Former union head sentenced for ordering assault on workers
A former Indiana union leader was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in prison for his role in an assault on a group of nonunion ironworkers at a church.
Criminal Charges
Articles
Lawyer: Case of Black inmate set to die reveals racial bias
The lawyer for the first Black inmate scheduled to die this year as part of the Trump administration’s resumption of federal executions says race played a central role in landing her client on death row for slaying a young white Iowa couple and burning them in the trunk of their car.
Dismay over Breonna Taylor spills into America’s streets
Anger, frustration and sadness over the decision not to charge police officers for Breonna Taylor’s death poured into America’s streets as protesters lashed out at a criminal justice system they say is stacked against Black people. Violence seized the demonstrations in her hometown of Louisville as gunfire rang out and wounded two police officers. Protests in Indianapolis remained peaceful.
ISBA section calls for nonviolent sentencing reforms
More than six years after sweeping criminal code reforms were enacted in Indiana, a section of the Indiana State Bar Association is calling for additional sentencing reforms to establish parity with those who received longer sentences before the reforms were enacted.
Man’s 85-year sentence for murder will stand, COA rules
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a man’s 85-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of shooting an individual in the face at a party and killing him.
US government executes killer obsessed with witchcraft
The U.S. government on Tuesday executed a former soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to kill a Georgia nurse he believed had put a spell on him. The lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute was the sixth carried out this year after a nearly two-decade moratorium.
7th Circuit vacates intellectually disabled killer’s death sentence
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the death sentence of a federal death row inmate convicted of murdering a teen girl. The condemned man has spent years claiming he is intellectually disabled, and the appellate court agreed, citing evidence withheld by the government during his trial.
US execution planned today for killer who said witchcraft drove him
A former U.S. soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to slay a Georgia nurse in a bid to lift a spell he believed she put on him is the first of two more inmates the federal government is preparing to put to death this week.
Man serving life requests death for Indiana prison slaying
A man serving two life sentences at an Indiana prison asked for the death penalty for a slaying of a fellow inmate, but a prosecutor said he is reluctant to pursue it.
Charges dropped against couple after 3 children die in fire
An Indiana couple will no longer face neglect charges in the deaths of their three children during a fire in an apartment which had no gas, electricity or water service.
Charlestown zoo owner at large after contempt arrest warrant
The embattled owner of a Charlestown zoo who has made headlines for defying court orders to turn over animals remained at large Thursday afternoon, a day after an Indianapolis judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
COA affirms sentence for man involved in fatal police chase
A man who fled from officers in a vehicle chase that resulted in the death of two children and their father will serve his 15-year sentence behind bars, the Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed.
Barr takes aim at federal prosecutors, takes heat for slavery remarks
Attorney General William Barr took aim at his own Justice Department on Wednesday night, criticizing prosecutors for behaving as “headhunters” in their pursuit of prominent targets in what he said were “ill-conceived” political probes. Barr also was criticized for comparing pandemic lockdowns to slavery.
Web Exclusive: Domestic violence shelters see fewer calls, more severe cases in pandemic
The silence was deafening. Little to no calls were coming in to the Middle Way House’s domestic violence help and crisis line in the months after Indiana’s stay at home orders, leaving Debra Morrow in a panic. “It got deathly quiet, and to us, that was horrifying. We were worried about those who couldn’t reach out.”
Jury found for trial of man accused of eating parts of woman
A jury from Fort Wayne was seated Wednesday to hear the case of a southern Indiana man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and eating parts of her body in 2014.
Justices to hear case of first impression involving teen’s attempted murder conviction
The Indiana Supreme Court will hear a case of first impression involving a teen’s attempted murder conviction. The case previously divided an appellate panel that reversed the conviction based on the exclusion of the 15-year-old defendant’s mother from the courtroom.
Indiana program has yet to pay those exonerated
An Indiana program aimed at compensating those who have been wrongly convicted of crimes hasn’t yet paid out any money since it was created last year.
Lafayette girl, 17, charged in 2 killings tied to attempted robbery
A 17-year-old Lafayette girl has been charged in the fatal shootings of a pizza delivery driver and her boyfriend, who the delivery driver shot to death during an attempted robbery, authorities said.
State police probe jail death of woman held in isolation
State police are investigating the death of a mother of four who was found unresponsive last weekend in a cell at a northeastern Indiana jail where she was being held in isolation. She died after spending several days in jail after she was arrested on a warrant on a misdemeanor possession of marijuana charge, online court records show.
Ex-cop who shot Black man reaches plea on unrelated charge
A white former South Bend police officer whose fatal shooting of a Black man last year roiled then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge stemming from an alleged on-duty sexual encounter he had a month before that shooting.