Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The Court of Appeals of Indiana prematurely dismissed an inmate’s appeal of the entry of judgment in favor of the Allen County public defenders he was suing, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in reversing the dismissal.
The appeal at issue was filed by Brent Taylor, an inmate at the Indiana State Prison who sued the Allen County Board of Commissioners, the Allen County Public Defender’s Office and two individual public defenders.
In a pro se complaint filed in August 2021, Taylor alleged that his public defender, Gregory Fumarolo, “broke his legal contract and duty with (Taylor)” by preventing him from “presenting testimony of key witnesses that would have been allowed had he followed the proper pre-trial procedures, failed to investigate key witnesses, and failed to provide (Taylor) with compulsory process to obtain key witnesses, and failed to prepare an (sic) assist (Taylor) with the sentencing portion of the legal proceedings.”
The trial court dismissed Taylor’s action against the Board of Commissioners and granted judgment on the pleadings to the Public Defender’s Office and the individual public defenders.
He then appealed, filing his appellant’s brief and appendix on June 7, two days before the June 9 deadline.
The appellate clerk issued a Notice of Defect giving Taylor 20 days to submit corrected documents. But three days later, the Court of Appeals dismissed Taylor’s appeal with prejudice.
Taylor then sought transfer, which the Supreme Court granted in reversing the dismissal of his appeal.
“The record here indicates that Taylor timely tendered his brief and appendix, and he had twenty days from the date on the Notice of Defect to cure the defects in those documents, making them due by July 19, 2023,” the justices wrote in a per curiam opinion. “The record also shows the Notice of Defect’s deadline had not yet expired at the time Taylor’s appeal was dismissed.
“… Under these circumstances, we find Taylor’s appeal was prematurely dismissed,” the justices wrote. “We grant transfer, vacate the Court of Appeals’ order dismissing Taylor’s appeal, and remand for the Court of Appeals to resume jurisdiction over this appeal.”
All justices concurred in Brent Taylor v. Allen County Board of Commissioners, et al., 23S-CT-378.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.