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Justices rule on competency for pro se representation

The federal constitutional right to self-representation requires a defendant who is competent to stand trial be allowed to proceed pro se, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled. Justices granted transfer and issued a unanimous decision Thursday afternoon in Ahmad Edwards v. State of Indiana, No. 59S02-0705-CR-202. Justice Theodore Boehm wrote the 10-page opinion summarily affirming the Indiana Court of Appeals’ rationale in a September decision that reversed the convictions for attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon and now means…

7th Circuit rules on IUPUI discrimination case

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated one grant of summary judgment and affirmed another in favor of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in a discrimination suit.

Commission discusses technology, hardship license

The Commission on Courts – the legislative interim study committee that considers issues instrumental in court operations – gathered Tuesday to hear about technological initiatives under way in the state courts and expanding the jurisdiction of courts issuing driver’s licenses because of hardship.Mary DePrez, director and counsel of trial court technology for the Supreme Court’s Judicial Technology and Automation Committee, told the commission about new initiatives launched recently on a protective order registry and e-traffic citations, all of which will eventually…

Court vacates summary judgment

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an Indiana District Court’s grant of summary judgment and remanded the case so the court could determine what right a company has to receive compensation for its vandalized railroad cars. In CSX Transportation Inc. v. Appalachian Railcar Services Inc., No. 06-3430, CSX brought suit in the Southern District to recover payment it made to Appalachian Railcar Services (ARS) for damaged railcars. CSX believed the 13 railcars derailed on CSX-owned track, making them liable for any…

No duty owed to attacked restaurant patron, judges rule

An Indianapolis fast-food restaurant didn’t owe a patron the duty of protecting him from attack just because it had placed a table on the sidewalk outside, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.A three-judge panel issued a decision David Schlotman v. Taza Café, d/b/a Gyro Joint , 49A05-0608-CV-475. The judges heard arguments in the Marion County case May 22.This case addressed whether the carryout restaurant Gyro Joint had a common-law duty to protect patron Scholtman, who was harassed and hit in…

Pastor who ministers to death row inmates to speak at Notre Dame

The Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will sponsor “Death Row Ministry and Indiana ;s Upcoming Execution of David Woods” from noon to 12:50 p.m. Wednesday in the University of Notre Dame Law School ;s courtroom, Room 121. The event is open to the public.The speaker is Wanda Callahan, a pastor of the Church of Brethren in Goshen. She has counseled death row inmates for more than 30 years, both in Florida and Indiana. Callahan will speak about the death penalty,…

SCOTUS won’t hear free-speech cases

The Supreme Court of the United States has decided against taking two Indiana cases that involve free-speech issues.At its conference last week when the high court decided to examine Indiana’s two-year-old voter identification law, justices also declined to hear James G. Gilles v. Bryan K. Blanchard, et al., 06-1617, and Deborah A. Mayer v. Monroe County Community School Corp., et al., 06-1993. The court posted an order denying the cases Monday.The denials mean the previous decisions from the 7th Circuit Court…

Judge examines definition of ‘sexual activity’

A federal judge in northern Indiana has refused to acquit or order a retrial for a man convicted of using the Internet to expose himself to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, even though it’s unclear whether the man actually committed a crime as defined by federal statute.In a 15-page order released today in U.S. v. Donald L. Cochran, No. 2:06-CR-161 PS, U.S. District Judge Philip Simon in Hammond denied the motions by defendant Cochran, whose online actions in July…

GAL/CASA program teams with retired educators

Children in the Indiana court system are about to have many more allies thanks to the Indiana Retired Teachers Association. The organization announced this morning it has chosen the Indiana Supreme Court’s GAL/CASA program as its new volunteer project. Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard, Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana Retired Teachers Association Executive Director Ralph Ayers, and others involved in the project were on hand in the Indiana Supreme Court courtroom to explain the project and thank the IRTA for becoming involved….

Defendants can speak during allocution before sentencing

Criminal defendants who plead guilty have the right to make statements in allocution prior to sentencing, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled.The unanimous opinion authored by Justice Robert D. Rucker came late Wednesday in Nicholas Biddinger v. State of Indiana, No. 49S05-0608-CR-305.Biddinger was arrested and charged with various felonies, including murder, in 2004; he pleaded guilty to aggravated battery during the trial in October that year. The agreement provided that parties could argue positions on sentencing, but the executed range could…

Justices to hear 2 cases Thursday

The Indiana Supreme Court will consider two cases Thursday morning. One looks at the line between estate plans and wills, while the other involves a motorist’s lawsuit against a county for not removing a tree in the road after a storm.Justices will first hear arguments at 9 a.m. in the case In re Guardianship of E.N., Adult, which comes out of the Washington Circuit Court. The trial court approved an estate plan submitted by a protected person’s adult children in their…

Court: Death sentence stands

The Indiana Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence against a man condemned for murdering a college student, though the authoring justice disagreed and his writing could offer a key for another execution to be tossed out.In Michael Dean Overstreet v. State of Indiana, 41S00-0306-PD-249, the court affirmed the post-conviction judgment of Johnson Superior Judge Cynthia Emkes, who’d first sentenced him to death in 2000. The case involves the September 1997 disappearance, rape, and strangulation of Franklin College freshman Kelly Eckart. Overstreet has…

Appeals judges to hear annexation case

The Indiana Court of Appeals will consider a case Tuesday that asks whether a county can establish a special economic development area that includes land a municipality has already started to annex.Arguments are set for 2 p.m. in Brenwick Assoc. et al v. Boone Co. Redevelopment Commission, 06A04-0611-CV-682. The case arose in July 2006, when Whitestown began the process of annexing unincorporated land in Boone County. After the annexation process had started, but before being complete, county officials adopted a resolution…

Court orders damages to Lake County in bail bond case

The Indiana Court of Appeals has remanded a bail bond case it considers filed in bad faith, with instructions that the trial court judge calculate damages for the Lake County sheriff, Superior Court Clerk, and the Criminal Justice Section of the Lake County Bar Association.In Smith and Zacek v. Lake County, et al., the appellate court ruled today that the two bail bondsmen filed a complaint in 1999 alleging that bail statutes included in the Indiana Code were unconstitutional under the…

Justices split on decision to allow a third try for death penalty

 A split decision by the Indiana Supreme Court today allows the state to seek the death penalty a third time against a man convicted of shooting a Gary police officer in a robbery gone bad in 1981.The 3-2 decision came late this afternoon with Justices Theodore Boehm and Robert Rucker dissenting in separate opinions. Justice Frank Sullivan authorized the majority’s 22-page opinion. The ruling in State of Indiana v. Zolo Agona Azania, No. 02S03-0508-PD-364 (http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/05100701fsj.pdf), reverses a trial court decision and…

Law school assistant dean wins award

Jonna Kane MacDougall, assistant dean for advancement at Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis, has received the IUPUI Nan Bohan Community Engagement Award for her work with Outrun the Sun, a nonprofit organization she co-founded in 2004. The organization was created to help raise awareness about the risks of sun exposure and funds for melanoma education and research. MacDougall was one of two inaugural recipients Sept. 11 of the Bohan award, which was created to recognize “ongoing promotion of a…

Report includes 3 court-specific ideas

Three recommendations made today by the Commission on Local Government Reform focus specifically on courts and the state’s legal community.Court-specific recommendations impacting all Indiana counties include transferring the local court clerk responsibilities to the courts themselves and transferring trial court system funding – including probation and public defenders – to the state. A third recommendation is focused solely on Marion County, where all township small claims courts duties would be transferred to the county’s Superior Courts.Headed by former Gov. Joe Kernan…

Federal judge gives green light to trial

A federal judge in Indianapolis has ruled a lawsuit can proceed to trial over a “very fast, and valuable, race car.”The Not for Publication opinion issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder is Reginald D. “Don” Whittington Jr. v. Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation a.k.a. Hall of Fame Museum, No. 1:06-cv-0333-JDT-TAB.Judge Tinder denied motions for summary judgment and determined that a trial is the only likely way to resolve this dispute involving the ownership of a famous Porsche 935 used…

Court orders new sentence for child support nonpayer

An Indiana Court of Appeals panel found itself today determining the legislature’s intent in revising a statute on nonpayment of child support, an issue it describes as having little to no precedent.Though its analysis ended with little answer, the appellate court applied the doctrine of amelioration to conclude a defendant should receive a lower class of felony on nonpayment of about $13,000 in child support from Class C to Class D.The decision released today is Bobby Lee Turner, Jr. v. State…

Court rules on underinsured motorists coverage

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today on when injured claimants in an automobile accident can seek to recover more money under a single Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist policy.In Auto-Owners Insurance Co. v. David Eakle, et al., the court used previous cases Allstate Ins Co v. Sanders 644 N.E.2d 884, 887 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994) and Grange Ins. Co v. Graham 843 N.E.2d 597, 599 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006) to determine the trial court erred in denying Auto-Owners judgment on the…