Jeffrey Harris, Appellant-Defendant v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff (2026)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Case Summary

[1] In January 2022, Jeffery Harris beat down the back door of his ex-girlfriend's home, fired multiple gunshots, chased her outside, and punched, choked, and “stomped” on her before fleeing the scene. Transcript Vol. 3 at 17. After a jury trial, Harris was convicted of residential entry, criminal recklessness, and domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury. On appeal, he only challenges his domestic battery conviction, arguing there is insufficient evidence to support it. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] By January 2022, Harris and his girlfriend, K.C., had been dating for a few years and had lived together off-and-on. Around the new year, K.C. ended the relationship and Harris moved out of her house. In the early hours of January 6, K.C. came home from work to find her sister and two men hanging out in her living room while her three-year-old daughter slept in her bedroom. K.C. joined the three adults in the living room until Harris arrived and started “beating” on the front door. Id. at 9. When K.C. wouldn't let him in, he went to the back door, which was locked, and forced his way inside. Id. at 193; see Exhibits at 31-35. While this was happening, the other adults hid in K.C.’s daughter's bedroom.

[3] Shortly after Harris broke down the door, he fired several shots through the living room walls and into the two bedrooms. See Exs. at 18-21, 23, 36-37. When the shooting started, K.C.’s sister took her niece and escaped from the house. The two men broke the bedroom window and fled. See id. at 52-53. When K.C. ran out of the house, Harris followed her and continued shooting at the house as he exited. Once Harris caught up to K.C., he knocked her to the ground, punched her in the face, choked her, and then “stomped” on her before fleeing. Tr. Vol. 3 at 19. She passed out “a little bit” and remembered waking up in the street with a paramedic helping her. Id. at 20. Her sister would later recall seeing K.C. walking down the road frantically yelling, when she suddenly “just collapsed and hit the ground.” Id. at 45. Multiple witnesses called 911 when they heard the gunshots, and law enforcement and paramedics quickly arrived to the scene.

[4] The responding officers and paramedics found K.C. lying in the middle of the street. As they helped her, she was disoriented and “very out of it.” Id. at 58. K.C. recounted the incident to Officer Kaytlin Asplund of the Fort Wayne Police Department, explaining that Harris broke down her door, started shooting in her home, and followed her outside where he proceeded to hit and kick her. K.C. told the officer “that she lost consciousness, and when she woke up, [Harris] was gone.” Id. at 59. When K.C. complained of head and neck pain, the paramedics placed her in a neck brace and took her to the hospital for head scans. Harris was apprehended later that day during a traffic stop when officers discovered a firearm under his passenger seat that was the same caliber as several spent shell casings found in K.C.’s home.

[5] As later amended, the State charged Harris with several counts, including Level 5 felony domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury.¹ At his jury trial, K.C., her sister, her neighbor, several members of Fort Wayne law enforcement, and a paramedic testified to the facts above. Harris testified in his own defense and admitted that he knocked K.C. to the ground, hit her, and stomped on her. See Tr. Vol. 3 at 200. The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to an aggregate term of six years executed in the Indiana Department of Correction. Harris now appeals.

Discussion and Decision

[6] Harris appeals his conviction for domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury. He claims there was insufficient evidence to prove K.C. suffered a serious bodily injury. Our standard of review for sufficiency claims is well settled:

“A conviction is supported by sufficient evidence if ‘there is substantial evidence of probative value supporting each element of the offense such that a reasonable trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Hancz-Barron v. State, 235 N.E.3d 1237, 1244 (Ind. 2024) (quoting Willis v. State, 27 N.E.3d 1065, 1066 (Ind. 2015)). This Court reviews only the evidence most favorable to the verdict and the reasonable inferences therefrom, and will reverse only where it is shown that “no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” Teising [v. State], 226 N.E.3d [780,] 783 [(Ind. 2024)].

Smith v. State, 276 N.E.3d 675, 678 (Ind. Ct. App. 2026) (quoting Konkle v. State, 253 N.E.3d 1068, 1090-91 (Ind. 2025)) (alterations in original). We neither reweigh the evidence nor judge witness credibility. Id.

[7] Under Indiana Code section 35-42-2-1.3(a)(1), a person commits Class A misdemeanor domestic battery if he “knowingly or intentionally ․ touches a family or household member in a rude, insolent, or angry manner[.]”[2] The offense is elevated to a Level 5 felony if it “results in serious bodily injury to a family or household member.” Ind. Code § 35-42-2-1.3(c)(1). Because Harris only challenges the sufficiency of the evidence as to serious bodily injury, we focus our analysis there. Our legislature has defined “serious bodily injury” as an

․ injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes:

(1) serious permanent disfigurement;

(2) unconsciousness;

(3) extreme pain;

(4) permanent or protracted loss or impairment of a bodily member or organ; or

(5) loss of a fetus.

I.C. § 35-31.5-2-292 (emphases added). This definition is written in the disjunctive, meaning evidence of only one of the injuries listed is sufficient to constitute serious bodily injury. Davis v. State, 819 N.E.2d 91, 100 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004), trans. denied.

[8] There was ample evidence presented at trial to support the conclusion that Harris's beating caused K.C. to lose consciousness. K.C. specifically testified that she passed out, Tr. Vol. 3 at 20, her sister witnessed her suddenly “collapse[ ] and hit the ground[,]” id. at 45, and when officers first encountered K.C. after the incident, she was indeed lying in the middle of the street and very disoriented when they tried to talk to her, id. at 58. Officer Asplund testified that K.C. told her at the scene “that she lost consciousness, and when she woke up, [Harris] was gone.” Id. at 59. If that wasn't enough, the jury also heard evidence, including in Harris's testimony, that he knocked K.C. to the ground and then proceeded to punch, choke, and “stomp” on her while she laid there. Id. at 200. And based on her account of the incident and complaints of head and neck pain, medical personnel at the scene were concerned that K.C. had a head injury, placed her in a neck brace, and took her to the hospital for brain scans. See id. at 111-12. Given the plethora of evidence from which the jury could reasonably conclude that K.C. was rendered unconscious at some point during Harris's beating, there was sufficient evidence that K.C. suffered serious bodily injury.

[9] Harris focuses instead on the scratches, bruising, bleeding, and pain that K.C. endured as a result of the incident, arguing she did not experience “permanent disfigurement, extreme pain, or protracted loss of a bodily member or organ[.]” Appellant's Brief at 13. However, he wholly ignores the substantial evidence presented indicating that his violent tirade caused K.C. to lose consciousness. See Burgh v. State, 79 N.E.3d 955, 957 n.3 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017) (“We have held that loss of consciousness after being struck by a defendant is, by itself, sufficient to establish serious bodily injury[.]”). Thus, his arguments regarding the seriousness of her other injuries are immaterial and merely amount to a request that we reweigh the evidence, which we will not do.

Conclusion

[10] Finding sufficient evidence to support Harris's conviction for domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, we affirm.

[11] Affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Ind. Code § 35-42-2-1.3(a), (c).

DeBoer, Judge.

Brown, J., and Altice, J., concur.