Opinions Sept. 28, 2018

Indiana Court of Appeals
International Business Machines Corporation v. State of Indiana, acting on behalf of the Indiana Family & Social Services Administration
49A02-1709-PL-2006
Civil plenary. Affirms and reverses in part the Marion Superior Court’s calculation of damages stemming from IBM Corp.’s material breach of a master services agreement with the State of Indiana. Finds the trial court did not err in its award of the state’s damages. Also finds IBM is entitled to post-judgment interest on its $49.5 million damages award. Remands for recalculation of the post-judgment interest.

Kenworth of Indianapolis, Inc., et al. v. Seventy-Seven Limited, Convey All, LLC, Keller Trucking, Inc., K&K Aggregate, Inc., Huber Transport, LLC, Triple H Trucking, LLC, and Custom Hauling, Inc.
49A02-1710-PL-2502
Civil plenary. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s denial of summary judgement to Kenworth of Indianapolis, Inc. Finds genuine issues of material fact exist regarding when the foregoing causes of action accrued. Also finds Kenworth failed to establish Seventy-Seven’s complaint was untimely filed. Judge Robert Altice dissents with a separate opinion. 

Bruce T. Eaton v. State of Indiana 
18A-CR-1248 
Criminal. Affirms the 10-year executed sentence imposed on Bruce Eaton after his convictions in Allen Superior Court of Level 4 felony possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement. Eaton’s federal and state constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure were not violated when, during lawful police detention, a handgun was discovered in the pocket of his fallen pants. The trial court did not err in denying his motion to suppress the evidence.

State of Indiana v. Lawrence Lucas 
18A-CR-92 
Criminal. Reverses the suppression of evidence found in a car in the garage of a home where a search warrant was executed, resulting in charges of Level 4 felony possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon; Level 6 felony counts of dealing in a synthetic drug or synthetic drug lookalike substance and maintaining a common nuisance; and Class A misdemeanor possession of a synthetic drug or synthetic drug lookalike substance. Holds that a warrant to search a house and attached garage also permitted an officer’s search of a vehicle in the garage. Remands for proceedings.

Jamie Lynn Gish v. Patrick Michael Gish
15A05-1711-DR-2628
Domestic relation. Reverses the award of the entirety of a $206,950 retirement account to Patrick Gish as part of his divorce from Jamie Gish. Finds the Dearborn Circuit Court abused its discretion when it concluded Patrick Gish had rebutted the presumption that an equal division of marital property was just and reasonable and awarded the entire account to him. Remands with instructions for the trial court to equally divided the interest on the account that accrued during the course of the Gishes’ marriage between the two parties.  
Marvin J. Perkins v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) https://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/09281802pdm.pdf
18A-CR-754
Criminal. Affirms Marvin Perkins two-year sentence for his conviction for Level 6 felony possession of cocaine. Finds his sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and the character of the offender.

Ashley N. Guffey v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-531
Criminal. Affirms Ashley Guffey’s four-year sentence for her convictions of theft and residential entry, both as a Level 6 felony, and Class A misdemeanor operating while intoxicated. Finds the Henry Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion in failing to find Guffey’s expression of remorse and her guilty plea to be significant mitigating factors. Also finds her sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of her offenses and her character. 

Ricky Hill v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-550
Criminal. Reverses Ricky Hill’s conviction for Level 4 felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Finds the Marion Superior Court abused its discretion in admitting a gun seized as part of an unconstitutional search.

V.P. Construction Co., Inc., Steven Rilenge, and Julie Rilenge v. Interior Renovation & Design, Inc., and Patricia A. Geisler (mem. dec.)
49A02-1712-CC-2851
Civil collection. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s order granting damages in favor of Interior Renovation & Design, Inc. and Patricia Geisler. Finds the trial court did not err when it ordered the payment of damages to Interior and Geisler. Also finds arguments not waived by V.P. Construction Co., Inc. and Steven and Julie Rilenge are impermissible requests for the court to reweigh evidence and judge the credibility of witnesses. Judge Patricia Riley dissents with separate opinion. 

Marquelle Smith v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
82A01-1711-CR-2730
Criminal. Affirms Marquelle Smith’s convictions for Level 5 felony possession of a narcotic drug, Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana and Class B misdemeanor criminal mischief. Finds the Vanderburgh Circuit Court did not commit fundamental error by permitting a witness for the state to refer to Smith’s post-arrest, pre-Miranda silence.

Kevin D. Hamlet v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-PC-142
Post-conviction. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s denial of Kevin Hamlet’s petition for post-conviction relief. Finds the post-conviction court correctly denied Hamlet’s petition and properly weighed the evidence. 

In the Matter of the Involuntary Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of A.D. (Minor Child) and G.D. (Mother) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
18A-JT-837
Juvenile termination. Affirms the termination of G.D.’s parental rights to A.D. Finds the juvenile court did not clearly err in ordering the termination. 

Beverly Louise Cratty v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-937
Criminal. Affirms Beverly Cratty’s convictions for Class A misdemeanor possession of marijuana and Class C misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia. Finds Cratty waived her admission of evidence argument by failing to contemporaneously object on that basis. Also finds, sua sponte, inconsistency between the Marion Superior Court oral and written classification of the Class A misdemeanors. Remands for correction of that inconsistency. 

In the Marriage of Albertson: Amanda Albertson v. William Albertson (mem. dec.) ​​​​​​​
18A-DR-441
Domestic relation. Affirms the Dekalb Circuit Court’s grant of child custody to William Albertson, after Amanda Albertson made a series of unsubstantiated allegations of physical and sexual abuse against him. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion in modifying the prior custody order or violate her procedural due process rights.

Fredrick L. Magee v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-747
Criminal. Affirms Frederick Magee’s convictiosn for Level 3 felony rape, Level 6 felony sexual battery, Level 6 felony strangulation and Class A misdemeanor battery and his aggregate 16-year sentence. Finds the Allen Superior Court did not abuse its discretion imposing consecutive sentences. Also finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion in failing to consider certain mitigating circumstances during sentencing. Finally, finds the sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character.

Maynona Blackmon v. Mt. Zion Apostolic Church, Inc. (mem. dec.) ​​​​​​​
49A02-1707-CT-1488
Civil tort. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s grant of summary judgment to Mt. Zion Apostolic Church on Maynona Blackmon’s wrongful death and survival claims. Finds Blackmon’s argument that Mt. Zion waived any affirmative defense to her claims and was precluded from raising the lack of standing defense in its summary judgment motion is without merit. Remands for further proceedings on pending emotional distress claims. 

Rasoul Waddy v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-640 
Criminal. Affirms Rasoul Waddy’s conviction for Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Finds there is sufficient evidence to support the possession of marijuana conviction. 

Scotty R. Irvin v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) ​​​​​​​
18A-CR-856
Criminal. Affirms Scotty Irvin’s 64-years sentence for murder. Find the sentence is not inappropriate in light of his character and the nature of the offense.

Glen A. Carnahan v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-90
Criminal. Reverses Glen Carnahan’s convictions for Class C felony child molesting and Level 4 felony child molesting. Finds the Madison Circuit Court abused its discretion when it excluded certain evidence, and that abuse impacted Carnahan’s substantial rights. Remands for a new trial.

Randi Setto v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) ​​​​​​​
18A-IF-854
Infraction. Affirms the finding that Randi Setto’s committed Class C infraction disregarding a traffic signal. Finds there is sufficient evidence to support the conviction. Also finds the Whitley Superior Court did not err in imposing a fine. 

Christopher Allen v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-1192
Criminal. Affirms Christopher Allen’s 30-month sentence for Level 6 felony unlawful possession of a syringe. Finds Allen’s sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character.

Jerry Leonard v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
18A-CR-436
Criminal. Affirms Jerry Leonard’s convictions for two counts of Class A felony child molesting. Finds the Starke Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion by admitting Leonard’s statements pertaining to his confession. Also finds there is sufficient evidence to support the convictions.