Articles

Hill asks full 7th Circuit to reinstate death penalty for Baer

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill has asked the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the death penalty for an Indiana man convicted of the “heinous” murders of a Madison County mother and her 4-year-old daughter after a 7th Circuit panel overturned the man’s death penalty sentence last month.

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Supreme Court upholds DOC’s lethal injection protocols

The Indiana Department of Correction can alter its lethal injection protocols without going through a rule-making process because such protocols are internal procedures without the effect of law, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision affirming the dismissal of a death row inmate’s challenge to Indiana’s lethal injection cocktail.

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Ex-trooper Camm’s $30 million lawsuit dismissed

A $30 million lawsuit brought by former Indiana State Police trooper David Camm was dismissed Monday by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in New Albany. Camm was twice convicted, but ultimately found not guilty of the murder of his wife and children in a third trial.

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House explosion mastermind Mark Leonard dies in prison

Mark Leonard, the man convicted in the massive 2012 Indianapolis house explosion that killed two in the Richmond Hill subdivision, has died at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Correction confirmed Tuesday.

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7th Circuit: Suit against Evansville, Kentucky police may proceed

A federal complaint alleging coercion, constitutional violations and falsification at the hands of Evansville and Kentucky police officers investigating a murder will continue after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals determined qualified immunity was not appropriate for certain claims against the officers.

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7th Circuit reverses death sentence for murderer Baer

Despite the “atrocious” nature of a murderer’s crimes, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his death sentence in a habeas petition, finding prosecutorial misconduct and misleading jury instructions likely influenced the jury’s decision to sentence him to death.

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Justices to hear mental health commitment, murder appeals

The rights of respondents to be present at their mental health commitment hearings will be considered this week when the Indiana Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case in which a man was involuntarily committed for mental health treatment without being present at his hearing.

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Divided Supreme Court throws out juvenile’s LWOP sentence

In a 3-2 decision Tuesday, the Indiana Supreme Court reduced a life without parole sentence for an offender convicted of murder at 17, finding LWOP sentences should be reserved for the most “heinous” juvenile offenders. The dissenting justices, however, found the nature of the crime in question warranted a life sentence.

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Is gun maker liable? Court takes up Newtown shooting case

With both gun rights supporters and gun control advocates nationwide looking on, lawyers for Newtown families and gun maker Remington Arms are set to face off Tuesday before the Connecticut Supreme Court to argue whether the company should be held liable for the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

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