## Facts

- Police arrested Walker Whatley at his Indianapolis home in March 2008 on an unrelated warrant.
- During a search incident to arrest, an officer found a bag containing 3.2459 grams of cocaine in Whatley’s pocket.
- Whatley’s residence was about 795 feet from Robinson Community Church (RCC).
- RCC was a church that regularly hosted youth-oriented programming, including children’s services and other youth activities.
- Indiana law elevates possession of three grams or more of cocaine to a Class A felony when the offense occurs within 1,000 feet of a “youth program center.”
- The State charged Whatley with Class A felony possession based on the proximity to RCC.
- A jury found the enhancement proven, and the trial court imposed a 35-year sentence.

## Issues

1. Whether the statutory use and definition of “youth program center” were unconstitutionally vague as applied to Whatley because RCC lacked outward designation as a protected site.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient that RCC qualified as a “youth program center,” supporting the enhanced Class A felony conviction.

## Decision

- The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer, vacated the Court of Appeals’ decision, and affirmed the Class A felony conviction and 35-year sentence.
- The court held the statute was not unconstitutionally vague as applied because it provided fair notice and adequate standards limiting arbitrary enforcement.
- The court held RCC qualified as a “youth program center” because it regularly conducted youth programming, and the statutory definition did not exclude churches.

## Legal Principles

- An as-applied vagueness challenge fails when statutory language gives a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of the conduct triggering criminal liability or enhanced punishment and provides sufficiently definite enforcement standards.
- The legal status of a “youth program center” depends on the regular provision of youth programs at the location, not the facility’s primary institutional label.
- A statute creating enhanced-penalty zones need not require signage or formal designation of protected premises to satisfy due process; the inquiry is whether the statutory standard is sufficiently definite and non-arbitrary.

## Conclusion

The court sustained Whatley’s enhanced conviction, ruling that a church with regular youth programming can be a “youth program center” and that the enhancement scheme provided adequate notice and enforceable standards without requiring the site to be marked.


Whatley v. State, 928 N.E.2d 202 (Ind. 2010)