A retired West Virginia Supreme Court justice is now a convicted felon. Menis Ketchum pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a felony count of fraud related to his personal use of a state vehicle and gas fuel card in a scandal that has led to upcoming impeachment trials for the remaining justices.
Former government contractor Reality Winner, who pleaded guilty to mailing a classified U.S. report to a news organization, was sentenced to more than five years Thursday as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors called it the longest sentence ever imposed for a federal crime involving leaks to the media.
Lawyers for Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, were pursuing negotiations with prosecutors that could result in a plea deal and a court hearing was set for Tuesday afternoon, according to two people familiar with the financial fraud investigation. If a deal is struck, Cohen would plead guilty in federal court in Manhattan and agree to cooperate with the government.
A northeastern Indiana man convicted as a teenager in his mother and stepfather’s 1994 slayings is seeking to have his 100-year sentence shortened. Aaron Brown’s request for post-conviction relief contends court rulings have found that imposing a “de facto life sentence” on a juvenile is improper when their juvenile status isn’t considered.
A woman's appeal of her federal guilty plea in a murder-for-hire case targeting a Noblesville attorney was dismissed by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case the panel said resembled “the plot of a mediocre novel.”
A Munster Indiana doctor accused of overprescribing painkillers has pleaded guilty to a federal drug charge. Dr. Jay K. Joshi pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Hammond to distribution of a controlled substance.
A Guatemalan man living illegally in the U.S. pleaded guilty Friday to driving drunk in a crash that killed Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and his Uber driver.
Muncie’s former building commissioner has agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. In an agreement filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, Craig Nichols pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering. Nichols faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.
The Indiana Supreme Court has remanded two cases that it previously granted transfer to back to the Indiana Court of Appeals for reconsideration in light of a new statute addressing permissible sentence modifications. The cases of State v. Stafford and Rodriguez v. State were sent back to the lower appellate court on Thursday after the 2018 version of Senate Enrolled Act 64 took effect on July 1.
Daniel Benson, the former chief operating officer of American Senior Communities, was sentenced Friday to nearly five years in federal prison for his role in a massive kickback scheme at Indiana’s largest chain of nursing homes. Indiana Southern District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sentenced Benson to a 57-month sentence as part of a plea agreement.
A Fort Wayne woman accused of threatening to kill a judge has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in a deal with prosecutors. Ida Mae Wilson appeared in a Delaware County court on Monday and apologized for saying she would shoot Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. in a phone call to her son, who was in jail.
An 18-year-old Fort Wayne man has been sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty in a crash that killed a 73-year-old man. Liam B. Burke was given his punishment Friday after earlier entering the plea to felony reckless homicide and criminal recklessness and misdemeanor criminal recklessness.
A former financial adviser who admitted to defrauding former Indianapolis Colts defensive end Cory Redding out of $4.7 million was sentenced Friday to seven years in federal prison. Kenneth Ray Cleveland received the punishment after pleading guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges.
A former Vigo County commissioner was charged with drug possession and domestic violence last week, nearly 10 years after he was first convicted of a drug crime. David W. Decker has been charged with possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a common nuisance, possession of paraphernalia, invasion of privacy and domestic battery.
A Gary man who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting a Gary police officer is asking a court to review his conviction. Twenty-nine-year-old Carl Le’Ellis Blount has filed a post-conviction relief petition alleging Lake County prosecutors threatened him to get him to plead guilty to murder in the 2014 shooting death of Gary Patrolman Jeffrey Westerfield.
A Marion attorney who pleaded guilty to a felony drug offense earlier this year is now under an interim suspension from the practice of law.
A former Marine who admitted to killing seven women in a plea deal with Indiana prosecutors has been sentenced to seven life sentences.
A northern Indiana trial court’s contempt order against a man who violated a condition of bail was an abuse of discretion, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday, reversing the order.
A former Lake County sheriff’s officer who authorities say struck and killed a man with his squad car while intoxicated at the 2016 Gary Air Show has pleaded guilty but mentally ill.
Charges have been filed against five more people in connection to a tuition reimbursement scam in Fort Wayne allegedly involving dozens of former employees of a British defense contractor.