Man withdraws effort challenging conviction in officer’s death
A man who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting a Gary police officer in 2014 has withdrawn his effort to challenge his conviction.
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Man withdraws effort challenging conviction in Gary officer’s death
A man who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting a northwestern Indiana police officer in 2014 has withdrawn his effort to challenge his conviction. Carl Le’Ellis Blount filed a petition last year alleging Lake County prosecutors threatened him to get him to plead guilty to murder in the shooting death of Gary Patrolman Jeffrey Westerfield, but he asked to withdraw his petition in April.
2 death row inmates make similar requests, get different results
Death row inmates Patrick Murphy and Domineque Ray each turned to courts recently with pleas to stop their executions if their desired spiritual advisers couldn't accompany them into the execution chamber. The Supreme Court allowed Ray’s execution to go forward, but gave Murphy a temporary reprieve Thursday night.
Justice Thomas talks at court arguments, 1st time in 3 years
The Supreme Court was about to adjourn for the day when the Georgia baritone politely inquired of the lawyer at the lectern. Justice Clarence Thomas was breaking a three-year silence at high court arguments with a couple of questions in a case about racial discrimination in the South.
Supreme Court set for case on racial bias in jury selection
Curtis Flowers has been jailed in Mississippi for 22 years, even as prosecutors couldn’t get a murder conviction against him to stick through five trials. This week, the Supreme Court will consider whether his conviction and death sentence in a sixth trial should stand or be overturned for a familiar reason: because prosecutors improperly kept African-Americans off the jury.
In heartbreak of death penalty case, attorneys find inspiration
Indianapolis attorneys had spent years — one nearly two decades — trying to secure justice for Domineque Ray, an inmate on Alabama’s death row. Their efforts were defeated Feb. 7, when Ray was executed before their eyes.
California governor signs moratorium on executions
The 737 inmates on the nation’s largest death row got a reprieve from California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday when he signed an executive order placing a moratorium on executions.
Supreme Court rules for Alabama death row inmate
The US Supreme Court is ordering a new state court hearing to determine whether an Alabama death row inmate is so affected by dementia that he can’t be executed.
US Supreme Court rules out death penalty for Texas inmate
A long legal fight over whether a Texas death row inmate could be executed ended Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 59-year-old man is intellectually disabled and thus cannot be put to death.
Man accused in 4 killings loses fight to avoid death penalty
A northeastern Indiana judge has rejected efforts by a man awaiting trial in four slayings to avoid a possible death penalty in the case.
State court suit aims to ban Indiana death penalty
A lawsuit naming Gov. Eric Holcomb filed on behalf of a prisoner on Indiana’s death row urges a state court to issue an injunction halting capital punishment and rule that the state’s ultimate criminal penalty violates the Indiana Constitution.
Justices question traumatic brain injury claims in triple murder
Counsel for a man sentenced to death for two separate murders and 65 years in prison for a third argued his representation was ineffective in the first two cases when prior counsel failed to adequately investigate and present evidence of a traumatic brain injury the man had sustained.
Justices to hear arguments in murder, jurisdiction cases
The Indiana Supreme Court is set to hear argument in several cases this week, including a man’s post-conviction appeal of his three separate sentences for murder in Floyd County.
Indiana man gets 80 years in prison for Fort Wayne girl’s 1988 killing
An Indiana man has been sentenced to 80 years in prison for the 1988 abduction, rape and killing of an 8-year-old girl. An Allen County judge sentenced 59-year-old John D. Miller, of Grabill, on Friday after Miller pleaded guilty to murder and child molestation charges in April Tinsley’s long-unsolved killing.
Year in Review: Hill sexual misconduct scandal top legal news story of 2018
Indiana Lawyer’s top story of 2018 began inside an Indianapolis bar in the cool early-morning hours of Thursday, March 15. Attorney General Curtis Hill had had a few drinks. A few too many, several witnesses would later claim.
High court rejects request to reinstate murderer Baer’s death sentence
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request by Indiana’s attorney general’s office to reinstate the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a central Indiana woman and her 4-year-old daughter. Monday’s decision leaves in place a federal appeals court ruling that threw out Frederick Baer’s death sentence because he had ineffective legal counsel. He’ll now be resentenced by an Indiana court.
Justices debate Indian control of land in Oklahoma
The U.S. Supreme Court is debating whether an Indian tribe retains control over a vast swath of eastern Oklahoma in a case involving a Native American who was sentenced to death for murder.
Divided justices deny child murderer death penalty relief
The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld the denial of post-conviction relief for a convicted child murderer and arsonist sentenced to death, finding that while the man’s counsel did make mistakes, those mistakes did not rise to the Strickland level of deficient performance. However, Chief Justice Loretta Rush dissented and would have allowed the case to proceed to a new penalty phase.
Marion County jury to hear capital case in Fort Wayne
Jurors from Marion County will hear the case of a Fort Wayne man facing death penalty charges stemming from the deaths of four people.
Death penalty defense in officer’s killing seeks brain consultant
An Indianapolis man facing the death penalty for allegedly killing a Southport police officer is requesting public funds to hire a brain injury consultant in an apparent move to raise questions about whether he acted “knowingly or intentionally.”