Gravens v. State
Indiana Court of Appeals
836 N.E.2d 490 (2005)
- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
The State of Indiana (plaintiff) charged David Gravens (defendant) with attempted robbery. Gravens's defense was that he voluntarily abandoned his criminal attempt before completing the robbery. Trial evidence showed that Gravens went into a bank and handed a teller a note, which demanded that she and another teller give Gravens the money in their tills. The note also contained some indecipherable writing that the teller could not read. The teller returned the note to Gravens and, raising her voice above its normal level, asked him to tell her what he wanted. Gravens became flustered and left the bank. Gravens objected to a jury instruction in which the judge stated that Gravens's defense required proof that his abandonment of the robbery originated with Gravens and was not in any way motivated by extrinsic factors. The jury convicted Gravens and he appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Vaidik, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
