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The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer last week for cases involving a speedy trial request and a fatal county fair brawl.
The Indiana Court of Appeals vacated attempted murder and battery convictions in November 2023 after finding that a speedy trial request was not met.
The case–Stevie Bradley v. State of Indiana, 24S-CR-206–began in September 2021 when Stevie Bradley was arrested for attacking his then-girlfriend.
At his first post-arrest hearing, Bradley proceeded pro se and orally moved for an early trial. The magistrate judge ordered Bradley to file the motion in writing and set a bond.
At his second post-arrest hearing, Bradley again orally moved for an early trial. The St. Joseph Superior Court granted the motion and set his trial to begin on Dec. 6, 2021.
On Nov. 29 of that year, the trial court sua sponte ordered Bradley to undergo a competency evaluation. He was deemed competent in March 2022, and his trial was reset to begin on May 4, 2022.
Bradley objected to the new trial date being set outside of the Criminal Rule 4(B) 70-day period. Judge Paul Felix wrote in the opinion that Bradley should have been discharged after his 70-period expired in March 2022.
The other case the high court granted transfer of was one in which the appellate court ordered a new trial in a deadly county fair fight, following prosecutorial misconduct.
In Zachariah David Konkle v. State of Indiana, 24S-CR-207, Michael Steele and Zachariah David Konkle were working at the Jackson County Fair in Brownstown in July 2021.
Konkle told some co-workers that someone had been messing with a mentally handicapped child and that if he found the person, he would hurt them. The workers told Konkle to let management handle it.
Konkle attacked one worker but discovered he was the wrong person. He then told Steele that the second person was going to get it “twice as worse.” Konkle didn’t know Steele had several heart problems, including significantly blocked coronary arteries and an enlarged heart.
Steele “got tired of hearing it from” Konkle and said, “Let’s go.” He then threw a punch, and the men began to fight on the ground.
Konkle was on top of Steele when he heard him making gurgling sounds. Another worker started CPR, and Konkle joined in.
He told those who were there to tell law enforcement that Steele had fallen in the shower. Law enforcement arrived and took over CPR until EMS arrived.
Konkle was interviewed on the scene and again at the police department. He stated that he was mad at Steele for making fun of a special needs girl because he has a special needs child.
Steele was taken to Indiana University Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where he died.
The jury found Konkle guilty of Level 2 felony voluntary manslaughter, and Konkle admitted to being a habitual offender. The Jackson Circuit Court sentenced him to a total of 34 years.
At issue on appeal was the prosecutor’s statement in closing argument that the Indiana Supreme Court, under the eggshell-victim doctrine, has allowed people to be convicted even if they did not intend the harm the victim sustained.
Konkle claimed that doctrine does not apply to murder and voluntary manslaughter cases and that, therefore, it was a misstatement of the law.
The appellate court agreed that the state committed prosecutorial misconduct, thus making a fair trial impossible and constituting fundamental error.
The split in revoking transfer of a traffic stop case in which the appellate court affirmed seizure of evidence was constitutional in September 2023.
Theodore Canonge Jr. was stopped by Avon police in 2021 where what was supposed to be a traffic stop due to multiple traffic violations like not signaling when changing lanes turned into a seizure of drugs.
Justices Mark Massa and Christopher Goff concurred in the denial of transfer. Justice Derek Molter also concurred but with a separate opinion.
“Yet, while Canonge argued in the trial court that the search violated Article 1, Section 11, and he cited Quirk in his appellate briefing, he never cited our state constitution on appeal and did not provide any analysis distinct from his Fourth Amendment analysis. He therefore waived his state constitutional law claim on appeal,” Molter wrote.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush dissented from the denial of transfer with a separate opinion. She wrote that the traffic stop lasted longer than reasonably required due to having to wait for a K-9 unit to arrive.
“All in all, the totality of the circumstances here would not provide any officer with a particularized and objective basis to believe the vehicle’s occupants were engaged in criminal activity. By denying transfer, this Court approves an opinion that ‘dramatically lowers the bar of what is required for an officer to indefinitely detain a motorist pending the arrival of a K-9 officer.’ Id. at 631 (May, J., dissenting),” Rush wrote. “Because this opinion conflicts with binding precedent, decides an important question of law, and creates a conflict in our Court of Appeals, I dissent from the Court’s decision to deny transfer.”
Justice Geoffrey Slaughter also dissented from the denial with a separate opinion. He wrote he would grant transfer and dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
“The upshot is that the panel below could not accept jurisdiction given the trial court’s failure to certify its order consistent with Rule 14(B). This failure means jurisdiction over Canonge’s case never passed from the trial court to the court of appeals—and, because our jurisdiction derives from the appellate court’s, never passed to us,” Slaughter wrote.
This case was not the only one of the 41 denied that the justices did not unanimously agree on.
Rush voted to grant the petition to transfer Christopher S. Applegate v. State of Indiana, 23A-CR-954. Christopher Applegate’s auto theft conviction was affirmed by the appellate court in March.
The chief justice also voted to transfer Termination: F.A. v. Indiana Department of Child Services, 23A-JT-1932. The appellate court affirmed in March the Lawrence Circuit Court’s termination of a mother’s parental rights to her child.
Lastly, Rush voted to grant the petition for transfer of Michael Karnuth v. State of Indiana, 23A-CR-834. Michael Karnuth’s 120 year sentence for murder and obstruction of justice was affirmed in March.
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