Kelly N. Bryan
Jeffrey A. Modisett
Rosemary L. Borek
Muncie, Indiana Attorneys for Appellee
Attorney General of Indiana
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
DALLAS WHITE,
Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
STATE OF INDIANA,
Appellee (Plaintiff below).
)
) Supreme Court No.
) 18S00-9708-CR-446
)
)
)
)
)
)
March 10, 1999
Defendant Dallas White was convicted of killing a woman as she left the pizza restaurant where she worked. He appeals, arguing the evidence presented at trial was
insufficient to justify conviction. Finding the evidence sufficient, we affirm.
We have jurisdiction over this direct appeal because the single sentence exceeds fifty
years. Ind. Const. art. VII, § 4; Ind. Appellate Rule 4(A)(7).
On April 24, 1997, a jury found defendant Dallas White guilty of killing Sandra
Bellomy. Defendant was convicted of MurderSee footnote
1
and sentenced to the maximum term of sixty
five years.
Murder. Defendant asserts that his conviction was based upon evidence that was inherently
improbable. He specifically contests the testimony of five State witnesses. Defendant
argues that without the testimony of these witnesses, there was no reasonable basis upon
which a reasonable juror could find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We disagree.
When reviewing a conviction for sufficiency of the evidence it is the role of the
appellate court to consider only the evidence most favorable to the verdict and all reasonable
and logical inferences to be drawn therefrom. Minter v. State, 653 N.E.2d 1382, 1383 (Ind.
1995). We do not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses. Wear v. State,
593 N.E.2d 1179 (Ind. 1992).
Defendant relies upon Gaddis v. State, 251 N.E.2d 658 (Ind. 1969), for the proposition that a defendant's conviction may be reversed if a witness's testimony is inherently unbelievable. This proposition is sometimes referred to as the incredible dubiosity rule. Tillman v. State, 642 N.E.2d 221, 223 (Ind. 1994). Under this rule, a court will impinge on the jury's responsibility to judge the credibility of the witness only when it has confronted 'inherently improbable testimony or coerced, equivocal, wholly uncorroborated testimony of incredible dubiosity'. Id. (quoting Rodgers v. State, 422 N.E.2d 1211, 1213 (Ind. 1981)). When a sole witness presents inherently improbable testimony and there is a complete lack of circumstantial evidence, a defendant's conviction may be reversed. Tillman, 642 N.E.2d at 223. However, defendant's reliance on this rule in this case is
misplaced: Application of this rule is limited to cases, such as Gaddis, where a sole
witness presents inherently contradictory testimony which is equivocal or the result of
coercion and there is a complete lack of circumstantial evidence of the appellant's guilt.
Id.
Defendant's conviction was based upon the testimony of seven individual witnesses
and substantial circumstantial evidence linking him to the crime. Defendant argues that the
testimony from five of the State's witnesses was inherently improbable because either they
received incentives for favorable testimony or they hoped for favorable treatment. In
particular, he asserts that three of the five witnesses did not provide truthful information at
the beginning of the investigation until the State offered them incentives to testify. However, at trial, the jury was made aware of the incentives and expectations of favorable
treatment by these witnesses. The jury had the opportunity to determine the credibility of
these witnesses in light of the incentives. It is the province of the jury to hear the testimony
given by the witnesses and to assess the truth and veracity of each witness. Wear, 593
N.E.2d at 1179. We will not reassess the jury's credibility determinations.
Moreover, there was additional circumstantial evidence in this case: the blue shirt
and blue and white bandana that defendant wore the evening of Bellomy's murder were
found near the crime scene.
There is no basis for applying the incredible dubiosity rule here.
SHEPARD, C.J., and DICKSON, SELBY, and BOEHM, JJ., concur.
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