Indiana justices take murder case overturned by COA

A murder conviction that led to a reversal after a split Court of Appeals of Indiana found the evidence did not clear the hurdle of reasonable doubt is now on the Indiana Supreme Court’s docket.

The justices voted to grant transfer to Marquis David Young v. State of Indiana, 21A-CR-1125, a 2020 murder case from Lake Superior Court. Also, the justices voted to hear a dispute over an arbitration provision in a customer contract and a case involving property damage caused by a sewage overflow.

Additionally, the justices granted transfer and issued opinions simultaneously in two cases – James E. McCoy v. State of Indiana, 22S-CR-294 and Joshua Payne-Elliott v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Inc., 21A-CP-936.

The Supreme Court denied transfer to 28 other cases in the transfer list for the week ending Sept. 2.

In the murder case, Marquis Young was found guilty in a gas station shooting in Gary that left one dead and was sentenced to 115 years.

On appeal, two of the three judges on the appellate panel overturned the conviction, concluding the evidence in the case came “nowhere close to proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” However, the dissenting judge asserted the majority “essentially accepted at face value the hypotheses of innocence that Young presented to the jurors ….”

The arbitration dispute is Cliff Decker, et al., v. Star Financial Group, Inc., 21A-CR-2341 and the sewer damage case is Conroad Associates, L.P. v. Castleton corner Owners Association, Inc., et al., 21A-PL-2167.

The justices split on a parental rights termination case from Scott Superior Court.

In In the Involuntary Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of: A.S., D.S., T.S. and Z.S. (Minor Children) and J.S. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services, 21A-JT-2374, the mother had argued she was deprived of her due process rights because she was not able to meaningfully participate in the termination hearing.

The Court of Appeals explained in a footnote that the mother was present for ta majority of the hearing and had multiple opportunities to speak privately with her attorney. However, she disconnected from the proceeding and did not respond to message from her attorney and DCS.

“Mother acknowledges that her attorney agreed to proceed without making a due process challenge and as a result, her due process challenge is waived on appeal,” Judge Margret Robb wrote for the appellate panel.

Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Mark Massa voted to take the case while Justices Geoffrey Slaughter and Christopher Goff voted against hearing the case. Since the court was evenly split because Justice Dereck Molter did not participate, the petition for transfer was denied.