Justices debate Indian control of land in Oklahoma
The U.S. Supreme Court is debating whether an Indian tribe retains control over a vast swath of eastern Oklahoma in a case involving a Native American who was sentenced to death for murder.
Criminal Case
Articles
Sua sponte review by COA leads to conviction reversal
A man convicted of trying to steal a catalytic converter got his misdemeanor overturned after the Indiana Court of Appeals reviewed the matter, sua sponte, and ruled the same evidence was the fuel for two convictions.
COA heading to South Bend to hear drug, handgun case
The Indiana Court of Appeals will travel north this week to hear arguments in a drug and handgun case.
Indiana family seeks resolution in 30-year-old homicide
The father of a teenage girl who was fatally shot in a 1988 double-homicide in Brazil, Indiana, said he decided to give his first interviews about the killing in the hopes the three-decade-old case will finally be solved.
Teen charged as adult in killing gets 48-year sentence
An Indianapolis teenager charged as an adult in the fatal shooting of a man stemming from a botched robbery of marijuana has been sentenced to 48 years in prison.
State Police decline request to investigate Elkhart police
Indiana State Police have declined to investigate Elkhart’s police department following reporting that revealed two police officers allegedly beat a handcuffed man.
Justices to hear appeal in northern Indiana triple-murder
Indiana’s high court is taking up the appeal of a man sentenced to life in prison without parole for the stabbing deaths of three people in northwestern Indiana.
Man competent for trial in ex-girlfriend’s gruesome killing
A Jeffersonville man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and eating parts of her body has been found competent to stand trial.
Woman pleads not guilty in students’ bus stop deaths
A Rochester woman accused of striking and killing three children with a pickup truck as they crossed a highway to board a school bus entered a preliminary not guilty plea Thursday.
Trump backs first sentencing law overhaul in decades
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his support for the first major rewrite of the nation’s criminal justice sentencing laws in a generation, but it remains to be seen whether the proposal can pass Congress.
COA: Defendant with transcript has no right to trial recording
A trial court’s decision to decline to provide a criminal defendant with an electronic recording of his trial has been upheld, with the Indiana Court of Appeals ruling the defendant did not have a right to the electronic copy because he already had received the trial transcript.
Woman charged in bus stop crash that killed 3 due in court
A Rochester woman charged in a school bus stop crash that killed three children is due in court for her first hearing in the case.
Second man faces charge in off-duty officer’s 1980 death
Another man is facing a murder charge in the 1980 shooting death of an off-duty northwestern Indiana police officer. A 68-year-old man released this summer from an Illinois prison sentence has been charged in the slaying of Hammond officer Lawrence Pucalik.
Hobart man charged with murder in death of father, 80
A northwestern Indiana man is accused of killing his 80-year-old father, who was found mortally wounded in his bathtub.
COA to hear cases at Ivy Tech Columbus, North Central
The Indiana Court of Appeals will hear traveling arguments in two cases this week, starting Tuesday in Bartholomew County with a case involving a drug-dealing conviction.
Indiana man pleads guilty to threatening abortion clinics
A northwestern Indiana man has pleaded guilty to two federal charges alleging he sent threatening messages to two abortion clinics.
Man sentenced to 82 years for Evansville strip club shooting
A man convicted in a fatal shooting outside an Evansville strip club has been sentenced to 82 years in prison. A Vanderburgh County judge ordered the sentence Friday for 35-year-old Clarence Miller, who was convicted last month on murder and other charges for the April 2017 shooting.
Indigent man ordered to pay $5,000, guilty plea waiver valid
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s imposition of a $5,000 special assessment to a man, despite the discovery that he was indigent, finding no evidence to suggest his waiver was invalid.
Bank robbers disguised in ’70s garb to be resentenced
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed three men’s attempted robbery convictions for lack of evidence but affirmed their remaining convictions and ordered them resentenced. The men were accused of robbing several Indianapolis-area financial institutions donned in 1970s apparel.
Albion man charged with murder, molesting in death of toddler
A northeastern Indiana man has been charged with murder and child molesting in the battering death of a 2½-year-old girl he was babysitting.