Shelbyville woman gets two-year sentence for embezzlement
The former controller of a Shelbyville company has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after admitting to embezzling nearly $700,000 from her company.
Criminal
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FedEx gunman who killed 8, self was known to police
The former employee who shot and killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis was interviewed by FBI agents last year after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop,” the bureau said Friday. Authorities also released the names of the eight victims late Friday.
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New murder trial affirmed for Elkhart man with mental disability
A man with a mental disability who has for years claimed he was wrongfully convicted of an Elkhart murder and who spent more than 15 years behind bars can proceed to a new trial after the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a post-conviction relief order vacating his murder conviction.
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Web Exclusive: Bill aims to bring local criminal justice stakeholders out of ‘silos’ to study reforms
House Bill 1068 would allow for the creation of local justice reinvestment advisory councils modeled after the statewide JRAC. The local councils would be tasked with reviewing criminal justice practices on a county or regional level, collecting data and reporting back to JRAC, which would use the data to make policy decisions.
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AG Barr in Indianapolis discusses efforts to reduce violent crime
The last time William Barr was attorney general of the United States, violent crime in the nation was at an all-time high. And now, after years of decline, the year of COVID has created another surge. The nation’s top law enforcement official stopped in Indianapolis on Thursday to address crime-fighting strategies.
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Articles
Ex-Franklin College president pleads no contest to child enticement
The fired president of Indiana’s Franklin College has pleaded no contest to child enticement and other felony charges more than two years after his arrest in a Wisconsin sex crime sting.
Dylann Roof’s request to reconsider recusal is denied
Dylann Roof’s chances for a new appellate hearing continue to dwindle, with a court refusing to reconsider recusing itself from his appeal over his death sentence and conviction in the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation.
Justices seem set to revive marathon bomber’s death sentence
The Supreme Court sounded ready Wednesday to reinstate the death penalty for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
COA: Reasonable probability phone belonged to Indy man in drive-by shooting case
The admission of a cellphone confiscated at the same time an Indianapolis man was arrested for aiding a criminal in a drive-by shooting was not an error, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in affirming his felony conviction.
7th Circuit reverses, orders resentencing after finding man’s battery conviction serves as ACCA predicate
A man convicted on several drug counts who argued that a Northern Indiana judge was wrong about his armed robbery conviction has lost an argument before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed for the federal government in his case.
Is Biden overlooking Bureau of Prisons as reform target?
President Joe Biden took quick action after his inauguration to start shifting federal inmates out of privately run prisons, where complaints of abuses abound.
State dismisses murder case against Elkhart man with mental disability following release last year
A criminal case has been dismissed against an Elkhart man with a mental disability who was convicted of a 2002 murder but who won his release from prison last year.
Father of drowned brothers pleads guilty to neglect charges
An Indiana man pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury in the drownings of his two sons.
Ponzi schemer Cochran escalates fight for early release on COVID grounds
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.
Eastern Indiana woman gets 55 years in slaying of child’s father
A judge sentenced an eastern Indiana woman to 55 years in prison Tuesday after a jury convicted her of murder in the shooting death of her child’s father.
COA rejects challenge to text message evidence, upholds meth dealing conviction
A man convicted of dealing meth based largely on text messages failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that the messages were improperly admitted at his trial.
Split Supreme Court upholds denial of LWOP defendant’s pro se request
A Boone County murder defendant convicted and sentenced to life without parole failed to convince a majority of the Indiana Supreme Court that the trial court improperly denied his request to proceed pro se. The majority provided an analysis for considering pro se requests in capital and LWOP sentences, but minority justices raised concerns about the majority “till(ing) new constitutional soil.”
Supreme Court skeptical of low-level crack offender’s case
Crack cocaine trafficking kingpins convicted more than a decade ago can ask courts to reduce their prison terms under a 2018 federal law. The Supreme Court on Tuesday sounded skeptical that people convicted of older low-level crack crimes can do the same.
2 charged in dismemberment of Fort Wayne man appear in court
Two men charged in the death and dismemberment of a 55-year-old man requested public defenders during their initial court appearances Tuesday.
Evansville lawyer on probation after OWI plea
A longtime Evansville lawyer is on probation following his guilty plea several months ago to a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Indiana woman pleads guilty to charge in staged kidnapping
An Indiana woman has pleaded guilty to staging her own kidnapping. The Evansville Courier & Press reported that a Gibson County judge ordered 24-year-old Hannah Potts to complete 120 hours of community service after she pleaded guilty to false informing.
Former magistrate banned from the bench now suspended for ignoring show-cause order
The former Hamilton County magistrate who is banned from the bench following his conviction related to a drug sting is now suspended from practicing law after he failed to respond to a show cause order alleging probation violations.
Justices toss suppression of drug evidence in home-detention search
A defendant sentenced to home detention waived his rights protecting him against searches and seizures even without reasonable suspicion, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Friday, overturning the suppression of evidence found during a home-detention search.
Court proceedings in killing of Indiana girl, 6, remain open
Court proceedings involving a 14-year-old boy charged in the asphyxiation death of a 6-year-old northern Indiana girl will remain open to the public, a magistrate has ruled.