State of Indiana v. Frank Greene

Summary

The Indiana Supreme Court reversed a post-conviction court’s reduction of Frank Greene’s Class B felony criminal confinement conviction to a Class D felony. The court held that Greene’s trial and appellate counsel were not ineffective for failing to rely on Long v. State because Greene’s interpretation of that precedent was legally incorrect. The evidence supported an inference that Greene’s strangulation of the victim facilitated her forcible removal and caused serious bodily injury.

Holdings

1. Long and Redman require serious bodily injury to result from the charged offense of forcible removal, but do not require the injury to occur simultaneously with the physical movement from one place to another. The force used to effectuate the removal may cause the injury before or during the movement, so long as the force, removal, and resulting injury constitute one incident.
2. Greene did not receive ineffective assistance because counsel cannot be deemed deficient for failing to present an incorrect interpretation of precedent. Counsel's failure to argue that Long required serious bodily injury during the actual movement of the victim did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness.
3. The evidence was sufficient to support the class B felony conviction because the factfinder could reasonably infer that Greene's strangulation of Johnson both facilitated her forcible removal from the bedroom to the living room and caused serious bodily injury in the form of unconsciousness.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the post-conviction court clearly erred in finding that trial and appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to cite Long v. State when challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting Greene's class B felony criminal confinement conviction.
2. Whether Long v. State required the State to prove that serious bodily injury occurred during the physical act of moving the victim from one place to another.

Disposition

reversed