Opinions Oct. 22, 2021

The following 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals opinions were posted after IL deadline Thursday:

United States of America v. Henry E. Wood
20-2974
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division. Judge Damon R. Leichty.
Criminal. Affirms the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana’s denial of Henry Wood’s motion to suppress data from his cellphone taken by parole agents without a warrant. Finds Wood’s Fourth Amendment rights weren’t violated. Also finds Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014) doesn’t apply to Woods, but United States v. Knights, 534 U.S. 112 (2001), and Samson v. California, 547 U.S. 843 (2006) do. Finally, finds the state’s interests outweigh Wood’s privacy expectation as a parolee.

United States of America v. Christian M. Lovies
20-2463
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Judge James R. Sweeney II.
Criminal. Affirms Christian Lovies’ convictions of kidnapping, carjacking and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and his enhanced sentence. Finds the district court’s factual findings related to Lovies’ Batson challenge were not clearly erroneous. Also finds the district court’s factual findings were adequate to support the application of two sentencing enhancements. Finally, finds any error with respect to the calculation of Lovies’ Sentencing Guidelines range would be harmless.

Friday opinions
Indiana Court of Appeals
Connor Ralland Kerner v. State of Indiana
20A-CR-2377
Criminal. Vacates Connor Kerner’s conviction and sentence on Count VI, Level 2 felony attempted robbery resulting in serious bodily injury as to Molley Lanham, but affirms his remaining convictions of two counts of murder, one count of attempted robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and one count of arson. Finds the Porter Superior Court did not err in admitting evidence obtained from Kerner’s and John Silva’s iPhones during the trial. Also finds the state produced sufficient evidence to support Kerner’s conviction for Level 2 felony attempted robbery on Count V, and his convictions for murder and attempted robbery as to Thomas Grill do not violate the prohibition against double jeopardy, but his two attempted robbery convictions do violate double jeopardy. Finally, finds Kerner has not demonstrated that his sentence is inappropriate. Remands with instructions for the trial court to vacate Kerner’s conviction and 25-year sentence on Count VI and issue an amended sentencing order for an aggregate sentence of 154 years.

Vinson Tate v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
20A-PC-1742
Post-conviction. Affirms the denial of Vinson Tate’s petition for post-conviction relief from his convictions of dealing in cocaine and possession of marijuana. Finds Tate fails to show that the outcome of his trial and appeal would have been any different had his attorneys acted exactly as he says they should have, so he has not established prejudice.

Harmon L. Jones, Jr. v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-CR-863
Criminal. Affirms the revocation of Harmon L. Jones’ probation. Finds Jones’ due process rights to a written statement of the evidence relied upon by the fact-finder and the reasons for revoking his probation was satisfied. Also finds that the Noble Circuit Court stated on the record at the conclusion of the fact-finding hearing that the state had proven the violations it alleged in the probation violated report, and testimony at the fact-finding hearing provided evidence to support this find.

Brishon Darvel Bond v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
21A-CR-917
Criminal. Affirms the denial of Brishon Darvel Bond’s motion to suppress evidence stemming from a search warrant that allowed detectives to place a GPS monitoring device on his vehicle. Finds the search warrant affidavit was sufficient to support the issuance of the warrant under the Fourth Amendment. Also finds the issuance of the search warrant was reasonable under Article I, Section 11.

In the Matter of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of: R.N., Jr. (Minor Child), R.N., Sr. (Father), and R.S. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
21A-JT-940
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms the termination of father R.N. and mother R.S.’s parental rights to their 2-year-old child, R.N. Jr. Finds the Delaware Circuit Court correctly concluded R.N. and R.S. lacked necessary parenting skills and could not provide the safe home environment R.N. Jr. needed.

In the Matter of K.H. and A.H. (Minor Children), and J.H. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
21A-JT-942
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms the termination of mother J.H.’s parental rights to K.H. and A.H. Finds the Spencer Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion when it denied J.H.’s motion to continue. Also finds the Department of Child Services presented evidence to support the trial court’s challenged findings. Finally, finds the trial court’s findings supported its conclusions that the conditions under which the children were removed from J.H.’s care would not be remedied and that termination of her parental rights was in the children’s best interests.

In the Matter of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of: K.B. III (Minor Child), J.B. (Mother) and K.B. II (Father) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
21A-JT-981
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms the termination of father K.B. II and mother J.B.’s parental rights as to K.B. III. Finds that the Wayne Superior Court’s unchallenged findings show that, after K.B. III’s removal, K.B. II’s violence against J.B. continued, J.B. was unable to separate from K.B. II and neither K.B. II nor J.S. completed Department of Child Services services aimed at ending the cycle of violence.