Opinions Aug. 23, 2019

The following 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals opinions were posted after IL deadline Thursday.

USA v. Vahan Kelerchian
18-1320
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division. Senior Judge Joseph S. Van Bokkelen.
Criminal. Affirms firearms dealer Vahan Kelerchian’s conviction of four counts each of conspiracy and making false writings and one count of money laundering for his role in criminal conspiracies with Lake County law enforcement officers to fool manufacturers into thinking they were selling machine guns and laser sights to local police forces when they were instead going into private hands. Finds no error in instructing the jury, no prosecutorial conduct or other errors or abuses among the issues Kelerchian raised on appeal.

Refined Metals Corporation v. NL Industries Inc.
18-3235
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker.
Civil. Affirms the Southern District Court’s determination that Refined Metals Corporation’s claim qualified as a “contribution action” under section 113(f)(3)(B) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. Finds the limitations period had expired by the time Refined filed its suit.

Friday’s opinions
Indiana Court of Appeals
Ronald E. Kayser v. State of Indiana
18A-CR-3117
Criminal. Affirms Ronald Kayser’s aggregate seven-year sentence for conviction of Level 5 felony sexual misconduct with a minor and Level 6 felony failure to register. Finds the LaPorte Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Kayser. Finds the sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offenses or his character.

Thomas Spicer v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
19A-CR-434
Criminal. Affirms Thomas Spicer’s 10-year sentence for conviction of Class B felony child molesting. Find Spicer was not denied his right to allocution. Also finds the sentence is not inappropriate given the nature of his offense and his character.

Jarvis Peele v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
19A-CR-781
Criminal. Affirms in part, reverses in part and remands with instructions to vacate Jarvis’ conviction of Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement and to amend his sentencing order to reflect that change. Finds the evidence is insufficient to support Peele’s resisting law enforcement conviction but affirms his convictions of Level 2 felony unlawful possession of a legend drug, Level 6 felony criminal confinement, and Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Drake Investments, LTD and Paul D. Huntley v. Peter Ballatan (mem. dec.)
18A-PL-2775
Civil plenary. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of Peter Ballatan. Finds the trial court did not err in denying Drake Investments’ and Paul D. Huntley’s motion for summary judgment and granting Ballatan’s motion for summary judgment.

In the Matter of: L.S. and M.S. (Minor Children) Children in need of Services and P.P. and S.P. (Guardians) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
19A-JC-264
Juvenile CHINS. Affirms the Allen Superior Court’s finding that L.S. and M.S. are children in need of services. Finds there was sufficient evidence to support the juvenile court’s judgment and that it was not clearly erroneous.

Brittany Leann Kehlhofer v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
19A-CR-404
Criminal. Affirms Brittany Kehlhofer’s aggregate five-year sentence for conviction of Level 5 felony possession of methamphetamine and Level 6 felony unlawful possession of a syringe. Finds her sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and her character.

Chad Eric Pindell v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
19A-CR-546
Criminal. Affirms Chad Pindell’s three-year sentence for his conviction of Level 5 felony child seduction. Finds his sentence is not inappropriate in light of his character and the nature of his offense.

Barbara Bell-Shannon v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
19A-CR-381
Criminal. Remands with instructions that the Madison Circuit Court include the proper credit time in Barbara Bell-Shannon’s sanctions order and abstract of judgment form. Finds neither the sanctions order nor the abstract of judgment form contains Bell-Shannon’s already-served 188-day presentence credit time.

Paul J. Coy v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
19A-CR-700
Criminal. Affirms the revocation of Paul Coy’s community corrections placement. Finds the Madison Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion by revoking his community corrections placement and ordering him to serve the remainder of his sentence at the Indiana Department of Correction.

Nathan D. Hummel v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
19A-CR-743
Criminal. Affirms the Starke Circuit Court’s order denying Nathan Hummel’s motion to correct erroneous sentence. Finds that because a motion to correct erroneous sentence is limited to correcting sentencing errors apparent on the face of the judgment and Hummel raises an issue outside of this context, concludes the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying his motion to correct erroneous sentence.