The Indiana Court of Appeals in a decision admonishing the Indiana Department of Child Services has reversed the termination of a mother’s parental rights to her son, while upholding the termination of his father’s parental rights in a separate case.
Indiana Supreme Court
Stanley V. Watson v. State of Indiana
20S-CR-64
Criminal. Reverses the denial of Stanley Watson’s motion to dismiss a retrial of the habitual offender allegation against him for violations of Indiana Criminal Rule 4(C). Finds that although Criminal Rule 4(C) does not apply to a habitual offender retrial, Watson’s constitutional right to a speedy trial in Ripley Circuit Court was violated by the extraordinary six-plus-year delay in beginning his retrial. Remands with instructions to vacate Watson’s habitual offender enhancement. Justice Geoffrey Slaughter concurs except as to Part II.C. without separate opinion.
An injured Chinese national awarded more than $76,000 in disability discrimination damages lost those winnings Wednesday as the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed in favor of the southern Indiana casino that had employed her.
A woman convicted of disorderly conduct as police intervened in a neighbor’s domestic dispute secured a reversal Wednesday, with the Indiana Court of Appeals finding the woman’s right to free political expression under the state Constitution had been violated.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reversed for a convicted man seeking to modify his sentence, finding that the Elkhart Superior Court erred when it determined that it lacked the statutory authority to consider the merits of his motion.
A Clarksville adult entertainment venue ordered to cease operations due to local ordinance violations lost its appeal of an injunction Wednesday.
Sentences totaling more than seven years have been affirmed for an Allen County man who tased a woman he began dating after meeting on Facebook, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
A man serving an 80-year sentence for a drug conviction will have his sentence reduced to 50 years after the Indiana Supreme Court ordered that his habitual offender enhancement be vacated.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Jordan Allen Temme v. State of Indiana
20A-CR-275
Criminal. Affirms the denial of Jordan Allen Temme’s motion for the Vanderburgh Superior Court to apply the doctrine of “credit for time erroneously at liberty” after he was erroneously released from incarceration. Finds that the Department of Corrections’ inadvertent and quickly discovered error does not operate under the law of the state to cancel any part of Temme’s punishment for the crimes for which he was justly convicted and sentenced. Also finds the trial court did not err in denying Temme’s motion.
A man who was erroneously released from prison more than two years early must return to the Department of Correction after the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to adopt a doctrine that would award him credit for the time he was free.
A man convicted of stabbing his girlfriend to death in rural Dubois County lost his appeal Tuesday that challenged the evidence admitted and excluded at his trial and the manner in which the jury was instructed.
The United States Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from an Indiana man convicted of killing his great-uncle in a 2009 sword fight that also took the life of the man’s grandmother. The case is one of five Indiana criminal, juvenile justice or post-conviction cases denied certiorari Monday by the high court.
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.