FRIEDLANDER, J.
[W]e can find no authority for a proposition inherent in Morgan’s argument, i.e., that a stipulation may not be placed before a jury via preliminary jury instructions. In fact, in Hardister v. State, 849 N.E.2d 563 (Ind. 2006), our Supreme Court indicated that the opposite is true. In Hardister, the defendant was charged with possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. He complained that the trial court erred in imparting to the jury the details of the prior offense under I.C. § 35-47-4-5 after the parties had stipulated to the qualifying prior felony conviction. The court read two instructions to the jury regarding the prior offense. The first instruction recounted the contents of the original charging information, which included the specific details of the prior offense. The second instruction – as here, a preliminary instruction – included language substantially similar to Instruction 5 in the instant case, i.e.,: “The parties have agreed and stipulated that [the defendant] has a [qualifying conviction]. No further proof will be introduced in this case. You are instructed that you are to consider such fact as true and proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” Hardister v. State, 849 N.E.2d at 577. The Court held that the trial court erred in admitting “the full record” of the prior felony conviction in a case where the defendant admitted his status as a felon. Id.
The Hardister Court concluded, however, that the error was harmless because there was no evidence that the impermissible reference influenced the jury’s decision. In so holding, the Court noted, “[t]here was no other reference to the prior felony during the trial.” Id. Thus, as in the instant case, it appears that the preliminary instruction constituted the only evidence of the stipulation that was properly placed before the jury. We understand that the Hardister defendant did not challenge his conviction on the ground Morgan presents here, but we conclude that this aspect of Hardister provides persuasive authority for the proposition that a stipulation may be presented to the jury in the form of a preliminary instruction, where it may be challenged by a defendant who, at the least, preserves the issue for appellate review in so doing.
BARNES, J., and CRONE, J., concur.