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McKinley v. State

Supreme Court of Indiana
Mar 12, 1980
272 Ind. 689 (Ind. 1980)

Summary

In McKinley, the court viewed the robbery incident practically as two separate episodes. It noted that the defendant first stole money from the cash register, but his actions "took on a different character" when he ordered the store owner to turn over his wallet and wristwatch and kicked him in the face.

Summary of this case from Bledsoe v. State Farm Fire Casualty Company

Opinion

No. 779S206.

Filed March 12, 1980.

1. CRIMINAL LAW — Robbery — Double Jeopardy. — When an individual robs a business establishment, taking that business's money from four employees, he can be convicted on only one count of armed robbery. p. 690.

2. CRIMINAL LAW — Robbery — Double Jeopardy. — Where the individual robs a business and robs an individual, he may be charged in separate counts for each offense. p. 690.

Appeal from a denial of a petition for post conviction relief. Petitioner was convicted of two counts of armed robbery.

From the Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division, Room No. 4, Charles C. Daugherty, Special Judge.

Affirmed.

Harriette Bailey Conn, [Mrs.], Public Defender, Carr L. Darden, Deputy Public Defender, for appellant.

Theodore L. Sendak, Attorney General, Stephen J. Cuthbert, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.


Petitioner sought post-conviction relief in the Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division, Room 4, under Ind. R.P.C. 1. He now appeals the denial of that relief to this Court under Ind. R.P.C. 1, § 7.

Petitioner had been convicted by a jury of two counts of armed robbery, Ind. Code § 35-13-4-6 (Burns 1975) on February 8, 1977. The jury set the sentences at ten years on count I and twenty years on count II, and the court determined that the sentences should run consecutively. These convictions were affirmed by this Court. McKinley v. State, (1978) 269 Ind. 240, 379 N.E.2d 968. The evidence in the record of the original trial indicates that petitioner and an accomplice entered the Norwaldo Pharmacy in Indianapolis, Indiana, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on October 6, 1976. Petitioner brandished a handgun and ordered Ruth Steinkeler, the cashier at the store and wife of the owner, to empty the cash register into a drawer. Petitioner then took a wallet from Herman Steinkeler, the sole proprietor of the Norwaldo Pharmacy, and ordered him to turn over store money and his personal wristwatch. Petitioner contends that the robbery of Mr. Steinkeler's personal belongings and money of the Norwaldo Pharmacy, a sole proprietorship owned by Mr. Steinkeler, constituted only one armed robbery under the "single larceny doctrine" as applied in two recent decisions of this Court. Williams v. State, (1979) 271 Ind. 656, 395 N.E.2d 239; Rogers v. State, (1979) 272 Ind. 65, 396 N.E.2d 348.

In Williams v. State, supra, the defendant took a bank's money from each of four tellers. The defendant was [1, 2] convicted of four counts of armed robbery and this Court reversed three of the convictions, stating:

"We hold that an individual who robs a business establishment, taking that business's money from four employees, can be convicted of only one count of armed robbery. . . ." 395 N.E.2d at 248-9.

In Rogers v. State, supra, the defendant was convicted of two counts of armed robbery for robbing two employees of a market. Again this Court reversed one conviction, stating:

"The Williams case is logically controlling when a robber takes a grocery's money from each of two employees in a holdup." 396 N.E.2d at 355.

Logically, if we were faced with a situation in which a robber took a pharmacy's money from the proprietor and an employee in a holdup, we would again find Williams, v. State, supra, controlling. However, that is not the situation presented in the case at bar. Petitioner would have us hold that only Herman Steinkeler, the individual, was robbed. Petitioner stresses that the wallet, the wristwatch and the Norwaldo Pharmacy, and its receipts, were all of the personal property of Herman Steinkeler. If Mr. Steinkeler had incorporated his pharmacy or if he had set it up as a partnership, the receipts of the business would be easily distinguishable from his personal belongings. Our holding in Williams v. State, supra, was couched in terms of "business establishment" and the "business's money." There was no express requirement that the business entity be a separate "person" as is a corporation or partnership.

The Norwaldo Pharmacy is a business establishment. The robbery of that business in the case at bar constituted one count of armed robbery. This is not a case in which a defendant robbed an individual of various belongings in a personal setting. Rather, petitioner robbed a business, an impersonal setting to anyone other than a regular customer. When petitioner relieved the store owner of his personal wristwatch and wallet, his actions took on a different character. He wronged an individual by robbing both that individual and that individual's business. The record reveals that after he took the watch from Mr. Steinkeler, petitioner kicked Mr. Steinkeler in the face. We do not find that "stripped down to the basic reality" the robbery of the pharmacy and Herman Steinkeler "constituted a unitary transaction." United States v. Hopkins, (1972) 150 U.S. App. D.C. 307, 314, 464 F.2d 816, 823.

For the foregoing reasons, there was no trial court error and the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Givan, C.J., DeBruler, and Pivarnik, J., concur.

Prentice, J., dissents.

NOTE — Reported at 400 N.E.2d 1378.


Summaries of

McKinley v. State

Supreme Court of Indiana
Mar 12, 1980
272 Ind. 689 (Ind. 1980)

In McKinley, the court viewed the robbery incident practically as two separate episodes. It noted that the defendant first stole money from the cash register, but his actions "took on a different character" when he ordered the store owner to turn over his wallet and wristwatch and kicked him in the face.

Summary of this case from Bledsoe v. State Farm Fire Casualty Company

In McKinley, the Norwaldo Pharmacy was robbed and both property of the business and personal property of Mr. Steinkeler were taken. Mr. Steinkeler was the sole proprietor of Norwaldo Pharmacy.

Summary of this case from Lash v. State

In McKinley v. State, (1980) 272 Ind. 689, 400 N.E.2d 1378, this Court held that robbing a pharmacy of its receipts and the proprietor of the pharmacy of his personal belongings did not constitute a unitary transaction, but constituted two separate robberies.

Summary of this case from Duvall v. State

In McKinley v. State, 272 Ind. 689, 400 N.E.2d 1378 (1980), the defendant entered a pharmacy and ordered the cashier to give him the contents of the cash register.

Summary of this case from Winder v. State
Case details for

McKinley v. State

Case Details

Full title:MICHAEL J. McKINLEY v. STATE OF INDIANA

Court:Supreme Court of Indiana

Date published: Mar 12, 1980

Citations

272 Ind. 689 (Ind. 1980)
400 N.E.2d 1378

Citing Cases

Curtis v. State

Id. at 475, 405 N.E.2d at 906.[24] In McKinley v. State, 272 Ind. 689, 400 N.E.2d 1378 (1980), the Indiana…

Lash v. State

Thus each separate offense of robbery in the aforementioned cases contained a separate person from whom the…