Articles

COA considers liability in sheriff’s office suicide case

After the wife of a Harrison County sheriff’s deputy killed herself with her husband’s gun while he was off duty, the sheriff’s office and her estate began debating a single question: was the deputy acting in the line of duty when his wife committed suicide?

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Magistrate recommends dismissal of woman’s dog-mauling suit

Despite “horrendous injuries” incurred as a result of “a grievous lack of discretion” by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers, a district court magistrate recommends an Indianapolis woman’s federal claim against IMPD and the city of Indianapolis be dismissed because she did not state a legitimate constitutional claim.

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Gun evidence admissibility divides Court of Appeals

In a “he said, she said” case before the Indiana Court of Appeals Thursday, the judges were divided on whether admission of a gun into evidence prejudiced a woman’s convictions of resisting law enforcement and battery against a public safety official and her boyfriend’s battery conviction.

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Justices consider cellphone data in 4th Amendment case

Is the act of turning on a cellphone a voluntary agreement to share that data, or do consumers have a right to privacy of the location information collected from their personal devices? The justices of the Indiana Supreme Court heard legal arguments on both sides of that issue during oral arguments in a case on Dec. 8.

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Justices weigh cellphone data privacy rights in 4th Amendment case

When people turn on their cellphones, they have a general understanding that some data regarding their whereabouts will be collected. But if a person does not know the extent to which that data is collected, then can the court say that such data was voluntarily released by the person, or is there an expected right to privacy?

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New law creates murkiness on private university police records

The Indiana Supreme Court left no doubt that it considered the Notre Dame Police Department exempt from the Access to Public Records Act when it affirmed dismissal of ESPN’s lawsuit seeking records of the department’s interactions with 275 student athletes. But a bill signed into law this year dealing with access to police body cameras could change that.

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Justices dismiss ESPN suit, find Notre Dame police not public agency

Notre Dame Police are not a public agency, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, turning back a lawsuit from ESPN that sought records of the university police’s interactions with student athletes. The ruling means Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act does not apply to university police at private institutions.

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