Opinions June 21, 2022

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Dewayne Lewis
21-1614
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Fort Wayne Division. Judge Theresa L. Springmann.
Criminal. Affirms the denial of Dewayne Lewis’s motion to suppress evidence of large quantities of cash and drugs found in his hotel room tied to a drug trafficking operation. Finds Lewis lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in the exterior hallway of his hotel, where a dog sniff occurred revealing the presence of drugs. Finds the good-faith exception applies, regardless of whether the government’s use of real-time CSLI amounted to a search. Concludes that because the Northern District Court correctly denied the motion to suppress, the sufficiency of the remaining evidence does not need to be assessed.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Bonnie Katherine Joslin v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-CR-1356
Criminal. Grants rehearing to address Bonnie Joslin’s final argument regarding the proportionality of her aggregate 65-year sentence for murder, Level 6 felony auto theft, Level 6 felony identity deception and Class B misdemeanor false informing. Finds Joslin’s proffered mitigators of mental illness and voluntary intoxication do not call into question the proportionality of her sentence. Affirms in all other respects.

Treundon Earl Johnson v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-CR-1970
Criminal. Affirms in part, reverses in part, remands in part. Finds no error in the application of the progressive penalty statute and habitual vehicular substance offender enhancement to Treundon Johnson’s aggregate 50-year sentence with 22 years suspended to probation for committing two counts of driving with a suspended license resulting in death; three counts of driving with a suspended license resulting in serious bodily injury; two counts of causing death when operating a motor vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance in the blood; and three counts of causing serious injury when operating a motor vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance in the blood. Finds his sentence is not an impermissible double enhancement. However, finds the Howard Circuit Court abused its discretion by imposing a fee that exceeds that statutory cap for the fee. Reverses and remands the matter to the court for entry of the $200 alcohol and drug countermeasure fee.

Robertson Fowler v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-PC-1985
Post conviction. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s order granting the state’s motion for summary disposition with respect to Robertson Fowler’s petition for post-conviction relief and dismissing his petition. Finds no err in the dismissal. Finds Fowler was not yet discharged from his sentence for child molesting when he completed a career development training program and therefore was ineligible to receive educational credit time.

In re the Adoption of H.D. (Minor Child), R.D. v. M.K. and V.K. (mem. dec.)
21A-AD-2152
Adoption. Affirms the Cass Circuit Court’s decree of adoption of R.D.’s child, H.D., to the child’s paternal grandparents, M.K. and V.K. Finds R.D. has not met her burden to overcome the presumption the trial court’s decision is correct.

Tyree Dontai Henning v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-CR-2239
Criminal. Affirms Tyree Dontai Henning’s convictions for murder and Level 2 felony kidnapping. Finds sufficient evidence to support the convictions.

C.W. v. Review Board (mem. dec.)
21A-EX-2355
Agency action. Affirms the decision of the Review Board of the Department of Workforce Development denying C.W.’s claim for unemployment benefits. Finds C.W. has not met his burden of showing any error regarding the violation of his due process rights. Finds the review board did not abuse its discretion when it declined to consider C.W.’s additional evidence on appeal from the ALJ’s decision.

Bobby E. Lucas v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-CR-2521
Affirms in part Bobby E. Lucas’s conviction of Level 5 felony stalking and Class A misdemeanor distribution of an intimate image. Reverses and remands with instructions to vacate Lucas’ conviction for Level 6 felony invasion of privacy. Finds his stalking and invasion of privacy convictions violate Indiana’s double jeopardy principles. Declines to revise Lucas’ five-year sentence, finding it not inappropriate.

ArcBest Corporation v. Richard Wendel (mem. dec.)
21A-PL-2912
Civil plenary. Affirms the Lake Superior Court’s decision finding that ArcBest Corporation is entitled to a $34,138.34 lien against the medical malpractice proceeds from a suit brought by Richard Wendel. Concludes the trial court properly adjudicated ArcBest’s lien and properly valued the amount when considering the undisputed medical evidence. Finds no abuse its discretion in striking Dr. Richard Cristea’s unsworn opinion letter from the evidence.

Kayla Stout (n/k/a Kahler) v. Patric Stout (mem. dec.)
21A-DR-2929
Domestic relations. Affirms the Howard Circuit Court’s determination that change of custody was in the best interests of Kayla and Patric Stout’s children and that the children continue to reside in Kokomo, not Plainfield. Will not disturb the trial court’s determination that awarding the father primary physical custody was in the children’s best interests.

Anthony T. Wilburn v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
22A-CR-11
Criminal. Affirms Anthony T. Wilburn’s aggregate 30-year sentence for conviction of Level 3 felony robbery following remand instructions from the Court of Appeals decision in the case of Wilburn v. State, 177 N.E.3d 805 (Ind. Ct. App. 2021). Finds the Huntington Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing and finds no merit to Wilburn’s double jeopardy argument.

Marsha Rush v. New Albany Housing Authority (mem. dec.)
22A-SC-42
Small claims. Affirms the Floyd Superior Court’s judgment in favor of the Housing Authority of New Albany against Marsha Rush. Finds the merits of Rush’s argument cannot be evaluated due to her failure to submit a proper record on appeal.