Judges order habitual offender enhancement vacated

A post-conviction court erred when it denied a defendant’s request for post-conviction relief to vacate a habitual offender enhancement, finding a case decided after the man’s direct appeal applies retroactively.

John Dugan was convicted of Class B felony possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon in 2006. The state alleged he was a SVF because he had been convicted of Class C felony battery in 1994. The state also alleged Dugan was a habitual offender based on that 1994 conviction and an attempted burglary conviction.

After his conviction, Dugan pleaded guilty to the habitual offender allegation in exchange for the minimum 10-year sentence for the enhancement. His total sentence was 15 years for the SVF conviction enhanced 10 years. The conviction was affirmed on direct appeal in February 2007.

Dugan later sought relief based on Mills v. State, 868 N.E.2d 446 (Ind. 2007), in which the Indiana Supreme Court held a person convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon may not have his sentence enhanced under the general habitual offender statute by proof of the same felony used to establish he was a serious violent felon. The post-conviction court denied relief, citing Townsend v. State, 793 N.E.2d 1092 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003), as applicable since it was in effect at the time Dugan was sentenced.

Dugan wanted Mills applied retroactively to his case, which the state fought. The state claimed because Dugan pleaded guilty, he’s not entitled to relief even if Mills is retroactive.

Dugan’s guilty plea does not preclude relief because he did not receive a favorable outcome as a result of the plea, Judge Michael Barnes wrote in John A. Dugan v. State of Indiana, 49A05-1202-PC-50. The judges cited State v. Jones, 835 N.E.2d 1002, 1004 (Ind. 2005), and Ross v. State, 729 N.E.2d 113 (Ind. 2000), to support applying Mills retroactively.