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Justices: court could impose only 1 juvenile commitment

Jenny Montgomery
November 17, 2011
Keywords
Court opinions, Courts, Indiana Department of Correction, Indiana Supreme Court, Justice Steven H. David, Juvenile case, sentence
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The Indiana Supreme Court has issued an opinion affirming that a juvenile may not be sentenced to both a determinate and indeterminate commitment. While the Indiana Court of Appeals had reached the same conclusion, the two courts differed in interpreting sections of Indiana Code Section 31-37-19 that address sentencing and dispositional decrees for juveniles.

In D.C. v. State of Indiana, No. 49S02-1102-JV-116, 14-year-old D.C. was sentenced to a determinate commitment of two years in the Department of Correction, followed by an indeterminate commitment “until the age of 21 unless sooner released by the DOC.”

The Court of Appeals had found that the juvenile court erred when it issued both a determinate and indeterminate sentence. After reviewing Indiana Code 31-37-19-10 and 31-37-19-6, the COA held that D.C. should have been sentenced to a determinate commitment under section 10.

But the Supreme Court held that the juvenile court has the discretion to determine which type of commitment is most appropriate and remanded to the court to determine whether D.C. should be sentenced under section 6 or 10.
 

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  1. Judge Roger B. Cosbey is unethical and bias toward African American who seeks justice in Title VII claims. He disrespected and used his authority to attempt to intimidate me into taking an unfair settlement and when I refused he proceeded to get my case dismissed and to deny me my Constitutional and Civil Rights. He disobeying several rules of law; specifically, by ruling on summary judgment motions against the Fed. R. Civ. P., without authority of Judge William C. Lee, without consent of the attorneys, and with conspiracy to commit “fraud on the court,” as he conspired with my former attorney. He proved to me that he is bias, unethical, unfair and unfit to be reappointed. In my opinion, he should be disbarred in 2013, for committing fraud on the court, which would make him ineligible for reinstatement in 2014. See docket 3:07 cv 629 where he rules on dispositive motions, knowing magistrates are not vested with that power (especially without consent), grants the defendant an unconscionable number of extensions, accepts my former attorney request for extension for dispositive motion knowing he was working with the opposition, and unbelievably grants the defendant another extension after he requested an extension after he missed the deadline. I know another attorney filed charges against him for bias in race discrimination case(s). I know what he did in my case before he voluntarily recused himself, I just do not know how many other innocent people have been stripped of their rights because of him. I say shame on him and no more of the same.

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