COA decides not to take video recording issue on interlocutory appeal

The Indiana Court of Appeals Thursday decided that it was improper for it to accept a man’s appeal of his motion seeking to exclude video recordings of video files found on his phone. The judges accordingly dismissed David Wise’s appeal.

Wise’s wife discovered video files on his phone that showed him performing sex acts on her while unconscious. She suspected he drugged her so he could perform the acts. She was unable to download the videos from his phone directly, so she used a camcorder to record video of the files playing on her husband’s phone. The state charged Wise with rape and criminal deviate conduct. He filed a motion in limine to exclude the video evidence taken by his wife, which the trial court denied Sept. 26, 2012.

On Oct. 22, 2012, Wise asked the trial court to certify its order for interlocutory appeal, but the trial court did not grant his motion to certify until Dec. 4. The COA’s motions panel accepted jurisdiction in February.

Based on Appellate Rule 14(B)(1), the Court of Appeals should not have accepted jurisdiction over the case in the first place, Judge Paul Mathias wrote in David Wise v. State of Indiana, 49A02-1301-CR-1. The trial court did not rule on the motion or set a hearing on the motion within 30 days after Wise asked for certification. Therefore, the motion was deemed denied 30 days after it was filed – Nov. 22, 2012.

“We are unable to conclude that the trial court’s belated certification complies with Appellate Rule 14(B)’s time limitations. To hold otherwise would effectively nullify the ‘deemed denied’ provision of Appellate Rule 14(B)(1)(e), the clear purpose of which is to limit the amount of time a trial court has to rule on a motion to certify. We therefore conclude that, by operation of Appellate Rule 14(B)(1)(e), Wise’s motion to certify was deemed denied, and the trial court could not resuscitate Wise’s motion by belatedly granting it after it had been deemed denied,” Mathias wrote.