Leon v. State

1

Brandi Elizabeth Leon, Appellant-Defendant, v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff

No. 23A-CR-1420

Court of Appeals of Indiana

December 28, 2023

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision is not binding precedent for any court and may be cited only for persuasive value or to establish res judicata, collateral estoppel, or law of the case.

Appeal from the Huntington Superior Court The Honorable Jennifer E Newton, Judge Trial Court Cause No. 35D01-2207-F2-219

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT

Justin R. Wall Wall Legal Services Huntington, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE

Theodore E. Rokita Indiana Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

Sierra A. Murray Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

MEMORANDUM DECISION

May, Judge [¶1] Brandi E. Leon appeals her convictions of Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine,^[1] Level 6 felony unlawful possession of a syringe,^[2] and Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana.^[3] Leon raises three issues on appeal, which we revise and restate as:

(1) Whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support Leon's convictions;

(2) Whether Leon's twenty-six-year sentence is inappropriate in light of the nature of her offenses and her character; and

(3) Whether a finding of guilt on a charge of Level 3 felony possession of methamphetamine^[4] should have been vacated on double jeopardy grounds.

After finding no error in the issues raised by Leon, we affirm her convictions and sentences. Nevertheless, we also remand for correction of the sentencing order, which erroneously indicates the jury found Leon guilty of Level 3 felony possession of cocaine rather than of Level 3 felony possession of methamphetamine.

Facts and Procedural History

[¶2] Officers from the Huntington Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service were searching for a wanted person believed to be staying in Courtney Taylor's apartment. Leon and Taylor were friends, and Leon occasionally stayed at Taylor's apartment. On July 19, 2022, Leon arrived at Taylor's apartment with a black tote. While Leon went into the apartment with the black tote, David Saunders and Erika Clark stayed in Leon's car. Leon dropped off the black tote and asked Zachary Fellers, who was also staying at Taylor's apartment, to help her carry something else from her car into the apartment.

[¶3] Officers observed people coming and going from Taylor's apartment and began speaking to Leon, Fellers, and Saunders in the parking lot. Taylor, who was still inside her apartment, went out onto her balcony and asked the officers what was happening. After hearing their explanation, Taylor allowed officers to enter her apartment to search for the wanted person. While conducting that search, officers observed drugs and drug paraphernalia in plain view. Officers "asked [Taylor] for written consent to further search her apartment," and she consented. (Tr. Vol. 2 at 152.)

[¶4] During the apartment search, police found a black tote that contained a black bag and personal hygiene items. Inside the black bag, there were "38 bags that had an opaque crystal substance inside[,]" "one large bag that contained a substantial amount of crystal substance" and one bag with "green plant material." (Id. at 160.) Forensic testing revealed the large bag contained 7.15 grams of methamphetamine, the thirty-eight smaller plastic bags contained a combined weight of 53.41 grams of methamphetamine, and the other bag contained 3.91 grams of marijuana.

[¶5] Officers seized Taylor's cell phone and transported her to the Huntington Police Department for an interview. Officers questioned Taylor on the drugs and paraphernalia found in her apartment during the search. Taylor indicated the black tote and black bag were not hers, but she admitted ownership of other items found in the apartment. Taylor was released later that evening, but police kept Taylor's cell phone. Taylor went home and used her mother's cell phone to communicate with Leon through Facebook Messenger:

Leon: "About to run"

* * * * *

Leon: "No doll like lave town forever"

* * * * *

Leon: "Its important dude did they find all thpe gram bags?"

* * * * *

Taylor: "Yes they did" Leon: "Im sick"

* * * * *

Leon: "I think Im going on the run forevr"

* * * * *

Leon: "Im messed up in the game rn"

* * * * *

Leon: "Im so done w this life bro"

* * * * *

Leon: "Gorl the cops are basically saying that u implicated me as a drug dealer"

Taylor: "I didnt say anything like that i said you stayed here for 2 nights and that the black bag was not mine" Taylor: "I told them that i was not going to talk about anyone i am getting like 3 felonies dude"

(Ex. Vol. 4 at 117-126) (errors in original). After messaging with Leon, Taylor returned to the police station to provide officers with her messages with Leon that "she felt were relevant to the investigation." (Tr. Vol. 3 at 15.) Taylor signed a written consent to allow officers to search her cell phone, which was still in their possession, and to access her social media accounts, including Facebook Messenger. During the cell phone search, officers found Leon's cell phone number and called her.

[¶6] Officer Jordan Corral of the Huntington Police Department contacted Leon and asked her to come to the police station for an interview regarding the items found during the apartment search earlier that day. Leon initially agreed to come in for an interview in "about 20 to 25 minutes" but she did not show up. (Id. at 16.) Leon called the non-emergency dispatch line, and her call was forwarded to Officer Corral. Leon indicated she did not want to come to the police department because she was concerned that officers were going to arrest her. Leon agreed to meet officers in the parking lot of Planet Fitness.

[¶7] Leon drove to the Planet Fitness parking lot and met her friend Brandon Durnell, who arrived on his bike. Leon gave Durnell her car keys and cell phone because she anticipated being arrested. Officer Corral and Officer Moore arrived at the Planet Fitness parking lot. Leon did not want to answer the officers' questions, so she was taken into custody. Leon wanted Durnell to take her vehicle, but police "requested a canine come to the location to do an openair sniff on the vehicle." (Id. at 17.) The canine, Kylo, provided a positive alert, and then officers searched Leon's vehicle. Officers found five syringes, one of which contained a brown liquid that tested positive for fentanyl in a field test; two digital scales; and a "box containing two smoking devices for marijuana and a plant grinder with a plant material residue in it." (App. Vol. 2 at 59.)

[¶8] Police searched Leon's person and no cell phone was recovered. Police asked where her cell phone was and she "claimed it was not anywhere on scene at Planet Fitness." (Id.) Officer Corral noticed Durnell was holding two cell phones, and he asked Durnell if one phone belonged to Leon. Durnell indicated both cell phones belonged to him, and when Officer Corral called Leon's phone, a third phone on Durnell's person began ringing. The phone number on the screen was Officer Corral's, so officers seized the cell phone as evidence. Police obtained a search warrant and discovered additional Facebook Messenger conversations from earlier in the day on July 19, 2022.

[¶9] On July 20, 2022, the State charged Leon with Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine/amount of 10 or more grams, Level 6 felony possession of a narcotic drug,^[5] Level 6 felony unlawful possession of a syringe, Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana, Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement,^[6] and Class B misdemeanor maintaining a common nuisance -controlled substances.^[7] On April 5, 2023, the State amended the charge of Level 6 felony possession of a narcotic drug to Level 3 felony possession of methamphetamine.

[¶10] The trial court held a jury trial on May 11-12, 2023. A jury found Leon guilty of all four charges. The trial court merged the finding of Level 3 felony possession of methamphetamine into Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine and entered convictions of dealing methamphetamine, possession of a syringe, and possession of marijuana. On May 30, 2023, the trial court held a sentencing hearing and imposed concurrent sentences of twenty-six years for Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine, two years for Level 6 felony unlawful possession of a syringe, and 180 days for Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Discussion and Decision

[¶11] Leon appeals her convictions and sentence. Leon raises three issues on appeal:

(1) whether the state presented insufficient evidence to support her convictions; (2) whether Leon's sentence was inappropriate in light of the nature of the offenses and her character; and (3) whether a finding of guilt of Level 3 felony possession of methamphetamine should have been vacated on double jeopardy grounds. We will address each in turn.

1. Insufficient Evidence

[¶12] Leon first alleges the State's evidence was insufficient to support her convictions. We review such claims pursuant to a well-settled standard of review:

Sufficiency-of-the-evidence claims . . . warrant a deferential standard, in which we neither reweigh the evidence nor judge witness credibility. Rather, we consider only the evidence supporting the judgment and any reasonable inferences drawn from that evidence. We will affirm a conviction if there is substantial evidence of probative value that would lead a reasonable trier of fact to conclude that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Powell v. State, 151 N.E.3d 256, 262-63 (Ind. 2020) (internal citations omitted).

[¶13] More specifically, Leon challenges whether the State proved she "knowingly" or "intentionally" possessed methamphetamine,...