Michael W. Hoskins

The Indiana Supreme Court has determined what kind of “contact” a convicted child molester can have without violating probation.In the court’s 4-1 decision April 2 in Theron W. Hunter v. State of Indiana, No. 69S01-0708-CR-332, the justices reversed Ripley Circuit Judge Carl Taul’s 2006 ruling to revoke Hunter’s probation. The case is remanded with instruction to reinstate the probation.Hunter was convicted in 2000 of felony child molesting and sentenced to eight years, with four years suspended. He was released in July 2006 and placed…

The Indiana Court of Appeals has found strong and compelling evidence to apply retroactivity to a procedural state statute lawmakers changed last year following a ruling from Indiana Supreme Court.In Mark Hurst v. State of Indiana, No. 64A03-0710-CR-490, the appellate court affirmed a Porter Superior judge’s ruling that the court properly amended charging information 15 months after the original omnibus date, that sufficient evidence of seriously bodily injury existed to support a felony battery conviction, and that Hurst was properly sentenced to…

The Indiana Supreme Court has refused to hear a condemned man’s appeal and ordered his execution for May.Justices unanimously agreed this week to not rehear the case of Michael Dean Overstreet, who was convicted of the 1997 disappearance, rape, and strangulation of Franklin College freshman Kelly Eckart. He has been on death row since 2000, and the Supreme Court upheld the sentence in late November. His attorneys asked for a rehearing in January.Now, a docket entry sets the execution date for…

The Indiana Supreme Court won’t consider the annexation battle between Carmel and Home Place.Attorneys received notice March 4 about the court’s 5-0 transfer denial in City of Carmel, Indiana v. Certain Home Place Annexation Territory Landowners, No. 29A04-0510-CV-578, which an online docket entry shows the court made Feb. 28.This means the Oct. 17, 2007, decision by the Court of Appeals stands. The appellate court had ruled in favor of Carmel, holding the city adequately proved it could afford to annex the 1.6-square-mile…

The Indiana Supreme Court today suspended an Evansville attorney who pleaded guilty to methamphetamine charges and received a six-year sentence in June.In its interim suspension notice dated July 14 In the Matter of Teresa L. Perry, No. 82S00-0806-DI-00307, the court ordered that the attorney is immediately suspended. Perry had been practicing law in the state since November 2000. The order remains in effect until further notice from the court.Perry had pleaded guilty in April to two counts of dealing a controlled…

The Indiana Supreme Court has reversed a Marion County judge’s ruling that officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department don’t have arresting authority because they didn’t take an official oath following a merger.A unanimous ruling came today in State v. Cheryl Oddi-Smith, 49S00-0710-CR-396, which stems from Marion Superior Judge Rueben Hill’s decision involving a three-car accident and subsequent drunk driving arrest a year ago. He ruled that Oddi-Smith’s arrest was illegal because the arresting officer was not sworn in after the Jan….

The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments this morning in its third Indiana case in the past six months, pondering whether defendants found competent to stand trial maintain a right to represent themselves.In its first case of the morning at 10 a.m., justices took on Indiana v. Ahmad Edwards, No. 07-208, delving into what the Sixth Amendment dictates regarding competency standards for pro se litigants. Indiana Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher argued for the state and shared his time…

In a ruling that could be the first of its kind in the nation, a divided Indiana Supreme Court Thursday afternoon reversed a lower court’s ruling that a Kokomo subdivision’s covenant restricting rentals violated the federal Fair Housing Act because of potential racial implications.The state’s highest court has been quiet on the issue since hearing arguments in October 2006, but it simultaneously decided to grant transfer and issue an opinion in the case of Villas West II of Willowridge v. Edna…

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Thursday morning on whether a federal magistrate in Indianapolis should be elevated to district judge for the Southern District of Indiana.A nomination vote for Magistrate William Lawrence is on the committee’s agenda for the 10 a.m. meeting. The Indianapolis magistrate, who’s been on the bench since 2002, went before the Senate committee in early May for his confirmation hearing. The president had selected him in February for the seat.If affirmed by the…

An Indiana case goes up to the U.S. Supreme Court in the final week of March to determine whether a man who’s been found competent to stand trial is competent to represent himself in those court proceedings.Before that happens, though, the defense team representing the Indianapolis man is at the University of Illinois College of Law in Chicago getting a test run today in a mock argument of Indiana v. Ahmad Edwards, No. 07-208, which will go before the nation’s highest court…

An Indianapolis attorney is getting one last warning from the Indiana Supreme Court before being suspended indefinitely from practicing law.Attorney Wilburn G. Lowry of Marion County received an additional 90 days on his suspension handed down nearly a year ago, with the court specifically noting in its Jan. 11, 2008, order that “any future suspension for failure to meet CLE or dues requirements shall result in an indefinite suspension.”In the order In the Matter of Contempt of the Supreme Court of…