A man with a mental disability who has for years claimed he was wrongfully convicted of an Elkhart murder and who spent more than 15 years behind bars can proceed to a new trial after the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a post-conviction relief order vacating his murder conviction.
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COVID may have seemed like the only thing that happened in 2020, but for Indiana’s legal community, the past year brought watershed developments that will be with us for years to come, many of which were touched directly by the pandemic. Here are the Top 10 non-coronavirus Indiana legal news stories as determined by consensus of the Indiana Lawyer editorial staff.
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Former Indiana Congressman Todd Rokita has claimed victory in the race for Indiana attorney general, securing about 66% of Hoosier votes compared to the nearly 34% won by former Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel with about 60% of the statewide vote counted.
Read MoreA bipartisan group of 44 attorneys general has written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging him to drop company plans for a version of Instagram for children under the age of 13, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Monday.
A federal judge has ordered the release of a legal memorandum the Trump-era Justice Department prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr before he announced his conclusion that President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice during the Russia investigation.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a motion to strike Friday to have the Marion Superior Court toss the governor’s lawsuit over executive powers, arguing in part, “the Governor cannot merely sue the legislature over laws he does not like.”
Following the Legislature’s override of his veto, Gov. Eric Holcomb has filed a lawsuit against the legislative branch, claiming the provisions in HEA 1123 which allow the Indiana General Assembly to call itself into “emergency session” are unconstitutional. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, however, is asserting that his office has the exclusive authority to resolve the dispute.
Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to announce that the Justice Department is opening a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis a day after a former officer was convicted in the killing of George Floyd.
Ramsey Clark, the attorney general in the Johnson administration who became an outspoken activist for unpopular causes and a harsh critic of U.S. policy, has died. He was 93.
An Indiana law requiring bars and restaurants owned by out-of-state entrepreneurs to gross more than $100,000 in food sales each year to receive an Indiana alcohol permit has been permanently struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge.
A federal judge has dismissed the latest attempt by property owners in a northwestern Indiana town to deny public access to Lake Michigan beaches.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from Kentucky’s attorney general, who wants to be allowed to defend a restriction on abortion rights that lower courts had struck down and which the governor has chosen not to defend.
On federal death row in Terre Haute, prisoners fling notes on a string under each other’s cell doors and converse through interconnected air ducts. A top issue these days: whether President Joe Biden will halt executions, several told The Associated Press.
Indiana’s attorney general’s office vigorously defended Gov. Eric Holcomb’s emergency powers in response to a restaurant’s lawsuit challenging his order that masks must be worn inside restaurants to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
With former President Donald Trump’s tax returns finally in hand, a team of New York prosecutors led by a newly hired former mob-buster is sending out fresh subpoenas and meeting face-to-face with key witnesses, scrutinizing Trump’s business practices in granular detail.
Republican attorneys general from 21 states, including Indiana, are questioning a provision in the $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan that bars states from using its funds to offset tax cuts.
Taking the reins at the Justice Department, Attorney General Merrick Garland sought Thursday to assure career staffers that he would prioritize restoring the department’s reputation for political independence and ensuring equal justice after a tumultuous four years under former President Donald Trump.
Indiana’s new attorney general is being paid by private businesses for consulting work, including $25,000 a year for advising a Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company, according to a newspaper report.
The Senate confirmed Merrick Garland on Wednesday to be the next U.S. attorney general with a strong bipartisan vote, placing the widely respected, veteran judge in the post as President Joe Biden has vowed to restore the Justice Department’s reputation for independence.
The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for longtime immigrants who have been convicted of a crime to avoid deportation. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 5-3 conservative majority that ruled against a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. illegally and has lived in the country for 25 years.
Under a bill in the Statehouse, a prosecutor who establishes a policy of not charging certain offenses would be considered “noncompliant.” But local prosecutors fear changes that would step on their prosecutorial discretion and give the attorney general, a statewide officeholder, a say over her local decisions.
I asked former three-term Indiana Attorney General Linley Pearson, if you were a younger person today, would you run for office? He didn’t hesitate. “There’s no question today I could not be in politics,” he said. “It’s just totally changed, and it’s not very attractive to me. … If you want to exaggerate or malign a person, you could always do that, but do you want to do that?”
A controversial bill that would allow the Indiana attorney general to request a special prosecutor if elected prosecutors become “noncompliant” passed the Indiana Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 200 is now headed to the Indiana House for further consideration.