Through his nearly 17 years on the federal bench, Judge William T. Lawrence often set aside his work and welcomed into his chambers young attorneys who had arrived seeking his advice, counsel and encouragement. At his recent retirement celebration, his Southern Indiana District Court colleagues said Lawrence was fair, smart and always kind.
Read MoreThe 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.
Federal and state judges, magistrate judges, former law clerks, court staff, Indiana Supreme Court justices, legal scholars and attorneys along with extended family crowded into the William E. Steckler Ceremonial Courtroom Tuesday afternoon to honor their friend and colleague, Senior Judge William Lawrence.
Senior Judge William Lawrence of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana will retire June 30, creating a “bittersweet” moment for the federal court that was his judicial home for nearly 17 years.
An Arkansas man sentenced to death for murdering a teenage girl in Texas 25 years ago has been granted his petition for habeas corpus after a federal judge determined him to be ineligible for the death penalty due to his intellectual disability. The man will be resentenced in Texas.
A federal judge has found that an Indiana school district violated a transgender student’s civil rights by not allowing him to use male bathrooms at school.
A woman with a history of mental illness who was convicted in 2002 of murdering her boyfriend after testifying the she heard a voice telling her she was the Messiah has won her federal habeas case asserting ineffective assistance of counsel. She will be freed unless the state opts within 120 days to retry her.
Tilting the microphone down from the podium, the youngest daughter of new Southern District Judge James Patrick Hanlon drew smiles from his investiture crowd as she characterized her father as a hardworking man who always makes time for his kids.
The Indiana Department of Correction must provide a Muslim inmate housed at the Indiana State Prison with a meat-based diet in accordance with his religious beliefs, a divided panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday in a decision upholding a lower court.
In ceremonially donning his robe at his public investiture on Friday, Judge James Patrick Hanlon officially brought the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to a full bench for the first time in nearly five years.
An inmate who was one of more than 1,000 inmates in the Department of Correction with the last name “Taylor” has been granted habeas relief from a prison disciplinary proceeding, with a judge finding the man was denied due process when DOC officials failed to explain how he was selected as the correct “Taylor” in the proceedings.
Judge James Patrick Hanlon, the newest addition to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, will be formally sworn in at a special ceremony starting at 2 p.m. Friday in the Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse. Southern Indiana Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson will preside over the en banc ceremony in the William E. Steckler Ceremonial Courtroom.
Faegre Baker Daniels partner James Patrick Hanlon was officially sworn in as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana Tuesday morning, bringing the court to a full bench for the first time since 2014. Chief Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson administered the oath to Hanlon at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Southern District Judge William Lawrence took senior status in July, capping a distinguished career that began when he switched from swinging for the fences on the diamond, culminating with him calling balls and strikes from the bench.
A federal judge last week disqualified an attorney from representing a plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging abusive debt collection practices in a case filed against a client of the attorney’s former law firm.
Two Pakistani immigrants have lost their initial bid for the government to reopen their denied applications for permanent residency, with a district judge ruling their request for injunctive relief against a “secret” policy designed to withhold permanent resident status from certain immigrants is premature.
James Patrick “J.P.” Hanlon was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana by the U.S. Senate Thursday evening in a voice vote. The partner at Faegre Baker Daniels was nominated by President Donald Trump and will fill the vacancy created when Judge William Lawrence took senior status in July.
A federal judge is weighing whether to grant a preliminary injunction to allow an Evansville transgender student to use male bathrooms.
Damon R. Leichty, partner in the South Bend office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, has been nominated to serve as a judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, potentially filling the last empty seat in the federal judiciary in Indiana. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Leichty will fill the vacancy created when Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., took senior status in January 2016.
The estate of a woman who was confined to a hospital bed and harassed by her landlord won a major victory last week in federal court that provided some rare Indiana case law on housing discrimination and, according to a fair housing advocate, will impact Hoosiers for years to come.
The nominees for the Northern and Southern Indiana district courts will have to wait at least another week before they receive a vote from the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The committee unanimously agreed Thursday to hold over a host of nominees to the federal bench, including Holly Brady and James Patrick Hanlon, nominees for the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts, respectively.