Articles

7th Circuit will hear killer’s appeal en banc

The full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether an Arkansas man on death row should die for killing a Texas woman nearly 20 years ago. The judges decided Wednesday to grant Bruce Carneil Webster’s petition for rehearing en banc.

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Justices: Pattern Jury Instruction 9.05 is correct statement of law

Clearing up confusion among the courts as to whether a jury instruction regarding the definition of “intentionally” can include that the defendant intended to “cause the result” of his conduct, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed Pattern Jury Instruction 9.05 represents a correct statement of the law.

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Texas prosecutor: Indiana suspect’s history unknown

Texas prosecutors may not have offered a suspected serial killer such a lenient prison sentence in a 2009 sexual assault case had they known about his conviction on a similar charge in Indiana five years earlier, a district attorney's spokesman said Monday.

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Man suspected of killing 7 refuses to answer judge

A man who allegedly confessed to killing seven women in Indiana refused to speak or even acknowledge his name to a judge Wednesday, and a sheriff explained later that the suspect was upset his hearing was in open court before dozens of journalists.

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Indiana man was violent long before 7 killings

With hindsight, there were signs years ago of increasing violence against women by Darren Vann, who police say has confessed to killing seven women in northwestern Indiana and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

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Attorneys debate impact of reality crime TV shows on the judicial process

The reality television show “Cold Justice” linked Earl Taylor to the 1975 murder of his first wife, Kathy Taylor. Dennis Majewski, Earl Taylor's attorney, said the TV program carried by the TNT cable network, and a follow-up newspaper article that told viewers the episode was available on YouTube, led him to doubt he could find an untainted jury in Vigo County.

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Finding victims in Gary case a lengthy process

Investigators in two states are reviewing unsolved murders and missing person reports after the arrest of an Indiana man who police say confessed to killing seven women and hinted at more victims over a 20-year span.

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Lawyer’s book retraces Indy’s infamous Sylvia Likens murder case

Almost 50 years later, Forrest Bowman Jr. is talking about the murder case involving Indianapolis teen Sylvia Likens, something he’s not done much of in the past. His just-released book, “Sylvia: The Likens Trial,” presents a thorough, inside, day-by-day recollection of a trial that captivated and horrified the state in 1966.

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