In the winter of 2021, two death row prisoners raised claims in habeas corpus proceedings that their trial attorneys were constitutionally ineffective. But the nation’s highest court split in a decision last month ruling that they could not introduce evidence outside of the state court record due to restrictions imposed by a federal law.
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Overturning the district court and disagreeing with a state appellate court’s analysis, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the denial of habeas relief to a man convicted on drug charges, ordering an evidentiary hearing on his habeas petition.
A man who was convicted of Level 6 felony intimidation for making threats against police did not receive ineffective counsel, a split Court of Appeals Indiana has ruled in affirming a post-conviction relief court’s opinion.
Despite an error in wording in an attempted sexual misconduct guilty plea, the Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed that an Indianapolis man was adequately made aware of what he was pleading guilty to and did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel.
A man who was a part of a duo that conducted a string of Indianapolis-area Kroger pharmacy robberies in 2016 did not convince the Court of Appeals of Indiana that he was wrongly denied a petition for post-conviction relief.
Although neither trial nor appellate counsel proved ineffective in a man’s drug-related case, a split Court of Appeals of Indiana has reversed the denial of the defendant’s petition for post-conviction relief after finding he was convicted of a crime he did not actually commit.
A man sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of killing his younger brother as a teenager did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel during sentencing, Indiana Supreme Court justices concluded Wednesday.
An Indianapolis man who at 17 robbed a pharmacy then shot and killed one of his accomplices will have to serve his 19-year sentence after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found the district court was allowed to consider the acquitted charge of murder when calculating the sentence.
A man sentenced to life for sexually abusing two children could not convince the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that his attorney was ineffective while representing him.
A man whose meth manufacturing case has twice been through the appellate process has lost in a third appeal, this time challenging the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief.
A man convicted as a teen of killing his 10-year-old brother is headed back to the Indiana Supreme Court, this time on the state’s appeal of an order for a new sentencing hearing in the life-without-parole case.
A convicted murderer who during sentencing received “literally no assistance from his lawyer” won resentencing after a majority of a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel reversed the denial of his habeas petition. A dissenting judge, however, opined that the majority’s holding improperly expands U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
The man convicted in the murder of Indiana University student Jill Behrman more than 20 years ago will remain in prison after the United States Supreme Court denied cert in his habeas case. The justices denied John Myers’ petition for writ of certiorari Monday.
A man who received an enhanced federal sentence for robbery convictions has been granted a hearing on his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that under the facts of this case, defense counsel may have been required to anticipate future developments in caselaw.
A man who nearly 15 years ago shot two friends — one fatally — could not persuade the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse his attempted murder conviction and 45-year sentence in a retrial. The man was found not guilty of murder at his first trial and the first jury deadlocked on the attempted murder charge.
A man convicted as a teen of murdering his 10-year-old brother will get a new sentencing hearing after the Indiana Court of Appeals found his representation “wholly deficient” at his first sentencing hearing that led to his sentence to life without parole.
A Dearborn County man who detonated a homemade bomb in his own home failed to prevail on his appellate claims for post-conviction relief.
A father convicted of three felony counts of molesting his daughter has successfully secured post-conviction relief from two of those counts. A Class A felony conviction, however, will stand. The ruling will cut the southern Indiana man’s 100-year sentence in half.
“Broken before she was born.” That’s how lawyers describe Lisa Marie Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row and the next person scheduled for execution. Her lawyers and advocates who cite her horrific history of childhood abuse and trauma are calling on President Donald Trump to commute her sentence to life without parole or to grant her a reprieve.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a new sentencing order that cut a man’s decades-long rape sentence by more than half, finding that the trial court has authority to order his new sentence run consecutively to sentences for his other convictions.
A split Indiana Court of Appeals has reversed the denial of a teenager’s petition for post-conviction relief of his murder conviction, finding his attorneys performed deficiently in a 2017 trial related to the fatal shooting of a South Bend toddler.