For the first time, three new Marion County judges have been appointed through merit-based selection. Charnette Garner, Jennifer Harrison and Mark Jones were chosen by Gov. Eric Holcomb from among 40 applicants to replace retiring Indianapolis judges Becky Pierson-Treacy, Michael Keele and Thomas Carroll, respectively.
Two practicing attorneys and one Marion County magistrate have been named as Marion Superior Court judges, the first time the county’s judges have been appointed pursuant to merit-based selection. Gov. Eric Holcomb announced his selections Friday afternoon.
Newly-minted Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth Tavitas has done a little bit of everything throughout her legal career. She’s been a prosecutor, a public defender, a private practitioner, a referee, a trial court judge and now, a judge on the state’s second-highest court.
LaGrange County deputy prosecutor William R. Walz IV has been appointed to the LaGrange Circuit Court. Gov. Eric Holcomb selected Walz to succeed Judge J. Scott VanDerbeck, who retired June 1. VanDerbeck plans to serve as a senior judge and work as a mediator.
Even as Indiana lawmakers from both parties continue to echo Gov. Eric Holcomb’s call for hate crime legislation, the deep divisions that foiled previous attempts to pass a bias-motivated crime bill appear to still be entrenched.
Republican Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is calling on the General Assembly to pass a hate crimes bill after someone spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti at a suburban Indianapolis synagogue. Holcomb said Monday he’ll meet with lawmakers, legal experts, corporate leaders and “citizens of all stripes who are seeking to find consensus on this issue so that, once and for all, we can move forward as a state."
Despite demands for Indiana to be withdrawn from a federal lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, Attorney General Curtis Hill said he will continue to lead Indiana’s opposition to the “unconstitutional” law. Hill said “the foundation on which the Supreme Court built its justification for Obamacare’s constitutionality ceased to exist” when Congress repealed the individual mandate tax.
Daniel Sigler, a senior prosecuting attorney from Fort Wayne, has been appointed special prosecutor as part of the investigation into sexual misconduct allegations surrounding Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill.
It’s not uncommon for the Indiana Department of Child Services to hear it doesn’t have enough evidence to support its child welfare cases. Children in need of services cases that enter the court often leave shredded by judges for lack of a sufficient reasoning as to why they came before the bench without enough evidence to back up the claims.
Five reviews of the Indiana Department of Child Services cost more than $1.3 million but yielded no state action to address the troubled agency’s increasing caseloads.
Since a memo was released detailing Curtis Hill’s alleged sexual misconduct at a party celebrating the end of the 2018 legislative session, the Indiana Attorney General has continued to fight back, even as calls for his resignation persist. This week, a nonprofit for his legal defense was announced.
Lake Superior Judge Elizabeth Tavitas was on the bench on July 18 when her phone rang with a message that would change her career. It was a call from Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, informing her that she had been selected as Indiana’s next Court of Appeals judge.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has named Lake Superior Judge Elizabeth Tavitas as the next member of the Indiana Court of Appeals. Holcomb selected Tavitas from a pool of three finalists: Tavitas, St. Joseph Superior Judge Steven Hostetler and Fort Wayne attorney David C. Van Gilder.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s office pushed back today against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill’s attempt to squash the appointment of a special prosecutor, saying his motion had “fatal flaws” and he was making a “dubious proposition.”
Repeatedly claiming “false and malicious” statements were included in a confidential memo containing allegations of sexual misconduct by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, Indianapolis attorney Kevin Betz announced he is preparing a defamation lawsuit on the AG’s behalf. Betz and his law partner Sandra Blevins held a press conference Wednesday in the lobby of their Indianapolis law firm, Betz & Blevins, to announce the possible suit.
An Allen County superior court judge will retire at the end of this year, prompting the Allen Superior Court Judicial Nominating Commission to begin the process of selecting his replacement. The vacancy will occur in December when Judge John F. Surbeck, Jr. retires from his position in the Allen Superior Court Criminal Division.
Lawyers for Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill have filed court papers challenging the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate whether he drunkenly groped a lawmaker and three legislative staffers. A document filed in Marion Superior Court also challenges the authority of the state’s Inspector General to build a case against him.
Embattled Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is doubling down on his criticisms of the groping allegations against him and the stories of the alleged victims, releasing an email from one of the victims that he says shows intentional coordination of the victims’ stories.
A new state program will equip Indiana schools with free handheld metal detectors next month, when most of the state’s school districts start the new academic year.
In today’s world, the standard for conviction of sexual misconduct allegations has become guilty, and “who cares if you’re innocent.” That’s according to Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, who publicly spoke out for the first time Monday after last week’s allegations that he groped a lawmaker and behaved inappropriately toward multiple legislative staffers.