Timothy A. Cooper v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
20A-CR-00855
Criminal. Affirms Timothy Cooper’s Level 5 felony conviction in Tippecanoe Superior Court of failure to register as a sex or violent offender with a prior conviction. Finds the evidence was sufficient and Cooper has not demonstrated that he was harmed by the jury seeing him in shackles and in custody.
The US Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up President Donald Trump’s policy, blocked by a lower court, to exclude people living in the U.S. illegally from the census count that will be used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Sydney Renner v. Trevor J. Shepard-Bazant
19A-CT-02745
Civil tort. Reverses the Lake Superior Court’s denial of Sydney Renner’s motion to correct error, in which she asked for an increased damages award stemming from a car crash involving Trevor Shepard-Bazant. Finds the trial court’s treatment of Renner’s prior two concussions as separate incidents, rather than as contributing to Renner’s injuries and damages arising from the auto accident, was against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the court and resulted in error in the calculation of damages. Remands for a retrial.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded for retrial on the issue of damages in a negligence case brought by a Lake County woman who suffered a concussion stemming from a car crash.
The Indiana Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed judgment against Miami County employees who caused more than $100,000 in damages to water lines that supplied the City of Peru during an attempted logjam removal.
Indiana Supreme Court
In the Matter of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of K.R., J.T.R, J.L.R., & E.R. (Minor Children); A.B. (Mother) and J.R. (Father) v. Indiana Department of Child Services
20S-JT-63
Juvenile termination. Affirms Steuben Circuit Court’s decision to admit drug test results, finding the results fit the records of a regularly conducted activity exception pursuant to Indiana Evidence Rule 803(6). Held Forensic Fluid Laboratories which conducted the tests on the parents does depend on the records to operate. Also, determined the records met the other indicia for reliability including they are subject to review, audit or internal check; the precision engendered by the repetition; and the fact that the person furnishing the information has a duty to do it correctly.
A south side Indianapolis animal shelter must face a lawsuit from an adopter whose child was attacked by a dog with a history of aggression, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday, reversing a trial court’s grant of summary judgment for the shelter.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded entry of summary judgment in favor of an Indianapolis chiropractic clinic in a case brought by a woman injured in a car accident.
The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected appeals from a Floyd County man sentenced to death after he was convicted of two counts of murder for killing two women eight years ago and later confessing to a 2003 slaying.
The following 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion was posted after IL deadline Tuesday.
Common Cause Indiana et al. v. Connie Lawson et al.
20-2911
Appeal from the United States District Court fort the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker.
Reverses an injunction enjoining enforcement of Indiana law requiring the absentee ballots be received by election officials by noon on Election Day for those votes to be counted. Grants the state’s motion for a stay of the injunction, finding that “(a)s long as it is possible to vote in person, the rules for absentee ballots are constitutionally valid if they are supported by a rational basis and do not discriminate based on a forbidden characteristic such as race or sex.”
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can end census field operations early, in a blow to efforts to make sure minorities and hard-to-enumerate communities are properly counted in the crucial once-a-decade tally.
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Clay Kelley v. Kristy Kelley, Deceased, b/n/f Kenneth Todd Scales
20A-MI-679
Miscellaneous. Dismisses Clay Kelly’s appeal of the Warrick Superior Court’s denial of his motions to quash a nonparty subpoena, for contempt and for sanctions, finding Clay was neither a named party nor an intervenor in the trial court and therefore lacked standing to bring the appeal. Denies on cross-appeal Kristy Kelley b/n/f Todd Scales’ request for appellate attorney fees.
Democrats and their allies said Tuesday they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether absentee ballots in battleground Wisconsin that are received up to six days after the election can be counted — a move being fought by Republicans who have opposed other attempts across the country to expand voting.
Indiana trial courts are not bound by a two-year term for protective orders found in state law, but they also may not establish a policy setting a standard term for protective orders that substitutes for a different term of duration.
The Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday dismissed an appeal from a man whose ex-wife’s body was found in a southern Indiana lake six years ago. The man sought to quash a subpoena for his cellphone records sought by the woman’s father, who previously fought local law enforcement to win access to investigatory records pertaining to his daughter’s death.
Indiana Court of Appeals
James L. Dodson, Jr. v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
20A-CR-89
Criminal. Affirms James L. Dodson Jr.’s conviction and aggregate sentence of more than 87 years for his conviction in Allen Superior Court of murder and criminal recklessness and an enhancement for using a firearm in the crime. Finds his sentence was not inappropriate and Dodson waived arguments or requested the court to impermissibly reweigh the evidence.
A man a trial court found to be the “worst of the worst” killers for gunning down a Fort Wayne barber outside his shop was properly convicted and sentenced to more than 87 years in prison, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has given parties just days to file briefs in an expedited appeal over a state law requiring election officials to receive absentee ballots by noon on Election Day. The court’s fast track positions it to rule on the matter just weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election, while it issued a sharply divided opinion Thursday upholding a somewhat similar law in a Wisconsin case.
The Supreme Court might prefer to avoid politics, but politics has a way of finding the court.