Ex-Paoli police officer pleads guilty to keeping meth, evidence
A former southern Indiana police officer has pleaded guilty to keeping methamphetamine and other police evidence that was supposed to have been placed in the department’s evidence room.
Orange County
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Supreme Court reversal: Drug dealer didn’t knowingly waive right to appeal sentence
A man convicted of felony drug dealing will now be able to appeal his 12-year sentence after the Indiana Supreme Court on Friday determined his appellate waiver was not knowing and voluntary.
Reversal: Orange County man’s child molesting conviction improperly elevated
The Indiana Court of Appeals has ordered a man convicted of child molesting resentenced. The panel found his felony conviction was improperly elevated and cautioned the trial court regarding consideration of his uncharged allegations on remand.
Denial of belated drug-dealing sentence appeal affirmed
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of an Orange County man’s petition to file a belated appeal of his sentence, finding he had waived that right upon agreeing to a plea deal.
Parrish: Students find clerkships in smaller counties rewarding
This summer’s Rural Justice Initiativesought to expose students who are committed to public service to different facets of rural and smaller-city practice while helping trial court judges with their heavy workloads in counties where that help is needed most. The goal was to underscore to students the benefits of clerking after graduation, to help improve access to courts and expand legal services, and to inspire some students to consider pursuing careers in rural Indiana.
COA orders new criminal recklessness trial after jury instruction error
A mother who backed over her aunt with a vehicle before fleeing the scene with her child in the car has won a new trial on a criminal recklessness conviction, though the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to overturn her related conviction of resisting law enforcement.
Web exclusive: Maurer 1L judicial clerkships offer legal aid to rural judges
Five first-year law students from Indiana University Maurer School of Law who are interested in careers in public service have been selected and paired with Indiana trial court judges who preside in smaller communities — specifically, Orange, Putnam, Vigo, Washington and White counties. The pilot’s ultimate goal: offering law students an opportunity to experience real-life practice in smaller communities while assisting Hoosier judges who might be overlooked by students who want to clerk in larger urban areas.
Majority justices reduce drug sentence, order removal from DOC
Finding the circumstances of an Orange County case to be “exceptional,” a majority of the Indiana Supreme Court has reduced a woman’s sentence and ordered that she be removed from the Department of Correction and instead placed in community corrections. A dissenting justice would have denied transfer of the case.
COA: French Lick Resort not negligent in hotel rape
A former guest of the French Lick Resort & Casino cannot bring a negligence case against the hotel after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined the sexual attack against the guest was not foreseeable as a matter of law, making summary judgment for the resort appropriate.
Indiana white nationalist leader faces battery charges
A white nationalist arrested for physically harassing a woman protesting at a 2016 Donald Trump rally is accused of attacking his wife and her stepfather in the southern Indiana community of Paoli.
Recovery home founder sentenced to 30 years in drug case
A woman who started a drug recovery home for women in southern Indiana has been sentenced to 30 years in prison on a drug-dealing charge that had languished in court since her 2013 arrest.
Courts enter final year of e-filing rollout
The Benton Circuit Court implemented mandatory electronic case filing on Tuesday, the first court to move to a mandatory system in 2018 as the state continues its push to introduce e-filing to all Indiana counties by the end of the year.
COA: Federal, state meth prosecutions not double jeopardy
A woman convicted and sentenced in federal court on a charge of conspiring to distribute meth lost her appeal seeking to dismiss state court charges, both of which referenced the same police raid of the hotel where she lived and where the drugs were found.
COA finds fired highway worker was at-will employee
Echoing precedent, the Indiana Court of Appeals has found that an employee handbook is not an employment contract.
COA: Termination hearing did not comply with Open Door Law
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment in favor of a southern Indiana school board after finding its holding of a public meeting at 2:30 a.m. regarding the employment of a teacher violated the Open Door Law.
Clarifications of statute still keep burden of proof on county assessor
A county assessor’s attempt to shift the burden of proof onto a landowner in a dispute over a property assessment that increased more than 5 percent failed to convince the Indiana Tax Court.
Appeals court overturns suppression of evidence gathered in search
A special judge in Orange Circuit Court erred in suppressing evidence obtained during the execution of a search warrant that led to a man’s arrest on Class D felony charges of possession of marijuana, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
Court reverses several theft convictions under single larceny rule
An Orange County man who stole items from a deceased man’s home and sold them had multiple convictions overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals, including several theft convictions and failure to report a dead body.
‘Continuing wrong’ statute makes malpractice claim timely
A doctor who was the subject of a malpractice claim due to his patient losing consciousness and causing a crash while driving is not entitled to summary judgment, the Indiana Court of Appeals held.
Cook Group board chair to speak at bar foundation dinner
The Fellows of the Indiana Bar Foundation will host their annual meeting and dinner July 15 in French Lick. New Fellows will be inducted, the Legendary Lawyer honoree will be announced, and Stephen L. Ferguson will address the audience.