Appellate court upholds criminal recklessness conviction

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The Indiana Court of Appeals determined there was sufficient evidence to uphold a man’s conviction of criminal recklessness regarding his firing of a gun.

In Kevin Hobson v. State of Indiana, No. 36A01-1103-CR-144, Kevin Hobson argued there was insufficient evidence to prove he was the person who shot at Andrew Kern’s Chevy Blazer after Kern stopped the car near Hobson’s home and a former business known as the Pit Stop because passenger Tanner Pruett said he felt sick. While the two men were out of the car, they saw a man approach holding a handgun and saw the man shoot into the air. Two bullets hit the car as they drove away.

Hobson had called police to report a suspicious vehicle that he identified as a Chevy Blazer. He said when he approached the car, the driver drove away and he fired two shots into the air. Police believed that Kern’s Blazer was the one Hobson shot.

He was convicted of Class D felony criminal recklessness, but Hobson argued that Ferrell v. State, 656 N.E.2d 839 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995), supports his argument that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he was the one who shot Kern’s Blazer. The COA found Ferrell – a case in which the defendant was one of many people to fire gunshots at a house, but was unable to be identified by the victim – to be distinguishable.

“Hobson admitted to firing several shots as a Blazer drove away from the Pit Stop, and Kern’s Blazer was struck by several bullets. This is sufficient evidence to establish that Hobson fired the shots, and Ferrell is not controlling,” wrote Senior Judge John Sharpnack.
 

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