealing in a controlled substance for sales made on July
14, 1986, and August 4, 1986. Id. While the jury was deliberating, the
State filed additional charges based on sales made August 14, 1986, and
September 2, 1986. Id. Seay argued the subsequent prosecution was barred
by Ind. Code § 35-34-1-10(c) and § 35-41-4-4. Id. at 1287. We held that
these four events were sufficiently separated by time and place that
joinder was not required and subsequent prosecutions were thus permissible.
Id. at 1288.
A Continuous Criminal Act
The trial court found that Williams’ entry into a locked apartment
after fleeing police was an “intervening act . . . sufficient enough for
them to have two separate cases.” (R. at 188.) We disagree. To determine
whether contemporaneous crimes are part of a single scheme or plan, we
examine “whether they are connected by a distinctive nature, have a common
modus operandi, and a common motive.” Henderson v. State, 647 N.E.2d 7, 10
(Ind. Ct. App. 1995) (citations omitted).
The record reveals that after buying the cocaine Detective Witten
radioed Williams’ description and sent Officer Weaver “up there.” (R. at
248.) During a pre-trial hearing Williams testified that when he turned
around “and took a few steps” five or six police cars had arrived. (Supp.
R. at 25.) He ran and the police pursued him into an unoccupied apartment.
(Supp. R. at 25.)
These facts show that the Court 9 and Court 20 charges were based on a
series of acts so connected that they constituted parts of a single scheme
or plan. Therefore, they should have been charged in a single prosecution.
Conclusion
The judgment of the trial court is reversed.
Dickson, Sullivan, Boehm, and Rucker, JJ., concur.
-----------------------
[1] Officer Weaver is the individual identified as Tony in Detective
Whitten’s broadcast. (R. at 335.)
[2] The record is not clear when the plea was actually negotiated. Williams
testified it was negotiated on December 10, 1998; the prosecutor stated it
was negotiated December 8, 1998; and Williams’ attorney could not confirm
either date. (Supp. R. at 7, 19, 37).
[3] The Indianapolis Police Department conducted a drug raid at a home
Williams was visiting on December 16th or 17th and arrested everyone
present. (Supp. R. at 20.)
[4] Ind. Code Ann. § 35-34-1-9 (West 1998) provides in relevant part:
(a) Two (2) or more offenses may be joined in the same indictment or
information, with each offense stated in a separate count when the
offenses . . . (2) are based on the same conduct or on a series of
acts connected together or constituting parts of a single scheme or
plan.