Scott Roberts for www.theindianalawyer.com
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled on rehearing that a man’s two convictions for resisting law enforcement violated Indiana’s double jeopardy prohibition and remanded the case to trial court to vacate one of them.
The rehearing modified an original memorandum decision in Myles K. Martin Jr. v. State of Indiana, 82A01-1507-CR-966.
Officers attempted to stop Martin as he drove a stolen SUV, but Martin chose to flee. After officers disabled the vehicle, Martin fled from officers on foot. The state separately charged Martin with resisting law enforcement as a Class D felony while in the car, and resisting law enforcement as a Class A misdemeanor while on foot.
In the rehearing, Judge Edward Najam wrote for the majority, joined by Judge Melissa May, that “when a defendant flees from law enforcement by a vehicle and then exits that vehicle to continue fleeing by foot, the defendant has committed one continuous act of resisting law enforcement,†citing Lewis v. State, 43 N.E.3d 689, 691 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015). Subsequently, the COA reversed Martin’s Class A misdemeanor conviction and remanded for the trial court to vacate it and the resulting sentence.
Judge Patricia Riley would deny rehearing without opinion.
