Following a jury trial, Aaron Williams appeals his conviction of five separate crimes: burglary,1 aggravated stalking,2 terroristic threats,3 criminal damage to property,4 and possession of a knife while making terroristic threats.5 He argues that i the burglary and aggravated stalking crimes should have merged, ii the court erred in sentencing when it relied on hearsay evidence and failed to consider probation, iii the court erred in finding he did not prove ineffective assistance of counsel, and iv he was denied due process by the eight-year delay in the court’s conducting a hearing on his motion for new trial. Discerning no error, we affirm. Construed in favor of the verdict, Short v. State ,6 the evidence shows that in December 1998, Williams, who was in his car, began chasing his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle when he saw her in her vehicle with a new boyfriend; he then ran his car into the back of his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle. Charged with two counts of reckless conduct and imprisoned pending trial, Williams pled guilty and was given probation with the express condition that he have no contact with nor enter upon the premises of the ex-girlfriend or her boyfriend.
The day he was released from jail and began probation May 15, 1999, Williams called the ex-girlfriend, who refused him permission to visit her; the next day, he went to the ex-girlfriend’s residence where he surveilled her and then approached her door, knocking thereon. The ex-girlfriend immediately called Williams’s sister, who instructed the ex-girlfriend to tell Williams to leave. The victim told Williams to leave, who in a loud, upset, and intoxicated manner refused and instead demanded that the victim repay him certain money. When the victim indicated she would pay later, Williams kicked down the victim’s locked and barred door, causing the victim to drop the phone and to retreat to her bedroom to procure protection from her boyfriend, who was in that room. The boyfriend met Williams at the bedroom doorway, wrestling with him to prevent his entry. The struggle resulted in the bedroom door being torn off its hinges, whereupon the victim raced around the wrestling men and escaped from the residence, seeking refuge in a neighbor’s residence.
