Justices decline convicted police officer’s murder appeal, 21 other cases

The Evansville police officer convicted in the 1990s of murder and arson for the death of his mistress will not be getting a new trial. The Indiana Supreme Court declined Glenn Patrick Bradford’s appeal, leaving his convictions in place.

Bradford sought post-conviction relief for the convictions stemming from a 1992 fire at the home of Tammy Lohr, resulting in her death. The Indiana Court of Appeals in May decided not to grant his petition for post-conviction relief.

Bradford was sentenced to the maximum of 80 years for the crimes.

The justices also declined Steven Weinreb’s appeal of the partial grant by the Court of Appeals of summary judgment and a monetary award to Fannie Mae. Weinreb and his business partners used a loan from Fannie Mae to acquire an Indianapolis apartment complex. Weinreb’s company failed to pay monthly installments on the loan and later brought the apartments to a sheriff’s sale. Weinreb argued that he hadn’t read the loan documents before signing them because of their complexity. The Court of Appeals pointed out that a failure to read doesn’t equate to an ambiguity arising from the implementation of the clear terms of the note, mortgage and guaranty.

The Supreme Court did not take Darla Brenton’s appeal after the Court of Appeals affirmed the order removing her as special administrator of the estate of Evelyn Norfleet for purposes of bringing a wrongful death action. Norfleet had named her son, Brenton’s brother, as executor, which Brenton did not tell the court at the time she petitioned to be special administrator. She was removed because her appointment was not proper under I.C. 29-1-10-15.

The justices did accept on transfer Gersh Zavodnik v. Michela Rinaldi, et al, 49S05-1311-CT-759, in which they reversed dismissal because of questions about whether a defendant had been properly served notice.

The transfer list for the week ending Nov. 22 is available on the court’s website.