Opinions April 1, 2024

Indiana Court of Appeals
Emily Tingley v. First Financial Bank, As Trustee of Land Trust No.428
23A-PL-1226
Civil plenary. Reverses the Vigo Superior Court’s order granting First Financial Bank’s Trial Rule 12(B)(1) motion to dismiss a complaint filed by Emily Tingley. Finds the trial court’s grant of First Financial’s motion to dismiss under Trial Rule 12(B)(1) was in error because the court has subject matter jurisdiction over the class of case at issue. Remands for further proceedings.

Edbin Ceron v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-PC-1444
Post conviction relief. Affirms the Tippecanoe Superior Court’s s denial of Edbin Ceron’s petition for post-conviction relief. Finds that Ceron has not established fundamental error regarding the trial court’s management of Ceron’s interpreters, including the court’s subsequent remedial efforts. Also finds that Ceron has not established fundamental error and therefore he is not entitled to relief from his convictions for one count of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of rape.

Cory D. Brown v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-CR-1833
Criminal. Affirms Cory Brown’s convictions in Vanderburgh Circuit Court and aggregate sentence of two years executed at the Indiana Department of Correction. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the state’s C.R. 4(D) motion.

Corey Allen McNamee v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-CR-1831
Criminal. Affirms Corey McNamee’s conviction in St. Joseph Superior Court on a felony domestic battery charge. Finds that that McNamee has not proven prosecutorial misconduct, much less fundamental error.

Victor Lee Jordan v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-CR-1643
Criminal. Affirms the LaPorte Superior Court’s order revoking Victor Jordan’s probation, due to his failure to call the drug test line on more than 40 occasions and failure to report to scheduled drug tests on 10 occasions over the course of two months. Finds no error with the trial court’s judgment.

John Patrick Talboo v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-CR-1231
Criminal. Affirms the Hancock Circuit Court’s sentence of John Talboo to 30 years in prison for a voluntary manslaughter conviction, enhanced by five years due to Talboo’s use of a firearm in the crime, for a total sentence of 35 years imprisonment. Finds Talboo failed to show either that the court abused its discretion in sentencing or that his sentence is inappropriate.

Derrick D. Dennis II v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-CR-1395
Criminal. Affirms the Allen Superior Court’s sentence of Derrick Dennis to 60 years on a murder conviction plus another 20 years for a firearms enhancement. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion or commit fundamental error when it admitted into evidence certain out-of-court statements, and any error in the admission of these statements was harmless. Also finds the trial court also did not abuse its discretion by not considering certain alleged mitigators that Dennis did not argue to the trial court, and waiver notwithstanding, these alleged mitigators were not clearly supported by the record.

Martha Espinoza v. St. Mary Medical Center, Inc. (mem.dec.)
23A-CT-1204
Civil tort. Affirms the Lake Superior Court’s denial of Martha Espinoza’s motion to correct error. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Espinoza’s motion to correct error.

Ramirez J. Gomez and J & E Logistics, LLC v. Deborah S. Cochrane (mem. dec.)
23A-PL-1792
Civil plenary. Affirms the Vanderburgh Circuit Court’s jury award to Deborah Cochrane for $2.5 million in damages and the court’s denial of Ramirez Gomez and J&E Logistics, LLC’s Trial Rule 59 motion, finding the jury’s verdict was not excessive. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the defendants’ Trial Rule 59 motion.

Larry P. Prouse, III v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-PC-725
Post conviction relief. Affirms the Vigo Superior Court’s denial of Larry Prouse’s post conviction relief petition. Finds that the PCR court did not err in denying Prouse’s claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, and newly discovered evidence.

Keith Ball v. John Plasse and Vigo County Commissioners (mem. dec.)
23A-SC-1366
Small claims. Affirms the Vigo Superior Court’s dismissal of Keith Ball’s tort claim against Vigo County Sheriff John Plasse and the Vigo County Commissioners. Finds Ball had not adhered to the notice requirements of the Indiana Tort Claims Act.

Amy Sharp v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
23A-CR-2767
Criminal. Affirms Amy Sharp’s sentence in Morgan Superior Court of two-and-a-half years, suspended to probation, for Level 6 felony possession of methamphetamine. Finds the trial court entered an adequate sentencing statement. Also finds that even if the trial court abused its discretion by failing to find Sharp’s proposed mitigating circumstances, remand for resentencing would be unnecessary because we can say with confidence that the trial court would have imposed the same sentence.

In re the Involuntary Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of R.D.T. (Minor Child) and R.T. (Father) v. Indiana Department of Child Services, Lake County CASA (mem. dec.)
23A-JT-2679
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms the Lake Superior Court’s termination of R.T.’s parental rights to R.D.T. Finds the Indiana Department of Child Services proved by clear and convincing evidence that the father is unlikely to remediate the conditions that led to the child’s removal from the father’s care or placement outside of  the father’s home, termination of the father’s parental rights is in the child’s best interest, and adoption is a satisfactory plan for the child’s care and treatment.