Judges affirm defendant must register as sex offender as part of probation

A defendant who was convicted of robbery and rape, but whose rape conviction was vacated on double jeopardy concerns, can still be required to register as a sex offender as a condition of his probation, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed Thursday.

Daquan Whitener went to K.A.’s house in the summer 2009 at the request of K.A.’s friend Raquel Pizana to return a CD which belonged to her. Whitener, who was 17 at the time, arrived with two teenaged cousins. K.A. and her friends were drinking alcohol and hanging out, and eventually Whitener and his cousins left. K.A. and Whitener didn’t speak while he was around her, but he knew she was very intoxicated and that she didn’t own a phone.

Later that night, the three boys returned to K.A.’s home. Whitener told his cousins that K.A. told him to break in through a window because she wanted to have sex with him. She was very drunk and tried to push Whitener off during the act. The three boys left and she sought medical help the next day.

Whitener was charged with Class A felony robbery and Class B felony rape and was convicted by a jury. The trial court vacated the rape conviction because of double jeopardy concerns. Whitener was also ordered to register as a sex offender as a condition of his probation.

In Daquan Whitener v. State of Indiana, 20A04-1205-CR-254, the Court of Appeals concluded that the state presented evidence of a probative nature from which a reasonable trier of fact could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Whitener’s entry of K.A.’s home was unauthorized, so he was guilty of burglary.

It also upheld the fact that he must register as a sex offender.

“Although Whitener was convicted and sentenced on a count of burglary as a class A felony, which is not an enumerated offense under Ind. Code § 11-8-8-4.5(a) (Supp. 2007), the underlying felony he intended to commit when committing the burglary was rape, which is an enumerated offense,” Judge Elaine Brown wrote. “Moreover, we note that Whitener was found guilty of committing rape as a class B felony by the jury, and the court vacated his conviction based upon double jeopardy principles.

On cross-appeal, the state challenged whether the trial court properly declined to enter a judgment of conviction for rape based on double jeopardy principles. The state’s motion to correct was denied in May 2010 and the state did not appeal. It was only two years later when Whitener pursued a direct appeal pursuant to Ind. Post-Conviction Rule 2(1) that the state elected to raise this issue. Under these circumstances, the cross-appeal issue is untimely, Brown wrote in dismissing the appeal.