Judge Paul D. Mathias

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A divided Indiana Court of Appeals panel cut a child molester’s sentence in half after it concluded that the length of his sentence was inappropriate due to his dementia and incompetence, among other things.

More than 50 cases were denied transfer last week, but Indiana Supreme Court justices agreed to hear arguments in two cases involving a teen’s murder and a reversed denial to terminate a mother’s parental rights.  

An imprisoned father who murdered the mother of his children and burned down her home lost his appeal of the termination of his parental rights after an appellate court concluded that the children were better off out of his care.

An Indiana Court of Appeals panel was asked to consider whether a reporter’s use of the word “incompetent” to describe a former Elkhart teacher’s termination was defamatory language – and ultimately whether a newspaper had the right to publish a story using the contested word.   

A woman arguing interest should accrue on marital asset payments from her former husband failed to sway an appellate panel, which concluded the trial court was not required to include interest when reducing an equalization payment to a judgment.

The Indiana Court of Appeals will travel twice this week to hear arguments in Lake and Wayne counties involving a denied mistrial and attempted murder.

The defendant in a workplace injury lawsuit was properly relieved from a default judgment against it despite the defense’s inexcusable neglect, a panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled. A dissenting judge, however, warned the majority’s decision could result in litigants performing “end runs” around excusable neglect rules.

The Indiana Court of Appeals has once again weighed in on the issue of whether commitment orders approved only summarily by a trial court judge are valid, finding Thursday that a civil commitment litigant waived her challenge of the allegedly defective order by not raising the issue in trial court. The appellate panel also found sufficient evidence to support a finding that the litigant was gravely disabled.

A man convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon after he allegedly tossed a pistol from his car during a police stop failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that the evidence against him was insufficient.

The majority of an Indiana Court of Appeals panel reversed the resentencing of a burglar who was serving an out-of-state sentence, holding that a harsher sentence that was imposed on a prior remand was a manifest injustice. But a dissenting judge wrote that the offender’s victims would suffer a greater injustice if the sentence is reduced.