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Circuit slams immigration appeals board

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago issued an immigration ruling today reiterating a message that the justice department isn’t giving asylum cases enough review.The opinion is one of an already long list of examples where Circuit Courts slam the nation’s immigration court system, a mostly administrative process flowing through the U.S. Department of Justice. The 7th Circuit has been especially critical of the system.In its three-page decision in Hanna Youssef Mekhael v. Michael B. Mukasey, No. 06-4285, opinion author Judge…

Legal malpractice claims not assignable

In an Indiana Supreme Court ruling, the majority of justices held that legal malpractice claims are not assignable and courts cannot require a person to assign his or her chose in action. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Ruth Estep, Personal Representative of the Estate of Ewing Dan Estep, and Assignee of Rights of James D. Perkins, the high court yesterday reversed the trial court’s order during proceedings supplemental forcing James Perkins’ assignment of any potential chose in action against…

Oxford professor speaks Sept. 12 at IU-Bloomington

University of Oxford professor Jonathan Herring will present a lecture – “Entering the Fog: On the Borderlines of Mental Capacity” – for the public Sept. 12 at noon in the Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington moot court room.Herring is on campus as Indiana Law’s George P. Smith II Distinguished Visiting Professor-Chair through Sept. 15.He has authored leading texts in family and medical law, and his research in these areas covers hot-button topics including the regulation of pregnancy and enforced…

Indianapolis lawyer chosen for judicial commissions

Attorney John C. Trimble, a partner at Indianapolis firm Lewis Wagner, has been chosen to be one of the newest members on two key judicial commissions focused on nominating new appellate judges and ethical, qualification issues for judges statewide.Starting in January, Trimble will be one of seven voices on the Judicial Nominating and Qualifications commissions. Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard chairs the commissions, which include the same members. State law requires that three commissioners be attorneys while three others are lay…

Supreme Court grants 5 transfers

Indiana’s top jurists granted transfer Wednesday in five cases and will consider issues involving physicians who leave foreign objects in a patient’s body, parental termination hearings conducted without the parent, timely court-filing deadlines, and the sentencing options courts have after probation violations.In Russell Prewitt v. State of Indiana, No. 10A04-0610-CR-589, the Court of Appeals in April reversed a Clark County case in which the judge revised a sentence after the defendant violated his probation. The appellate judges held that the lower…

Murder suspect wants change of venue

The suspect in the stabbing death of a 14-year-old Columbus girl last month has asked a judge for a change of venue for his trial. Demetrick Shepherd, who is being held in Bartholomew County jail for the murder of Chelsea Porter, wants his trial to be moved out of the county because he believes he won’t receive a fair trial because of the press coverage of the case. His trial is scheduled for Dec. 4.If a change of venue isn’t granted,…

Commission votes on court-related recommendations to lawmakers

A handful of Hoosier counties got a nod from a legislative study commission for new courts and judicial resources this week, and those recommendations will now go to lawmakers for consideration in the next General Assembly session.The Commission on Courts met Monday to discuss and vote on several measures that include new courts or judicial officers, but Marion County and the Indiana Court of Appeals are not on the list of recommendations.The commission did not bring up or vote on a…

Court of Appeals again denies prisoner’s suit

Yet another one of Westville prisoner Eric Smith’s lawsuits has made its way to the Court of Appeals.In an opinion released today, Eric Smith v. Indiana Department of Correction, et al., 46A03-0607-CV-327, the Court of Appeals affirms the trial court’s decision of case 46D03-0410-CT-365.Pro se, Smith filed the complaint against the Department of Correction and numerous individual employees regarding the grant of the Department of Corrections motion for judgment on the pleadings, the denial of Smith’s request for appointment of counsel, the…

COA affirms mistrial denial

The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s decision to deny a motion for mistrial and affirmed the defendant’s conviction and sentence. In Michael Hale v. State of Indiana, 43A05-0611-CR-647, Hale appealed his conviction for dealing in cocaine as a Class A felony and his 50-year sentence. He claimed the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial because he argued testimony from a witness implied Hale was previously involved in drug activity. Lance Patrick and Josh Hamilton were asked…

Court affirms murder sentence

The Indiana Supreme Court today affirmed the life sentence of a man convicted of killing a 10-year-old girl in Jackson County.A unanimous opinion in Anthony Stockelman v. State of Indiana, 36S00-0608-CR-285, affirmed the trial court was correct in weighing aggravators more heavily than proffered mitigators and that the sentence of life without parole was appropriate.Stockelman pleaded guilty to charges of murder and child molesting arising out of Katlyn Maria Collman’s murder in Crothersville in January 2005. Following her disappearance, state police…

Committee questions Van Bokkelen at confirmation hearing

Northern Indiana ;s U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen faced the U.S. Senate ;s Judiciary Committee this morning in his confirmation hearing for a federal judgeship opening in Hammond this summer.President George W. Bush nominated Von Bokkelen to replace retiring Judge Rudy Lozano, who plans to take senior status in July.During the hearing, Von Bokkelen and three other nominees for judgeships: Debra Ann Livingston for 2nd Circuit judge, Roslynn Renee Mauskopf for district judgeship in the Eastern District of New York, and…

AG argues automated dialing statute in 7th Circuit

The Indiana Attorney General's Office made an appearance in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago this morning, arguing that the state's automated dialing statute is constitutional. Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter filed lawsuits in state court last year against FreeEats.com Inc., a Virginia-based company making automated calls on behalf of Economic Freedom Fund […]

Project PEACE training postponed; no new date announced

 This summer’s training for Project PEACE – Peaceful Endings through Attorneys, Children, and Education – originally scheduled for July 16-18, has been canceled because of a lack of registrations from teachers. An extended deadline failed to draw any more registrations. The training might be rescheduled for sometime after the start of the 2007-08 school year. Project PEACE is a peer mediation program implemented by the Indiana Department of Education with support from the Indiana State Bar Association and the Indiana Attorney…

Judges rule on New Albany land case

Debate over land once earmarked for the 1960s expansion of Interstate 64 through New Albany has gone to the Indiana Court of Appeals, which ruled today in that case.The three-judge panel ruled in Donald Jensen, et al. v. The City of New Albany, et al., holding that a reversionary clause in a 1960 deed was unenforceable after land was transferred to the state more than four decades ago.Land in question was 5.82 acres known as the Fawcett property, which the original…

First arrest made in Southern District under child protection act

A sex offender from Iowa who recently moved to southern Indiana has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Indianapolis for failure to register as a sex offender.Jeffrey L. Wilcox, 41, formerly of Des Moines, Iowa, is the first person charged in the Southern District of Indiana under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The act imposes criminal penalties against sex offenders who travel across state boundaries without registering as a sex offender in the state they reside,…

Commission interviews COA applicants

The Judicial Nominating Commission conducted its first round of interviews today for the Indiana Court of Appeals vacancy that will be created by Judge John T. Sharpnack’s retirement in May 2008.Fifteen people from Indiana’s legal community applied for the appellate court seat.Nine applicants sat before the commission this morning, including three trial judges, a senator, and the heads of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council and Indiana Gaming Commission. Interviews started at 9 a.m. and ran until mid-afternoon, all conducted in a…

Suit: School district violating teachers’ rights

A federal suit filed this week in Indianapolis accuses a school district of violating teachers’ constitutional rights by blocking access to two political Web sites relating to the board’s actions and removal of the superintendent.This is the third suit lodged against the Perry Township School Board since November, when the board voted to place Superintendent H. Douglas Williams on paid administrative leave pending a review of his performance.Filed by Perry Education Association President Terry Rice and Southport Elementary School teacher Sherrie Williamson,…

Supreme Court suspends attorneys for unmet CLE

The Indiana Supreme Court suspended 111 attorneys this week for failing to meet their continuing legal education requirements last year.Justices issued an order In the Matter of Failure to Comply with Continuing Legal Education Requirements on Tuesday. Though effective immediately, it stipulates that attorneys’ proscription against practicing law begins at 11:59 p.m. June 11.A total 41 attorneys based out of state are suspended, followed by 26 in Marion County, eight in Hamilton County, five in Monroe County, four in Allen County, three…

Court: Collateral source rule applies in railroad award

Contributions from a railroad company to a federal disability fund cannot be used to reduce the amount of a plaintiff’s recovery, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed today.In a 30-page decision in CSX Transportation Inc. v. Robert D. Gardner, No. 49A02-0610-CV-917, the court affirmed a trial judge’s decision to not allow the railroad company to use its $35,000 annual contributions to a disability and retirement fund to lower the jury-imposed amount of $605,500 in damages for Gardner’s injuries.He was working as…

SCOTUS deciding whether to hear teacher firing case

The Supreme Court of the United States has asked for more information before deciding whether to accept a case involving a former Bloomington elementary school teacher fired over comments she made about the Iraq war during class.Deborah A. Mayer, who now teaches at an elementary school in Florida, lost her job after making comments to elementary students in early 2003 – just prior to the war’s beginning – that she would “honk for peace” when passing war protests. Some parents later…