Appeals court remands for sentencing order to reflect not guilty verdict
A sentencing order that failed to account for a man’s not guilty verdict prompted a remand from the Indiana Court of Appeals on Thursday to fix the omission.
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SCOTUS halts Texas execution over clergy question
The US Supreme Court granted a reprieve Tuesday to a Texas inmate scheduled to die for his conviction of fatally stabbing an 85-year-old woman more than two decades ago, continuing a more than four-month delay of executions in the nation’s busiest death penalty state during the coronavirus pandemic.
New execution dates set for federal inmates on death row
The Justice Department has set new dates to begin executing federal death-row inmates following a months-long legal battle over the plan to resume the executions for the first time since 2003. If the executions proceed, they would take place at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute.
Legislator from Indianapolis resigns after arrest
A state legislator from Indianapolis resigned his position Monday after being arrested last week. Democratic Rep. Dan Forestal said his resignation as a state representative was effective immediately, calling his time in office the “greatest honor of my lifetime.” Forestal said he would “focus on my mental health and get myself well.”
Indianapolis partnership aims to reimagine public safety with community’s help
The city of Indianapolis has partnered with the Criminal Justice Lab at New York University School of Law to work to reform public safety in Indianapolis.
Minivan driver charged after striking Indianapolis protesters
A woman who allegedly struck pedestrians with her minivan during a Monday protest on Monument Circle has been charged with felony criminal recklessness.
Special prosecutor asks state police to investigate Indy police shooting
The special prosecutor named to oversee the May 6 shooting death of a black man by an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer asked the Indiana State Police on Wednesday to handle the investigation. IMPD also on Wednesday released the names of officers involved in the shooting.
Indianapolis man gets 6 years for killing police dog
An Indianapolis man was sentenced to six years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty in Hamilton County to fatally shooting a police dog that was pursuing him.
Protests turn to rage
Peaceful protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd on the last weekend in May in downtown Indianapolis turned violent with police launching tear gas and protesters vandalizing and destroying businesses. Windows were shattered, stores were looted, fires were set and graffiti was spray-painted everywhere. Protests took place across the state including in Evansville, Jeffersonville Fort Wayne, Hammond, Michigan City, South Bend, and Lafayette.
Attorneys despair, but see reason for anger in the streets
Following a weekend of violent protests in Indianapolis that damaged many downtown businesses, attorney Maurice Scott of Scott Legal & Consulting cautioned against getting distracted by bricks and mortar. “The focus should not be on the property damage,” Scott said. “The focus should be on the people who are not being heard, not being seen and not being part of the decision-making process.”
Grandfather’s sexual misconduct with a minor conviction upheld
A man who sexually abused his granddaughter and tried to allege that her father could have been the “source” of her resultant pregnancy had his convictions upheld by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Former jailer charged with driving into Kokomo protest
A former correctional officer who drove into a Black Lives Matter protest faces a felony criminal recklessness charge, prosecutors said Tuesday.
7th Circuit affirms firearms convictions in light of key SCOTUS ruling
In what it called its first precedential decision concerning convictions upon jury verdicts in federal firearms cases after a key US Supreme Court decision, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the convictions of three men who argued that their indictments and jury instructions were missing an element.
After habeas win, man convicted in IU student’s murder to be freed pending appeal
The man convicted nearly 15 years ago in the killing of Indiana University student Jill Behrman will be released from custody later this month after the same judge who granted his request for habeas relief last year also granted his bid for coronavirus-related release.
Indianapolis police, protesters march together; Hogsett extends curfew
Police and protesters negotiated a truce and walked together on Meridian Street on Monday night following a tense standoff that lasted about 30 minutes near the Governor’s Residence on Meridian Street.
Lawyers clean up, grapple with aftermath of weekend violence
Lawyers and law firms are assessing the damage and extending offers of aid after weekend protests turned violent in Indianapolis and other cities around the state. The protests and violent outbursts in Indiana and across the country were sparked by outrage over the death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police office knelt on his neck.
Ex-Indiana prisons worker charged with murder in stabbings
A former Indiana Department of Correction worker is charged with murder and other offenses in the stabbing earlier this month of three people, two of them fatally, according to documents released Friday during a hearing.
Minneapolis cop who knelt on George Floyd’s neck charged with murder
The police officer who was seen on video kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died in custody after pleading that he could not breathe, was arrested Friday and charged with murder in a case that sparked protests across the United States and violence in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis police station torched amid George Floyd protest
Cheering protesters torched a Minneapolis police station that the department abandoned as three days of violent protests spread to nearby St. Paul and angry demonstrations flared across the U.S over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer kneeled on his neck.
Minneapolis mayor: Officer who put knee on neck of man who died should be charged
The mayor of Minneapolis called Wednesday for criminal charges against the white police officer seen on video kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed black man who complained that he could not breathe and died in police custody.