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Published by the Indiana Office of Court Services

Sharp . State, No. 12A02-1010-CR-1188, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., July 19, 2011).

July 22, 2011 Filed Under: Criminal Tagged With: Appeals, N. Vaidik

VAIDIK, J.
            Under the actual evidence test, the evidence presented at trial is examined to determine whether each challenged offense was established by separate and distinct facts. Lee v. State, 892 N.E.2d 1231, 1234 (Ind. 2008). To show that two challenged offenses constitute the “same offense,” a defendant must demonstrate a reasonable possibility that the evidentiary facts used by the factfinder to establish the essential elements of one offense may also have been used to establish the essential elements of a second challenged offense. Id. Application of this test requires the court to identify the essential elements of each of the challenged crimes and to evaluate the evidence from the factfinder’s perspective. Id.
            Sharp argues that the “sex acts” alleged in the charging informations arose “from the same incident.” Appellant’s Br. p. 15. The actual evidence used to convict Sharp of the two counts of child molesting was not the same. For the Class A felony child molesting conviction, the State relied on C.S.’s testimony that Sharp “sucked [his] penis” and “balls.” Tr. p. 77, 82. And for the Class C felony child molesting conviction, the State separately relied on C.S.’s testimony that Sharp “touched [his] private area,” meaning “penis.” Id. at 76. The State clarified that the touching and sucking were separate instances:

Q: Could you tell us about that?

A: He touched my private area.

* * * * *

Q: Did he do anything else to you?

A: He yeah he sucked my penis.

Id. at 76, 77. In addition, C.S. testified that the molestations occurred every other weekend for two years, meaning that numerous acts occurred that would support the two convictions. In its closing argument, the State again carefully parsed out the evidence for each child molesting count:

Count One being uh the Child Molesting involving criminal deviate conduct. You heard evidence that that was oral sex in which uh Michael Sharp committed that on [C.S.]. And Count Two being the class C felony of Child Molestation involving uh the uh fondling of [C.S.] with the intent to uh arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either [C.S.] or Michael Sharp.

Id. at 155. We find that the State established that Sharp committed two separate offenses based on distinct facts. There is no reasonable possibility that the jury used the same evidentiary facts to establish both the essential elements of Class A felony child molesting and the essential elements of Class C felony child molesting. There is no double jeopardy violation.
KIRSCH, J., and MATHIAS, J., concur.

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