Opinions August 16, 2022

The following 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion was posted after IL deadline on Monday:
United States of America v. Ka’ba S. Muhammad
21-1441
Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division. Judge James T. Moody.
Criminal. Affirms the Indiana Northern District’s resentencing and reimposing on Ka’ba Muhammad of his vacated, original restitution judgment of $10,421.66. Declines to order a limited remand to correct the district court’s “error” of not crediting the $433.32 Muhammad paid while incarcerated. Finds that the parties involved agree that Muhammad paid $433.32 towards his restitution and as such, the 7^th Circuit believes he has or will receive credit for that amount.

Tuesday opinions
7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Nain Galvan
21-2771
Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Chief Judge Tanya Walton-Pratt.
Criminal. Affirms the Indiana Southern District’s application of robbery guideline provision in sentencing Nain Galvan for illegally possessing a firearm after finding that the gun he used in that crime was also involved in a robbery he committed earlier that day. Finds the district court did not err.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Brent A Taylor v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-CR-970
Criminal. Affirms Brant Taylor’s conviction of Level 1 felony child molesting and Level 5 felony kidnapping. Finds Taylor has not demonstrated an abuse of the trial court’s discretion in its evidentiary rulings. Finds Taylor was not denied the effective assistance of counsel and that sufficient evidence supports Taylor’s conviction for kidnapping. Finds the sentence is not an abuse of the trial court’s discretion or inappropriate.

Elaine Sanders v. Christopher W. Sanders (mem. dec.)
21A-DN-2760
Domestic relation, no children. Affirms in part, reverses in part, remands with instructions in Elaine Sanders’ appeal of the Kosciusko Superior Court’s final decree dissolving her marriage to Christopher Sanders. Finds the trial court clearly erred when it valued Banzai Racing Inc. and remands with instructions for the trial court to enter a value for the business based on the evidence already submitted or to permit the parties to submit additional evidence. Also finds the trial court erred in not valuing the couple’s wine collection and remands for the recalculation of the marital estate based on the evidence. Finds Elaine’s appeal is not barred due to her withdrawal of money from the parties’ trust account that is not tied to the issues on appeal. Finds, among other things, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied her request for rehabilitative maintenance.

Michael Yates v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-PC-2677
Post-conviction relief. Reverses and remands in the case of Michael Yates’ denied request for post-conviction relief. Finds the Howard Superior Court erroneously denied his PCR request. Reaffirms the holding of the original COA opinion, but clarifies that it does so by addressing a due process issue demonstrably unavailable to Yates at trial and on direct appeal. Remands for a new trial.