Problem-solving courts cut recidivism, help defendants
Indiana House Bill 1016 proposes to let court staff provide some rehabilitative services and collect fees for them.
Courts
Articles
Indiana Sen. Mike Delph’s bills raise brows in legal community
Senator drops “loser pays” attorney fees plan, but other bills target grand juries and propose retention supermajority.
Marsh pilot says he flew former CEO to see mistresses
Don Marsh’s personal pilot told jurors Monday morning that he ferried the former CEO of Marsh Supermarkets Inc. to New York City at least twice a month in a year’s span to visit one of his mistresses.
Fraud victim files civil suit against ex-councilor
An Indianapolis physician who lost $1.7 million in a fraud scheme orchestrated in part by former Democratic City-County Councilor Paul C. Bateman Jr. has sued Bateman and two associates in Marion Circuit Court.
Prosecutor requesting life without parole for 3 defendants in Indianapolis explosion
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry has decided to request life sentences without parole, instead of the death penalty, for the three defendants charged in the Richmond Hill subdivision explosion.
Court error denying police deposition in drug case harmless, COA rules
A Marion Superior Court should have allowed a defendant to play parts of a police officer’s deposition for impeachment purposes, but the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that failing to admit his inconsistent statement was harmless error.
In affirming DUI on appeal, judges include predictive warning
An argument made on appeal in a drunken-driving case that the person who certified the operating condition of a breath-test machine should have been required to testify was rejected Monday by the Indiana Court of Appeals, which also warned in a footnote that such a ruling could cost criminal defendants.
Applications open for St. Joseph judgeship
Applications are being accepted for a forthcoming vacancy on the St. Joseph Superior Court, the Indiana Supreme Court has announced.
Thief who aimed to teach victim ‘lesson’ gets no relief on appeal
An Indianapolis man who said he stole a video monitoring system and car wash tickets to teach the victim a lesson about leaving valuables in an unlocked car lost his appeal Friday.
Former Marsh CFO sought out bankruptcy lawyers
A former top executive of Marsh Supermarkets Inc. became so concerned about the company’s deteriorating finances less than a decade ago that he took the desperate step of meeting with bankruptcy lawyers.
Jury: Real estate execs Bales, Spencer not guilty of fraud
John M. Bales lifted his crossed hands to his face and began to cry Thursday evening as a federal judge read the same jury verdict on each of 13 fraud counts against the real estate broker and his partner: Not guilty.
Marsh defense: Travel was integral to company success
Without membership in certain international business organizations, Don Marsh says he could not have built his grocery chain into a billion-dollar company.
Bales trial in jury’s hands after colorful closings
The jury began deliberations Thursday in the federal fraud trial of Indianapolis real estate broker John M. Bales and partner William E. Spencer after three hours of spirited closing arguments Wednesday.
Judges uphold man’s 151-month sentence
A judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals believed a defendant was entitled to resentencing because the District judge could only view him through “career-offender tinted glasses” even though the career offender distinction did not ultimately apply to him.
District judge incorrectly dismissed prisoner’s suit for length and unintelligibility
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered U.S. Judge William T. Lawrence to take another look at a federal prisoner’s Bivens lawsuit against prison staff and other unnamed defendants, finding that the lawsuit is actually written clearly and not as long as the judge believed when dismissing it.
Woman’s sentence revised because she is not among ‘worst offenders’
A home health care nurse whose flight from police while high on drugs and with her 89-year-old patient in the car had her sentence reduced because the Court of Appeals concluded she is not among the “worst offenders.” The high-speed chase led to a crash and the death of the patient from injuries she sustained.
Court split over denial to commit man with dementia
Although the majority on the Indiana Court of Appeals acknowledged it would have been better for the trial court to follow the statutory commitment procedures instead of outright denying the state’s motion to commit, it affirmed the trial court’s conclusion.
Judges uphold convictions stemming from bank robbery
Terry Smith made five arguments to the Indiana Court of Appeals as to why his convictions of robbery and other charges related to his robbing of an Indianapolis bank should be thrown out, but the judges weren’t persuaded to reverse his convictions.
Defendant entitled to resentencing under Fair Sentencing Act
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a northern Indiana man’s convictions of distributing crack cocaine and conspiracy to distribute the drug, but found that he is entitled to resentencing under the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.