New Southern District of Indiana Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt Pratt is focused on steps to reopen courthouses to the public as the country hopes to be quelling the COVID-19 virus and advocating in Congress for a new judgeship to help handle the court’s excessive caseload.
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The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made many visits to Indiana during her tenure on the Supreme Court. She had friendships with the law professors and deans at the law schools in the Hoosier State, and she influenced law students, lawyers and judges across the state. “Imagine a young law student faced with the challenge by a Supreme Court Justice,” recalled a former IU Maruer law student who is now a federal judge.
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The Indiana Supreme Court hosted the Fall 2020 Bar Admission Ceremony by videoconference Monday in keeping with safeguards of hosting once events online amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the speakers encouraged new Indiana lawyers to look to the example of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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After the shooting of a district judge’s son and husband at her home in New Jersey, Hoosier federal jurists say they live daily with the reality of threats to their safety. The judicial Conference has adopted a series of recommendations aimed at safeguarding the federal bench.
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A federal judge has allowed claims against several Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers and Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies to move forward in a case where a man alleged he was paralyzed during a September 2019 arrest and transport.
Ahead of early voting for the November general election, an Indiana federal judge has ordered that voters with print disabilities can choose who will assist them in marking their paper absentee ballots.
A federal death row inmate convicted in an Arkansas murder and robbery has secured habeas relief against his robbery conviction and one of his death sentences.
A lawsuit brought on behalf of a former Roncalli High School student who claims he was bullied and sexually harassed by members of the football team will proceed after a federal court rejected the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ attempt to get the case dismissed.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld convictions for Indianapolis drug kingpin Richard Grundy and members of his crew following their 2019 convictions in a wide-ranging trafficking conspiracy. But the court did reverse two convictions for one member of Grundy’s team, finding evidence “left a reasonable doubt” that he committed the crimes.
Jim Cochran, the former Indianapolis businessman serving a 25-year prison term for his role in the massive Fair Finance Ponzi scheme, is asking a Chicago appeals court for early release on the grounds that his health problems could make contracting COVID-19 lethal and that he has undergone a religious conversion that no longer makes him a risk to society.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt has been named the new chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, the court announced Monday, making history as the first person of color to lead the court.
The Judicial Conference of the United States is asking Congress to create 79 new judgeships in federal courts across the country, including adding two new permanent judges in the Southern Indiana District Court.
Despite being forced into a virtual format due to coronavirus concerns, the Indiana Southern District Court’s annual Black History Month event was as strong as ever with a powerful presentation from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law dean Karen Bravo.
The Southern Indiana District Court has announced plans to resume in-person jury trials in April following a months-long hiatus due to the pandemic. Jury trials in Southern District courts are expected to resume April 5, and clerk offices in all divisions will reopen to the public next week.
As the Trump administration was nearing the end of an unprecedented string of executions in Terre Haute, 70% of death row inmates were sick with COVID-19. Guards were ill. Traveling prison staff on the execution team had the virus. So did media witnesses, who may have unknowingly infected others when they returned home because they were never told about the spreading cases.
The Indiana Supreme Court has cleared a well-known attorney and former federal prosecutor of misconduct charges stemming from a nearly decade-old matter. The court found Thursday “that the allegations of misconduct were not proven” in a one-page judgment in favor of Barnes & Thornburg partner Larry Mackey.
The Indiana Southern District Court has suspended jury trials for an additional month, further delaying in-person trials through April 5 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The announcement came as the federal court chief judge cited “signs of increased coronavirus spread and evidence of resurgence.”
An Indiana federal judge has halted the U.S. government’s first execution of a female inmate in nearly seven decades, saying a court must first determine whether the Kansas woman who killed an expectant mother, cut the baby from her womb and then tried to pass off the newborn as her own is mentally competent.
The federal executions scheduled for next week cannot proceed unless the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute takes additional measures to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread, a federal judge has ruled.
A federal prisoner scheduled to be executed just days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office has tested positive for coronavirus, his lawyer said Thursday.
The Indiana Southern District Court has suspended all in-person jury trials until next year, a move announced just days after the Indiana Supreme Court implemented the same restrictions in state court due to the pandemic. Federal in-person jury trials in the Northern District also have been continued until at least late January.
With mere hours left before his scheduled execution, Brandon Bernard is awaiting a decision from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that could delay his death by lethal injection.
A federal judge in Indiana has declined to put a hold on upcoming federal executions, finding that although the executions likely present a COVID-related risk, the inmates who sued to stop the executions have not shown that they personally will be at risk of contracting the virus.
An Indiana judge has declined to stay a federal execution scheduled for Thursday at the Terre Haute federal prison. Meanwhile, another judge is considering whether the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic means all upcoming executions should indefinitely be put on hold.