Adams v. State

PIVARNIK, Justice.

Defendant-Appellant, John Adams, a/k/a William Lee Samuels, was convicted by a Lake County jury of robbery, a class B felony. The trial court sentenced Adams to twenty (20) years imprisonment. In this direct appeal, Adams raises only one issue for our review: whether the trial court erred in conducting the trial absente reo because of an improper determination of Adams' competency to stand trial.

The facts are as follows. On July 1, 1983, at approximately 7:80 p.m., the victim and her mother were driving the victim's car down an alley near 171st Street in Hammond, Indiana,…