Yoania Castillo, Appellant-Defendant v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Case Summary

[1] Yoania Castillo appeals her conviction for Class A misdemeanor reckless driving. She contends that the State presented insufficient evidence.

[2] We affirm.

Facts & Procedural History

[3] Around 7:24 p.m. on November 16, 2024, Jerry Collins was a passenger in a car driven by his brother-in-law, Brent Williams. They were traveling eastbound on Raymond Street in Indianapolis, approaching the intersection at Holt Road, when a truck sped past them on the right using the shoulder of the road and “spit rock all over [Williams's] car.” Transcript at 40. According to Collins, Castillo appeared to be driving at least eighty miles per hour. Williams estimated that Castillo was traveling even faster than that down Raymond Street, which was either a forty or fifty mile-per-hour zone.

[4] Both Collins and Williams then observed Castillo speed through the intersection at Holt Road without stopping at the red light. Collins explained, “[Castillo] tapped the brakes once or twice, but she didn't tap them enough to slow it down very much.” Id. at 39. After tapping the brakes at this intersection, “she didn't tap them no more. She's full speed and gone.” Id. at 50. “[Castillo] hit the gas again and ran two more red lights.” Id. at 50-51.

[5] Williams followed Castillo at a slower speed, but still speeding to keep her in sight, as he called 911 to report a “reckless driver” after Castillo sped through the first red light. Id. at 53. Williams remained on the call with the 911 dispatcher up to the point where Castillo ran a third red light at Harding Street and caused a collision. At that intersection, according to Collins, Castillo “didn't tap the brakes or nothing, just went straight through it.” Id. at 47. At the same time, Luz Mayorga Arellano was driving on Harding Street entering the intersection with a green light and “T-boned” the driver's side of Castillo's truck.¹ Id.

[6] Williams approached the accident scene and stopped to assist Arellano, who was stuck inside her smoking vehicle. There were others on the scene, and people started yelling as Castillo exited the passenger side of her truck and started running from the scene. Collins caught up to Castillo, who was running with a football, and tackled her. Collins and Williams then escorted Castillo back to the scene of the wreck and made her wait on the sidewalk until police arrived. While waiting, Williams heard Castillo say that “the truck was possessed.” Id. at 61. Collins also heard her say that “her brakes didn't work” and that “God had the vehicle[.]” Id. at 49.

[7] IMPD Officer Robert Maxey arrived at the crash site and spoke with Castillo, who told him that she “lost control of her vehicle” and that it was “possibly possessed.” Id. at 72. She also claimed that someone had possibly thrown “a fire bomb” at her after the accident. Officer Maxey was concerned that Castillo might be under the influence or experiencing a mental health episode, as her statements were “very erratic” and inconsistent with reports of other witnesses. Id. at 74.

[8] The State charged Castillo with Class A misdemeanor reckless driving, and the case proceeded to a bench trial on March 3, 2025. Collins, Williams, Officer Maxey, and Arellano testified for the State consistent with the facts set forth above. Additionally, Arellano testified that Castillo was “driving at a high speed” as Castillo ran the red light at Harding and Raymond. Id. at 64.

[9] Castillo testified on her own behalf and denied running any red lights or driving on the shoulder while traveling on Raymond Street that night. Further, she testified that she waited for the light to turn green at Harding and Raymond and then “did take hard on the light” and “accelerated up” because she thought she was being chased by another car. Id. at 81. Castillo testified that she tried to brake when she saw Arellano's vehicle entering the intersection but, “I couldn't brake. It was like the car accelerated instead. I could not brake.” Id. at 84. Upon questioning by the trial court, however, Castillo later acknowledged that her brakes were working properly that night. She then explained, “I was just jamming to music” and traveling fifty miles per hour “at the most.” Id. at 89.

[10] At the conclusion of the evidence, the trial court found Castillo guilty as charged. She now appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. Additional information will be provided below as needed.

Standard of Review

[11] When reviewing the sufficiency of evidence supporting a conviction, we neither reweigh the evidence nor assess the credibility of witnesses. Fix v. State, 186 N.E.3d 1134, 1138 (Ind. 2022). “When there are conflicts in the evidence, the [trier of fact] must resolve them.” Young v. State, 198 N.E.3d 1172, 1176 (Ind. 2022). Thus, on appeal, we consider only the probative evidence and the reasonable inferences supporting the conviction and will affirm “unless no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” Fix, 186 N.E.3d at 1138 (quoting Jackson v. State, 50 N.E.3d 767, 770 (Ind. 2016)).

Sorgdrager v. State, 208 N.E.3d 646, 650 (Ind. Ct. App. 2023), trans. denied. In sum, the evidence does not need to overcome every reasonable hypothesis of innocence; it is sufficient if an inference may be reasonably drawn from the evidence to support the conviction. Drane v. State, 867 N.E.2d 144, 147 (Ind. 2007).

Discussion & Decision

[12] To convict Castillo of Class A misdemeanor reckless driving, as charged, the State was required to prove that while operating a vehicle, she recklessly drove “at such an unreasonably high rate of speed ․ under the circumstances as to ․ endanger the safety or the property of others” and caused bodily injury to a person. See Ind. Code § 9-21-8-52(a)(1)(A). “A person engages in conduct ‘recklessly’ if [s]he engages in the conduct in plain, conscious, and unjustifiable disregard of harm that might result and the disregard involves a substantial deviation from acceptable standards of conduct.” Ind. Code § 35-41-2-2(c).

[13] Castillo's sole challenge on appeal regards whether the evidence sufficiently established that she was traveling at an unreasonably high rate of speed at the time of the accident. She acknowledges that the State produced evidence that she was traveling eighty miles per hour when she passed Williams's vehicle near Holt Road, which she agrees was sufficient to establish reckless driving as a Class C misdemeanor. She argues, however, that the bodily injury to Arellano, used to elevate the offense to a Class A misdemeanor, was not shown to have occurred when Castillo was still traveling at an unreasonably high rate of speed. In this regard, she notes that the accident site was about two miles down the road and suggests that the evidence indicated that she had “slowed down substantially at the time of the accident.” Appellant's Brief at 6. And she asserts that none of the State's witnesses testified as to what speed they thought Castillo was traveling at the time of the accident.

[14] We reject Castillo's invitation to reweigh the evidence. The evidence established that after passing Williams and Collins going eighty miles per hour or more, she barely tapped her brakes before speeding through the first red light at Holt Road. After that, she “hit the gas again” and was “full speed and gone.” Transcript at 50. While driving down Raymond Street, Castillo ran two more red lights without tapping her brakes again. Collins's testimony suggested that Castillo was driving “at least 30 miles over the speed limit” as Williams tried to follow her from a distance. Id. at 44. Further, Arellano testified that as she entered the intersection after the light turned green, Castillo drove through the red light “at a high speed” and caused the accident. Id. at 64. And even Castillo, despite disagreeing that her light was red, testified that she “accelerated up” and “[took] hard on the light” just before the collision. Id. at 81.

[15] In sum, there is ample evidence that Castillo was still traveling at an unreasonable rate of speed when she entered the intersection on a red light and caused the collision with Arellano, resulting in bodily injury to Arellano. Accordingly, Castillo's sufficiency claim fails.

[16] Judgment affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Arellano suffered head, neck, and back pain, as well as some internal bleeding. She required treatment at the hospital immediately following the crash.

Altice, Chief Judge.

Judges Pyle and DeBoer concur. Pyle, J. and DeBoer, J., concur.