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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Court of Appeals found there was sufficient evidence to support a man’s criminal confinement conviction after he beat up his girlfriend, dragged her by the hair and stomped on her already broken leg. The appellate panel found he substantially interfered with her liberty without her consent.
While living with her abusive boyfriend, Anthony Mickens, A.S. sustained a broken leg that required her to have crutches after she attempted to defend Mickens from a man who promptly struck her, sending her to the ground. In February 2017, after the injury, Mickens attacked A.S., striking her 18 times while screaming at her. He proceeded to throw A.S.’s things out of the house, including her crutches, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her outside and then stomped on her broken leg and poured beer on her. Mickens then dragged her back inside and raped her, authorities alleged.
After a bench trial in Marion Superior Court, Mickens was found guilty of Level 3 felony criminal confinement resulting in serious bodily injury, Level 5 battery resulting in serious bodily injury and Class A misdemeanor theft. He received a 15-year sentence for the criminal confinement conviction and concurrent one-year sentences for the other two convictions.
On appeal, Mickens argued that the state provided insufficient evidence to support his conviction of criminal confinement resulting in serious bodily injury. Specifically, Mickens argued that the evidence of A.S.’s injuries did not give rise to an inference of confinement.
The appellate court disagreed, finding that Mickens’ argument that McFadden v. State, 25 N.E.3d 1271 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) was controlling failed.
“First, the criminal confinement statute has been amended to remove the ‘removal’ subsection, and Mickens was charged with ‘confining’ A.S. without her consent, not removing her from one place to another,” Judge Paul D. Mathias wrote for the court. “The holding in McFadden is distinguishable for this reason alone. More importantly, however, here there was evidence other than the battery that Mickens confined A.S.”
“First, Mickens grabbed A.S. by the hair and dragged her onto the front lawn, where he poured beer on her and stomped on her broken leg, and eventually dragged her back to the front door. Thus, Mickens substantially interfered with A.S.’s liberty without her consent. Furthermore, the evidence showed that during this incident of confinement, Mickens seriously injured A.S.’s already-broken leg by repeatedly stomping on it,” Mathias wrote.
Thus, the appellate court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support Mickens’ conviction for criminal confinement resulting in serious bodily injury to A.S. in Anthony T. Mickens v. State of Indiana, 18A-CR-698.
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