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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAn Indianapolis man who was found guilty of multiple crimes following a single traffic stop has gotten some relief after the Indiana Court of Appeals tossed one of the convictions because it violated double jeopardy principles.
Dwayne Springfield was pulled over by an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer in December 2016. He scuffled with the officer and tried to run away but was quickly caught with the help of other officers who had arrived at the scene. They were able to place Springfield in handcuffs, but not before he bit one officer and struck another in the face.
Subsequently, the officers discovered Springfield had a handgun in one pocket and a sock with “multiple baggies of narcotics” in the other. He was thus charged with Count I, dealing in cocaine while in possession of a firearm, a Level 2 felony; Count II, possession of cocaine and firearm, a Level 4 felony; Count III, dealing in a narcotic drug while in possession of a firearm, a Level 3 felony; Count IV, possession of a narcotic drug and a firearm, a Level 5 felony; Count V, an unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony; Counts VI-VII, battery resulting in bodily injury to an officer, Level 5 felonies; Count VIII, resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor; and Count IX, possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor. Also, the state filed a habitual offender charge against Springfield.
In the first phase of a trifurcated jury trial, the jury found Springfield guilty on Counts II, IV, V, VI, VIII and IX. During the second phase, the jury returned with a guilty verdict on Count V, a Level 5 felony for unlawful possession of a firearm by a SVF. In the third phase, a bench trial, the court adjudicated Springfield a habitual offender. He was then sentenced to an aggregate of 30 years, including 12 years for Count V.
On appeal, Springfield argued his convictions for the Level 4 felony possession of cocaine and a firearm, Level 5 felony possession of a narcotic drug and a firearm and Level 5 felony unlawful possession of firearm by a SVF are all based on the possession of a single gun. Thus, the convictions violate Indiana’s prohibitions against double jeopardy because the same evidence was used in the three convictions, he said.
The Court of Appeals agreed double jeopardy was violated. It reversed Springfield’s conviction and accompanying sentence for the Level 5 felony unlawful possession of a firearm in Dwayne A. Springfield v. State of Indiana, 18A-CR-1317.
Specifically, the appellate panel found that during the trifurcated trial, the state moved to incorporate all the evidence from the first phase – which included convictions for possession of narcotics while armed with a firearm – into the second phase. Also, the state submitted a certified document from Springfield’s prior Class B felony robbery conviction in 2004, which classified him as a serious violent felon.
“It is readily apparent that the State invited the jury to rely on evidence that Springfield had a gun when he possessed cocaine and fentanyl, to also convict Springfield of unlawful possession of a firearm by an SVF,” Judge Patricia Riley wrote for the court. “The same conduct cannot permissibly support both the enhancements and form the basis of a separate crime.”
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