Elkins v. State of Indiana

FOR PUBLICATION
 
 
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT:    ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:

JEFFERY L. LANTZ    STEPHEN R. CARTER
Evansville, Indiana     Attorney General of Indiana
 
JON K. AARSTAD    CHRISTOPHER L. LAFUSE
Evansville, Indiana     Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana

 
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA BLAKE E. ELKINS, ) ) Appellant-Defendant, ) ) vs. ) No. 82A01-0103-CR-85 ) STATE OF INDIANA, ) ) Appellee-Plaintiff. )

 
APPEAL FROM THE VANDERBURGH SUPERIOR COURT
The Honorable Nancy Hankins Long, Magistrate
Cause No. 82D05-9908-CM-04304

 
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION

 
ROBERTSON, Senior Judge
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
    The defendant-appellant Elkins is appealing his conviction of operating a watercraft on the Ohio River while intoxicated.
    We reverse.
ISSUE
    We restate the issue as whether the trial court erred in permitting the State to reopen its case after the trial court had granted a judgment of acquittal.
FACTS
    Elkins was arrested by Indiana police officers on the Ohio River for boating while intoxicated.
    After the State rested its case Elkins made a motion. After several pages of convoluted argument, it appears that Elkins was challenging venue by means of a motion for a directed verdict. Elkins queried the court "How's the Court ruling on my motion for directed….", to which the Court replied "I'm gonna grant it"
The trial court then allowed the State to make a hurried call to the county surveyor's office. An assistant to the surveyor quickly appeared and testified to the existence of the Indiana-Kentucky state line as it appeared on a joint exhibit map. Essentially the testimony showed that the arrest was made in Indiana. The trial court recanted from its earlier ruling and found Elkins guilty.
DISCUSSION AND DECISION
In passing, we note that contrary to assertions at trial that venue must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it need only be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. Weiss v. State, 735 N.E.2d 1194, 1196 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000).
Our decision is controlled by Williams v. State, 634 N.E.2d 849 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994), and the applicable authorities cited therein.
The arguments of counsel on both sides notwithstanding, we find that jeopardy attached when the trial judge granted Elkin's motion for a directed verdict.
    Whether the trial court's action constitutes acquittal for purposes of double jeopardy is not to be ascertained from the form of the judge's action although the form of the order entered by the trial court should not be ignored, but rather by determining whether the substance of the ruling, whatever its label, actually represents resolution, correct or not, of some or all of the factual elements of the offense charged. Williams, supra at 853. Judgments on the evidence entered pursuant to a defendant's motion on the grounds that the State had failed to prove venue is an acquittal. Id. At 853. A judgment of acquittal, even where it is based upon egregiously erroneous foundation, stops the retrial of the defendant. Id. At 892.
    Although Williams concerns the attempt at a second trial, we find that the proposition of affording the prosecution another opportunity to supply evidence which it failed to muster the first time around is equally applicable to the facts of this case.
CONCLUSION
    We refrain from further comment about the course and conduct of this trial. This cause is reversed and remanded with the trial court ordered to enter a judgment of acquittal.
RILEY, J., and BAILEY, J., concur.