DRISCOLL v. STATE (2023)

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

Patrick Austin DRISCOLL, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff

Court of Appeals Case No. 22A-CR-1878

Decided: January 13, 2023

Attorney for Appellant: Alexander W. Robbins, The Law Office of Alex Robbins, Bedford, Indiana Attorneys for Appellee: Theodore E. Rokita, Attorney General, Nicole D. Wiggins, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana

MEMORANDUM DECISION

[1] Driscoll was convicted of level 6 felony resisting law enforcement and level 6 felony neglect of a dependent. The trial court sentenced him to consecutive terms of two and a half years, with one and a half years suspended, for each conviction. In this appeal, Driscoll contends that the resulting five-year aggregate sentence exceeds the consecutive sentencing limitation for convictions arising out of a single episode of criminal conduct in Indiana Code Section 35-50-1-2. We note that the statute's limitations do not apply to “crimes of violence.” Ind. Code § 35-50-1-2(c). Resisting law enforcement as a felony is a crime of violence. Ind. Code § 35-50-1-2(a)(19). Because one of Driscoll's convictions is a crime of violence, Section 35-50-1-2 does not apply to Driscoll's consecutive terms. See Johnson v. State, 749 N.E.2d 1103, 1110 (Ind. 2001) (“[T]he limitations the statute imposes on consecutive sentencing do not apply between crimes of violence and those that are not crimes of violence.”); Williams v. State, 42 N.E.3d 107, 110 n.2 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) (observing that because Williams was convicted of class D felony resisting law enforcement, which is a crime of violence, the consecutive sentencing limitations in Section 35-50-1-2 did not apply), trans. denied. We therefore affirm Driscoll's sentence.

[2] Affirmed.

Crone, Judge.

May, J., and Weissmann, J., concur.