COA affirms 20-year sentence for woman who stole from employer
A decades-long sentence has been affirmed for a woman who stole personal items from her former employer after being told she wouldn’t receive back wages after the business went under.
Indiana Court of Appeals
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Appeals court reverses drug-possession convictions in OWI case
A Boone County man’s drug-possession convictions were reversed Thursday after an appellate panel found the warrantless search of his car following a crash violated his Fourth Amendment rights.
Indiana Court Decisions – June 18-30, 2020
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
Divided COA panel finds for woman wrongly told hepatitis test was negative
A woman who learned years after she had been told that a hepatitis test was negative that in fact the test had come back positive had her case reinstated June 26 by the majority of an Indiana Court of Appeals panel. Two of three judges found a clinic fraudulently concealed the woman’s positive test result.
COA affirms godmother’s conviction for assisting teen after murder
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a northern Indiana woman’s felony conviction for assisting her godson after he murdered his teenage girlfriend, finding she did so with the intent to hinder his punishment.
Justices reduce meth dealing sentence in split opinion
A divided Indiana Supreme Court has sided with an appellate judge’s dissent in a drug dealing case, lowering a woman’s decades-long sentence pursuant to Appellate Rule 7(B).
Split COA affirms drug dealing convictions in warrantless search, arrest dispute
A divided appellate court has affirmed a man’s drug dealing and conspiracy convictions despite disagreement among the panel as to whether admitted evidence found during a warrantless arrest should have been excluded.
Appeals court corrects factual error but otherwise denies inmates’ rehearing request
An appellate panel has granted a man’s petition for rehearing, but only to correct a factual error it made in its original decision in his case.
Terre Haute firm loses fees appeal against former Illinois Congressman
A Terre Haute law firm is owed no additional money from one of its former clients, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday in an attorney fees lawsuit involving former Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock and his campaign committee.
Molester, 62, loses appeal claiming state didn’t prove he was at least 21
Common sense doomed a 62-year-old man’s appeal of his child molesting conviction Thursday in which he argued the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was at least 21 years old.
Law firm strikes out in seeking to toss Kokomo baseball litigation
An out-of-state law firm can’t avoid a lawsuit in the Indiana Commercial Court alleging legal malpractice in its handling of litigation that arose from failed efforts pitching a minor league baseball team for Kokomo.
3 women named as COA finalists
The next Indiana Court of Appeals judge will be a woman, as three women have been selected as finalists to fill an upcoming vacancy following two rounds of interviews with the Judicial Nominating Commission. Their applications will now go to the governor for final consideration.
Semifinalist interviews for Court of Appeals vacancy conclude
The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission is one step closer to choosing three finalists for an Indiana Court of Appeals vacancy as it holds its second and final round of candidate interviews Wednesday.
Justices reinstate 45-year sentence despite trial court sentencing comments
The Indiana Supreme Court has reinstated a 45-year sentence against a man convicted in a point-blank shooting in northern Indiana, overturning a Court of Appeals decision that had reduced the sentence.
COA: No error in Decatur County divorce terms
The terms of a Decatur County divorce have been upheld on appeal, with the Indiana Court of Appeal rejecting arguments from both exes that the trial court erred in assessing and dividing assets and liabilities.
COA reverses denial of elderly man’s Medicaid application
An elderly man living in a nursing home was wrongly denied Medicaid benefits, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, reversing a decision from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.
Appeals court affirms battery-by-bodily fluid statute includes spitting
An inmate who spat on a correctional officer lost his appeal Tuesday in which he argued, among other things, that Indiana’s battery by bodily fluid statute is unconstitutional for vagueness.
Divided appeals panel finds for restaurant in slip-and-fall case
An Indianapolis restaurant that appealed the denial of summary judgment in a woman’s slip-and-fall case won a divided ruling Monday when two of three members of an Indiana Court of Appeals panel sided with the eatery.
Police-trainee’s blood-draw suppression in 2015 crash case reversed
A former police trainee accused of causing a drunken-driving crash on Interstate 465 five summers ago will go back to court with more evidence against him. The Indiana Supreme Court on Monday ruled that results of a blood draw after he refused a breath test were wrongly suppressed in Marion Superior Court.
Robb named to Supreme Court rules committee, 3 reappointed
Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Margret Robb has been appointed to a five-year term on the Indiana Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, effective July 1. Robb succeeds COA Judge L. Mark Bailey, whose term on the committee will expire June 30.