Demolition order affirmed in hazardous building case
An unsafe building in a northern Indiana lake town will be demolished after the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a demolition order for the vacant structure.
Court opinions
Articles
Father who says he didn’t know about adoption loses appeal
A father who claimed to have no notice of the adoption of his child has lost his appeal of a denied motion for relief.
Tax Court reverses valuations of Merrillville Kohl’s property
Valuations of a Merrillville Kohl’s store have been reversed after the Indiana Tax Court found error in a state board’s analysis.
Appeals court rules against father in DCS dispute
A father fighting child welfare investigations that resulted in his son’s removal from his custody has lost his appeals of multiple motions granted by the trial court that damaged his case.
7th Circuit remands to fix sentencing inconsistency in armed robbery conviction
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has remanded to the U.S. District Court for Southern District of Indiana a case that convicted an Indianapolis man for his involvement in a string of armed pharmacy robberies. The appellate court concluded a correction was required because both the written and oral sentences imposed terms of supervised release inconsistently.
Reversal: COA reinstates default judgment against nursing facilities
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reinstated default judgement against three nursing facilities after concluding the defendants couldn’t explain why their response was so late and that the underlying complaint was not “insufficient.”
Justices to consider ‘de facto life sentence’ against teen convicted of murder
Indiana Supreme Court justices will consider arguments this week in a teen murder case involving a question of whether the boy was denied the effective assistance of counsel such that he should receive a rehearing on his 181-year sentence.
Opinions Nov. 22, 2019
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
USA v. Adrian Grisanti
19-1576, 18-2993
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, New Albany Division. Judge Tanya Walton Pratt.
Criminal. Affirms Adrian Grisanti’s 10-year sentence for conviction of child-pornography offenses, as well as the denial of his motion to suppress evidence. Finds Grisanti’s reasons for reconsidering Kienast are not persuasive. Also, his sentence was not unreasonable, and the district court did not make any procedural error.
7th Circuit affirms Indiana man’s conviction, sentence in child porn case
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a prison sentence and denial of a man’s motion to suppress stemming from his destruction of evidence and child-pornography related convictions, rejecting his argument that he was less likely to reoffend because he was white, among others.
Justices publish dissent to jury admonishment transfer denial
A split Indiana Supreme Court has denied transfer to a case disputing exactly how many times a trial court is required to give admonishments to a jury, but two justices published a dissent to that decision.
COA: 75-25 split of marital estate was proper
A wife who received only 25% of the martial estate in her divorce from her golf pro husband failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that she was entitled to a larger portion, though the appellate court did remand the case for the distribution of an overlooked vehicle’s value.
Tax Court denies charitable tax exemptions for medical center
The Indiana Tax Court has affirmed the denial of a Catholic nonprofit organization’s request for charitable tax exemption on a medical center it owns, finding none of its provided evidence supported its request.
COA scraps title for flood truck Louisiana says was crushed
Gregory Schneider took a photo of his Ford F-250 truck to court in Terre Haute to show it had not been crushed, despite what the state of Louisiana says. But that wasn’t enough for the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Indiana Court of Appeals, which on Friday scrapped a trial court order that Schneider be issued a salvage title.
Opinions Nov. 21, 2019
Indiana Court of Appeals
Brandon Lawrence Johnson v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-00334
Criminal. Affirms the denial of Brandon Johnson’s petition to file a belated notice of appeal of his 12-year sentence for conviction of Level 4 felony possession of methamphetamine. Finds that even if the Orange Circuit Court should have granted his motion to take judicial notice, any resulting error was harmless. Also finds Johnson waived his right to appeal and that the trial court properly denied his petition.
Med-mal claim reinstated against Bloomington nurse practitioner
A ruling that favored a Bloomington nurse practitioner was reversed Thursday after the Indiana Court of Appeals found a question remained about whether she had provided health care to a patient just days before he suffered from cardiac arrest.
Rehearing: COA improperly applied continuous crime doctrine in rape case
A man’s strangulation conviction associated with a rape conviction in the same case will remain vacated despite an appellate panel’s agreement on rehearing that it improperly applied the continuous crime doctrine to his conviction.
COA tosses belated probation revocation appeal
Indiana Supreme Court rulings do not permit a belated appeal of a probation revocation, the Indiana Court of Appeals held in dismissing a man’s appeal in such a case Thursday.
Opinions Nov. 20, 2019
Indiana Court of Appeals
Jarvis Peele v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-01160
Criminal. Reverses Jarvis Peele’s convictions of Level 6 felony possession of methamphetamine and two counts of Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement. Finds the Clark Circuit Court erred when it granted the state’s Criminal Rule 4(D) motion to continue Peele’s trial outside the timeframe required by his speedy-trial request. Finds Peele was entitled to discharge of the charges against him.
Reversal: Man’s drug convictions again tossed for speedy-trial violation
A Clark County man has again had his drug-related convictions vacated after the Indiana Court of Appeals concluded he was entitled to have them discharged when his request for a speedy trial was not met.
Denial of guardianship for undocumented immigrant’s niece reversed
An Indiana trial court judge who doubted whether he had the authority to grant a guardianship in a case before him involving two undocumented immigrants will get the case back from the Indiana Court of Appeals, which told him in a Wednesday opinion that his ruling was erroneous.