Articles

Split Supreme Court upholds denial of LWOP defendant’s pro se request

A Boone County murder defendant convicted and sentenced to life without parole failed to convince a majority of the Indiana Supreme Court that the trial court improperly denied his request to proceed pro se. The majority provided an analysis for considering pro se requests in capital and LWOP sentences, but minority justices raised concerns about the majority “till(ing) new constitutional soil.”

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Court wrongly denied pretrial home detention, COA rules

An 18-year-old woman who allegedly drove a getaway car for accomplices involved in an armed burglary was wrongly found to be a risk to the safety of the alleged victim, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The panel ordered the teen remain held on pretrial home detention with GPS monitoring.

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Justices urged to clear Putnam Co. prosecutor over undisclosed testimony deal

The elected Putnam County prosecutor should not be disciplined for accusations that he failed to disclose a deal for testimony from a witness who claimed he was wrongly identified, placing him in danger behind bars as a “snitch.”  The hearing officer in Timothy Bookwalter’s attorney discipline case said the prosecutor violated no rules, should not be punished and urged the Indiana Supreme Court to re-examine the ethical duties of prosecutors.

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