Articles

Jurors deadlock on life sentence for 2 slayings in Indiana

Jurors have deadlocked on whether to recommend a sentence of life in prison for a 24-year-old Evansville man convicted of murder and robbery in the 2017 slayings of two people in southwest Indiana. Jurors were dismissed Thursday after deadlocking on the question. They convicted Deshay Hackner on Wednesday in the deaths of 29-year-old Dewone Broomfield and his girlfriend, 28-year-old Mary Woodruff.

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Despite snoozing juror, meth, theft convictions affirmed

Convictions for a man who attempted to make meth were upheld by an Indiana Court of Appeals panel Wednesday after it concluded no abuse of discretion occurred when a sleeping juror in his case was replaced, and that his argument for a new trial was waived.

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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.

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COA considers denial of joint motion for mistrial

A traveling appellate panel heard argument concerning an “unusual” instance of a trial court’s denial of a joined motion for mistrial Tuesday, considering whether the state’s sudden change of position had any impact on the case going forward.

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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.

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Man wins right for jury trial to fight traffic ticket

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the denial of a man’s demand for a jury trial in his trial de novo after he was found guilty in a city court bench trial. The panel found he did not waive that right by formerly submitting to the bench trial.

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Murderer’s appeal seeking mistrial heads to Petersburg

An Indiana Court of Appeals panel will travel to Pike Central High School in southwestern Indiana on Tuesday to hear oral argument in a double murder case, considering whether certain comments made by a juror during trial resulted in an impartial jury.

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Convicted drug lord ‘El Chapo’ likely heading to ‘Supermax’

In the world of corrections, there are inmates who pose security risks, and then there’s drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation, and who has an unparalleled record of jailbreaks. Experts say Guzman may spend the rest of his life in the federal government’s “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado.

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