Articles

COA affirms sex offender’s sentence

An Indiana Court of Appeals panel has affirmed a sex offender’s seven-year sentence despite his assertions that the sentence was inappropriate, despite a finding that a trial court improperly used the offender’s risk assessment scores as an aggravating factor.

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CHINS case dismissed for untimely fact-finding hearing

A child in need of services case has been dismissed after an appellate panel concluded that a mother’s motion to dismiss because the fact-finding hearing was not completed within the statutory timeframe was incorrectly denied by the trial court.

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David, Rush publish dissent as high court lets stand sentencing via video

Indiana’s chief justice and the most senior jurist on the Indiana Supreme Court published a sharp dissent Tuesday from a 3-2 ruling that could pave the way for defendants to be sentenced via video. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Steven David argued in the minority that defendants have a constitutional right to be physically present when a judge imposes a sentence for a crime.

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Appeals court orders return of $60K in seized cash

The Indiana Court of Appeals has ordered the return of more than $60,000 in cash seized by an Indianapolis detective who was checking packages at a parcel-shipping company. The same detective’s prior seizure of cash in a similar manner set the precedent in a 2017 case that such searches are unlawful.

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