Courts

Appellate courts must frequently address claims from convicted criminals that counsel was ineffective, sentences are unreasonable, or that the charges violate double jeopardy.Rarely does the state concede that convictions violate double jeopardy principles, as happened in a case decided Tuesday by the Indiana Supreme Court.In Chad E. Strong v. State of Indiana, No. 20S03-0612-CR-529, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office acknowledged the defendant’s claim that two convictions – one for murder and another for neglect of a dependent resulting in the same…

Justices heard arguments this morning on two cases, one asking whether mayors have veto power over certain zoning variances approved by local officials.First arguments before the Indiana Supreme Court came in Heidbreder, Inc. v. Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Crown Point, 858 N.E.2d 1999 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006). The Court of Appeals in December reversed the trial court in its decision involving a special-use variance request. The case stems from a request by Heidbreder to locate a concrete…

The Indiana Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence for a Vanderburgh County man who a lower court judge found was mentally retarded and should be sentenced to life without parole for the killing of his wife and two young children.A split court issued the 19-page opinion today in State v. Paul M. McManus, No. 82S00-0503-PD-78, with Justices Ted Boehm and Robert d. Rucker dissenting from the majority of Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard, and Justices Brent Dickson and Frank Sullivan.McManus…

The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s decision that a man convicted of felony forgery must submit a DNA sample.But that’s only part of today’s seven-page decision in James Keeney v. State of Indiana, No. 21A01-0611-CR-495, which goes on to admonish an appellate attorney who filed a brief with uncited material.In this case, Keeney challenged last year Fayette Circuit Judge Daniel Pflum’s order, which said Keeney needed to submit a DNA sample after pleading guilty to forgery and…

The Indiana Supreme Court has decided to consider whether trial courts can order restitution without determining a defendant’s ability to pay, and an annexation case involving land in Boone County.Justices granted transfer this week in Brenwick Associates LLC, First Industrial Acquisitions Inc., and Town of Whitestown, Indiana v. Boone County Redevelopment Commission and the Board of Commissioners of Boone County, Indiana, No. 06A04-0611-CV-682; and Jeffrey Pearson v. State of Indiana, No. 45A03-0610-CR-507.In Brenwick, the court will get involved in a land dispute involving…

The Indiana Supreme Court will take up the issue of a mother’s authority to discipline her child by applying corporal punishment, paving the way for justices to analyze the legal line between parental control and child battery.Justices granted transfer Wednesday in Sophia Willis v. State of Indiana, No. 49A02-06110-CR-982, which the Indiana Court of Appeals had decided May 17. Appellate judges affirmed the Marion Superior Court judgment finding sufficient evidence to convict Willis, mother of an 11-year-old, of misdemeanor child battery…

Indiana’s law prohibiting out-of-state wineries from shipping to Hoosier customers without face-to-face contact is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Indianapolis has ruled.U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder issued a 71-page decision http://www.insd.uscourts.gov/News/Baude.pdf, and a separate four-page judgment http://www.insd.uscourts.gov/News/BaudeJudgment.pdf and injunction late Wednesday in Patrick L. Baude et al. v. David L. Heath and Wine and Sprits Wholesalers of Indiana, No. 1:05-cv-0735-JDT-TAB.At issue in this case was whether state statute involving direct wine shipment violated the out-of-state wineries rights by barring them…