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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA woman who has yet to receive court-ordered substance abuse treatment may soon receive it after the Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer to her case.
After pleading guilty to Level 5 felony possession of methamphetamine and admitting that she violated her probation in a previous drug case, the Clark Circuit Court revoked Brittany Hoak’s probation and imposed her remaining suspended sentence of 294 days, also sentencing her to an additional three years of incarceration. The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed in Brittany Erin Hoak v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) 18A-CR-1094, noting in its determination that despite her multiple drug-related contacts with the criminal justice system, Hoak had yet to receive court-ordered substance abuse treatment. However, the appellate court denied her request for sentence revision under Indiana Appellate Rule 7(B).
But in a Friday order, a divided Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer to Hoak’s case and remanded it with instructions to determine whether Hoak is eligible for substance abuse treatment in a community corrections placement. The high court stated that if she is determined to be eligible, half of her sentence is to be executed in community corrections.
“In all other respects, we summarily affirm the Court of Appeals decision,” the high court wrote in a per curiam opinion.
Justices Mark Massa and Geoffrey Slaughter, however, dissented from the majority, believing transfer should be denied.
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