With jokes and stories of fond memories, Barnes & Thornburg and the Indiana Bar Foundation honored the legacy of Shirley Shideler, the law firm’s first female attorney and female partner, and recognized three women who are creating impressive legacies in the law of their own.
Three members of the “Elkhart 4” convicted of murder in a controversial, highly publicized case in northern Indiana had their murder convictions vacated Friday by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Jon Donovan v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
49A05-1503-CR-86
Criminal. Affirms conviction of Level 6 felony domestic battery.
Marvin Hester v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
48A02-1501-CR-28
Criminal. Affirms conviction of pointing a firearm at another person, a Class D felony.
Tyler Beathea v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
20A03-1411-CR-404
Criminal. Affirms convictions of Class B felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury of a child and Class D felony neglect of a dependent.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Tywaun Carter v. State of Indiana
49A04-1502-CR-52
Criminal. Affirms Carter’s conviction of two counts of Level 1 felony rape and 32-year sentence on each count to be served concurrently in the Indiana Department of Correction. Finds the victim’s work as a prostitute did not render her testimony and statements unbelievable, incredible or improbable. Rules the fact that the victim had been engaging in prostitution does not excuse Carter’s violent behavior or make his sentence inappropriate.
A former marshal in a small southern Indiana town is not entitled to unpaid wages, overtime and other damages because the town employed fewer than five law enforcement officers, the Indiana Court of Appeals held Thursday in a matter of first impression.
Indiana’s attorney general dealt a major blow to a proposal by state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz that would spare schools from being penalized for low scores on this year’s ISTEP exams.
General Motors admitted it failed to disclose to the public a deadly problem with small-car ignition switches as part of a $900 million deal reached with federal authorities to avoid criminal charges, authorities announced Thursday.
A felon’s attempt to get his rape conviction overturned because his victim was a prostitute drew a sharp rebuke from the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Former Marion Superior Judge Robert Altice’s public robing ceremony will be at 2 p.m. Monday in the Indiana Supreme Court courtroom, with Chief Justice Loretta Rush administering the oath to the state’s newest Court of Appeals judge.
A security company named in a class-action lawsuit filed by victims of the deadly 2011 Indiana State Fair stage collapse has become the final defendant dismissed from that case.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Jermaine Munn, Jr. v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
71A04-1503-CR-96
Criminal. Affirms 65-year sentence for pleading guilty to murder. Judge Terry Crone dissented. Argues the appeal should be dismissed because under the terms of Munn’s plea agreement, he waived his right to appeal his sentence.
Indiana Court of Appeals
R.L. Turner Corporation v. William Wressell
06A05-1411-PL-540
Civil plenary. Affirms the trial court’s inclusion of fringe benefits in the calculation of total compensation and the calculation of attorney fees. Finds the trial court did not include any of Wressell’s overtime in its calculation of total compensation. Remands with instructions for the trial court to award Wressell an additional $1501.68.
After a former employee was awarded nearly $100,000 in attorney fees, R.L. Turner Corp. asserted the amount was unreasonable given the employee’s total award for damages was less than $12,000.
About 100 new Americans will become citizens Thursday during a naturalization ceremony sponsored by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Central Indiana authorities say a murder warrant in a 2002 cold case has been issued against a man currently jailed in California.
A trial court violated the prohibition against double jeopardy by convicting a man in a bench trial of three felony cocaine possession counts, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in tossing out two of the convictions.
The Indiana Board of Law Examiners has posted results of the state’s bar exam given in July 2015.
The state's highest court is set to hear a legal battle by a group of rural landowners fighting to prevent an adjacent central Indiana town from annexing their land and subjecting them to higher taxes.
A Minnesota woman accused of violating probation says she should be able to use marijuana for religious reasons because she belongs to a pot-smoking church based in Indiana.
Evidence including a Facebook message sent to a 15-year-old girl was properly admitted in the trial of a man convicted of sexually abusing her at knifepoint, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.