Articles

Appellate court upholds guardian appointment

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the appointment of a third-party guardian for an incompetent adult because a disinterested person may hopefully prevent unnecessary disputes caused by mistrust between the woman's children and husband.

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Lawmakers miss self-imposed deadline

The Indiana General Assembly tried to end the session more than a week before the constitutional March 14 deadline, but impasses on school funding and unemployment insurance caused the legislators to miss their March 4 self-imposed deadline.

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COA: no error in admitting no contest plea

A plea of no contest can be admitted under Indiana Evidence Rule 803(8) as a public record proving the fact of a conviction, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed today. The appellate court found no error in admitting a defendant's nolo contendere plea to a Florida murder as proof he was convicted of an offense qualifying him as a serious violent felon.

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Police deaths, injury inspire late legislation

Although the deadline has passed to introduce new legislation, St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak has called on legislators to find current bills that will allow amendments to statute in response to two separate car accidents involving police officers.

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Judges disagree on chemical possession charge

A panel of Indiana Court of Appeal judges disagreed as to whether a defendant who stole anhydrous ammonia with the intent of selling it to a third party in the future to make methamphetamine, but who never actually sold the chemical, could be charged with possession with intent to manufacture methamphetamine.

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Justices take case of dismissed drug charges

The Indiana Supreme Court will decide whether a trial court was correct when it sua sponte decided to exclude evidence from a warrantless search of a defendant's car and dismiss the drug charges against the man based on that search.

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COA upholds termination of parental rights

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the termination of a mother and father's parental rights based on sufficient evidence. The appellate court also found the mother couldn't appeal on the basis that the Department of Child Services failed to prove her drug use when she repeatedly refused to submit to drug testing.

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Court reverses handgun conviction

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed today a defendant's conviction of carrying a handgun without a license because
the circumstantial evidence doesn't support that the man had the requisite intent to constructively possess the gun.

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Justices disagree about evidence issue

Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard didn't agree with his colleagues' decision that a defendant couldn't introduce evidence to dispute the judgment of an injured plaintiff's medical providers in choosing certain treatment.

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Judges uphold child pornography sentence

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found no procedural or substantive errors in a sentence following a man's guilty plea to a child pornography charge. In United States of America v. Brad Coopman, No. 09-2134, Brad Coopman challenged his sentence of 151 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to […]

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Lawsuit to take bar exam dismissed, re-filed

The man who sued the Indiana Supreme Court and State Board of Law Examiners because he wants to take the bar exam without going to law school had his case dismissed in federal court this week due to failure to pay the filing fee. He then re-filed his suit Thursday, alleging the same claims.

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Judges reverse protection order

A protection order under Indiana Code Section 34-26-5 against a woman should not have been issued because there was no evidence of domestic violence, stalking or a sex offense as required by statute, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.

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Couple not a ‘successful party’ in settlement

Despite a lack of Indiana caselaw addressing the use of the term "successful party" for an award of attorney
fees after a settlement, the Indiana Court of Appeals deemed the term interchangeable with the term "prevailing party."

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Mistake invalidates termination of dad’s rights

A father's consent to voluntarily terminate his parental rights so his sister could adopt his daughter was invalidated by misrepresentations made by a family case manager for the Department of Child Services. As such, the father's petition to set aside the judgment should have been granted, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.

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7th Circuit addresses post-trial factual stipulation

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals addressed an issue of first impression today about whether a District Court may disregard a post-trial factual stipulation between the defendant and the government regarding the amount of drugs for sentencing purposes.

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Judges disagree on retroactive support issue

In a matter of first impression, a panel of Indiana Court of Appeals judges couldn't agree on whether an initial support order can be retroactive to a date preceding the filing of a petition for resolution. The judges disagreed as to whether a court has the authority to reach into an intact marriage and order a party to pay child support to the other.

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