BAKER, J.
Today we decide an issue of first impression regarding the application of double jeopardy principles when a defendant’s sentence is enhanced under the firearm enhancement statute following a conviction for reckless homicide. We conclude that double jeopardy principles are not implicated in this instance.
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The reckless homicide statute provides that “A person who recklessly kills another human being commits reckless homicide, a Class C felony.” I.C. § 35-42-1-5. The firearm enhancement statute states that:
(a) As used in this section, “firearm” has the meaning set forth in IC 35-47-1-5.
(b) As used in this section, “offense” means:
(1) a felony under IC 35-42 that resulted in death or serious bodily injury;
(2) kidnapping; or
(3) criminal confinement as a Class B felony.
(c) The state may seek, on a page separate from the rest of a charging instrument, to have a person who allegedly committed an offense sentenced to an additional fixed term of imprisonment if the state can show beyond a reasonable doubt that the person knowingly or intentionally used a firearm in the commission of the offense.
. . .
(e) If the jury (if the hearing is by jury) or the court (if the hearing is to the court alone) finds that the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the person knowingly or intentionally used a firearm in the commission of the offense, the court may sentence the person to an additional fixed term of imprisonment of five (5) years.
I.C. § 35-50-2-11.
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Notwithstanding the absence of Indiana caselaw directly on point, we note that several jurisdictions have concluded that firearm sentencing enhancements similar to ours do not raise double jeopardy concerns because the enhancement is merely a cumulative punishment rather than a separate offense. . . . .
We agree with those jurisdictions recognizing that sentencing enhancements are not offenses for double jeopardy purposes in circumstances such as the one before us. Indeed, the Firearm Enhancement Statute only prescribes an additional penalty for felonies that are committed with the use of a firearm.
Moreover, we note that in Nicoson [v. State, No. 32S04-1003-CR-150 (Dec. 15, 2010)], the defendant was charged with, and convicted of, criminal confinement with a deadly weapon, a class B felony, because he was armed with a deadly weapon. [Footnote omitted.] The trial court enhanced the sentence for that offense pursuant to Indiana Code section 35-50-5-2 because the defendant “used” a firearm while committing the offense. Slip op. at 1. It was determined, among other things, that the five-year sentence enhancement did not run afoul of double jeopardy principles. Id. at 1, 4, 8.
In reaching that result, the Nicoson Court observed that
The ‘extra’ five years about which Nicoson complains is not part of these provisions in the confinement statutes that authorize higher classes of felonies to be charged. Rather, it appears in the part of the Code on penalties. The section at issue authorizes an additional fixed sentence for the underlying offense where a firearm is used.
. . .
Here, the State initially needed to prove only that Nicoson committed confinement while armed with a deadly weapon. Ind. Code § 35-42-3-3. To apply the additional fixed five-year term the statute requires the State to prove Nicoson “used” a firearm in commission of his offense. Ind. Code § 35-50-2-11. The record clearly reveals that Nicoson was not only armed with a deadly weapon, but that he used the firearm—firing into the air, ordering the victims from the vehicle with it, and firing at the victims’ vehicle as they drove away.
Slip op. at 6, 8.
Here, the additional five years about which Cooper complains does not concern, in any way, an elevation of a statutory offense to a higher class of felony. Rather, Cooper was charged with the crime of reckless homicide, a class C felony. As set forth above, an individual commits that offense when it is established that he or she “recklessly kills another human being.” I.C. § 35-42-1-5. Reckless homicide does not require any showing that a defendant used a weapon, and the jury was not required to specifically determine that Cooper used a shotgun in the commission of the underlying offense. And unlike the confinement statute under which Nicoson was charged, there is no statutory provision that elevates the offense of reckless homicide to a higher class of felony if additional circumstances are present.
Moreover, the five-year sentence enhancement in Nicoson that applies to Cooper’s use of a firearm in the commission of the offense is embodied in the penalties provision of the Indiana Code. More succinctly, Cooper was convicted of a single offense and only one sentence enhancement was imposed as a result of his use of the firearm in the commission of the crime. Thus, we are not concerned here with the prohibition against multiple enhancements.
We also note that the circumstances here are unlike those that involve, for instance, the offenses of carrying a handgun without a license and a violation of the serious violent felon (SVF) statute. For instance, under Indiana Code section 35-47-2-1, the State is required to prove that the defendant carried a handgun in a vehicle or on his person without a license. And under the SVF statute, the State must prove that the defendant was convicted of committing, attempting to commit, or conspiring to commit a serious violent felony and “knowingly or intentionally possess[ed] a firearm.” I.C. § 35-47-4-5.
When construing these statutes in Hatchett v. State, 740 N.E.2d 920, 926 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000), we determined that there was a reasonable probability that the trial court used the same evidentiary facts to establish the essential elements of both offenses. As a result of the double jeopardy violation, we remanded the cause and instructed the trial court to vacate the defendant’s conviction and sentence for carrying a handgun without a license.
Again, Cooper was convicted of a single offense, for which the legislature has specifically provided a harsher penalty based on the use of a firearm. And even though the jury relied upon Cooper’s use of the shotgun for both the underlying offense and the enhancement, the legislature’s intent is clear that criminal offenses committed with firearms are to receive additional punishment. Moreover, if the legislature intended that offenses resulting in serious bodily injury alleged to have been committed with a firearm were to be excepted from the firearm enhancement, it could have drafted the statute in that manner. However, the legislature chose to include all offenses against persons that result in serious bodily injury. And the inclusion of that requirement renders it virtually certain that the legislature would have foreseen that many of those injuries would be inflicted by the use of firearms.
For all these reasons, we conclude that no double jeopardy violation occurred and reject Cooper’s contention that his sentence under the Firearm Enhancement Statute must be set aside.
VAIDIK, J., and BARNES, J., concur.