Dylan L. Burton v. State of Indiana

── Dylan L. Burton v. State of Indiana ── Court: Indiana Court of Appeals Date: June 05, 2026 Author: Robert Altice Category: General FILED Jun 05 2026, 8:52 am CLERK Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals and Tax Court IN THE Court of Appeals of Indiana Dylan L. Burton, Appellant-Defendant v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff June 5, 2026 Court of Appeals Case No. 25A-CR-2659 Appeal from the Cass Superior Court The Honorable Lisa Swaim, Judge Trial Court Cause No. 09D02-2507-CM-459 Opinion by Judge DeBoer Judges Altice and Kenworthy concur. Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-2659 | June 5, 2026 Page 1 of 16  DeBoer, Judge. Case Summary [1] The State charged Dylan Burton with Class A misdemeanor assisting a criminal, alleging he harbored, concealed, or assisted a fugitive from justice. Burton was convicted following a bench trial. On appeal, he argues the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction because the State failed to prove the person he assisted was a “fugitive from justice” under the assisting a criminal statute, Indiana Code section 35-44.1-2-5(a). The single issue on appeal is whether proving a person is a fugitive from justice under that statute requires evidence of interstate flight. Because we conclude the statute unambiguously does not impose such a requirement, we affirm. Facts and Procedural History1 [2] Burton and Kayla Graham dated periodically between 2010 and 2025 and have children together. In 2024, Graham pled guilty to felony stalking and was sentenced to two years of probation. On June 25, 2025, the probation department filed a petition to modify or revoke her probation, 2 alleging she 1 We held a traveling oral argument in this case on May 19, 2026, at Mississinewa High School in Gas City. We thank counsel for their exceptional written and oral advocacy. We also extend our gratitude to Mississinewa High for hosting the event as well as to the attendees for their thoughtful questions posed to the panel after the argument. Finally, we’d be remiss not to mention how thoroughly we enjoyed sharing brunch with Mr. Adam Williamson and his AP U.S. Government students. 2 This was not the first petition to revoke Graham’s probation. On January 13 and March 26, 2025, probation filed notices that she violated her probation. The March notice alleged she did so by committing the new crime of invasion of privacy. In both instances, arrest warrants were issued and served after the notices were filed. The June 25 petition incorporated the earlier allegations and was labeled “2nd Amended Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-2659 | June 5, 2026 Page 2 of 16  failed to report to her probation officer on two occasions and didn’t participate in substance use treatment as recommended. The next day, the Miami Superior Court issued a warrant for her arrest on the charge that she had violated her probation. [3] Shortly after the warran