Neil D. Applebee, Appellant-Defendant v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

[1] Neil D. Applebee appeals his conviction for Level 6 felony escape. Applebee raises a single issue for our review, namely, whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support his conviction. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] On January 16, 2024, the State charged Applebee with Class A misdemeanor invasion of privacy in the Tippecanoe Superior Court. The court held Applebee's initial hearing, at which the court informed Applebee that he was to be released to Tippecanoe County Community Corrections with GPS monitoring pending his trial. Applebee commenced his placement with community corrections on February 21.

[3] On March 6, Applebee concluded that “his placement [with] community corrections was illegal,” and, thus, he cut off his GPS ankle monitor and threw it into the Wabash River in Lafayette. Appellant's Br. at 5. Applebee was apprehended sometime thereafter, and the State charged him with Level 6 felony escape. The trial court found him guilty after a bench trial and sentenced him accordingly.

[4] This appeal ensued.

Discussion and Decision

[5] On appeal, Applebee argues that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to support his conviction. For challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, we consider only the probative evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom that support the judgment of the trier of fact. Hall v. State, 177 N.E.3d 1183, 1191 (Ind. 2021). We will neither reweigh the evidence nor judge witness credibility. Id. We will affirm a conviction unless no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.

[6] To show that Applebee committed Level 6 felony escape, the State was required to show that he knowingly or intentionally “remove[d], disable[d], or interfere[d] with the operation of an electronic monitoring or GPS tracking device.” Ind. Code § 35-44.1-3-4(c)(2) (2023). None of those statutory elements are in dispute; indeed, Applebee admitted to the trial court that he cut off his GPS monitor and threw it into the Wabash River.

[7] Applebee's argument on appeal instead is that the trial court unlawfully placed him in community corrections as a pretrial release. Because his placement was purportedly unlawful, Applebee continues, he had the right to remove the GPS monitor at his convenience. In support of his position, he notes that there is a statute that authorizes placement in community corrections in the imposition of a sentence, which Applebee construes to mean that a pretrial placement in community corrections is not authorized.

[8] We reject Applebee's argument. Placement on electronic monitoring is within the statutory definition of “[l]awful detention.” I.C. § 35-31.5-2-186(a)(8). And pretrial electronic monitoring is explicitly not excluded from that definition. I.C. § 35-31.5-2-186(b). Moreover, we agree with the State that Indiana Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.6 broadly authorizes our trial courts to impose conditions and restrictions on arrestees upon pretrial release, and placement in community corrections with GPS monitoring is not prohibited by that Rule. If an arrestee believes the conditions of his pretrial release to be unreasonable or unlawful, he may ask the trial court to reconsider, and he may seek appellate review. See, e.g., Ryan v. State, 42 N.E.3d 1019, 1026 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) (“Indiana's appellate courts have long recognized that a judgment on pretrial bail is immediately appealable.”), trans. denied. Accordingly, we reject Applebee's argument that he had the authority to remove his court-ordered GPS monitor at his own convenience, and we affirm his conviction for Level 6 felony escape.

[9] Affirmed.

Mathias, Judge.

Vaidik, J., and Pyle, J., concur.