Opinions

Indiana Court of Appeals
Tommy R. Pruitt v. State of Indiana
15A05-1606-CR-1235
Criminal. Affirms Tommy R. Pruitt’s sentence to an aggregate term of 180 years for the murder of a law enforcement officer acting in the line of duty. Finds the trial court would have imposed the same sentence of 65 years for Pruitt’s murder charge had it only considered the aggravators that complied with Blakely v. Washington. Also finds Pruitt’s sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offense and his character.

The following Indiana Court of Appeals opinion was posted after IL deadline Friday:
DS v. AR (mem. dec.)
29A05-1608-PO-1893
Protective order. Affirms the Hamilton Superior Court’s issuance of a protective order. Finds the evidence supports the trial court’s order and D.S. has not presented a case of prima facie error.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Tyler Allen Whitesell v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
90A02-1612-CR-2768
Criminal. Affirms Tyler Allen Whitesell’s aggregate sentence of six years following his guilty pleas to dealing in a narcotic drug as a Level 5 felony, two counts of dealing in a substance represented to be a controlled substance as Level 6 felonies, and theft as a Class A misdemeanor. Finds the sentence is not inappropriate.

Indiana Supreme Court
Danny Sims v. Andrew Pappas and Melissa Pappas
45S03-1701-CT-26
Civil tort. Affirms the judgment of the Lake Superior Court in favor of Andrew and Melissa Pappas for compensatory and punitive damages. Finds the remoteness of a prior offense does not affect the admissibility of the evidence. Also finds the compensatory damages were within the evidence and the punitive damages were not unconstitutionally excessive.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Shelly M. Phipps v. State of Indiana
28A05-1609-CR-2097
Criminal. Reverses Shelly M. Phipps’ conviction of Level 6 felony invasion of privacy. Finds the state failed to prove that Phipps contacted K.G. by sending an email. Remands for further proceedings. Judge Rudolph Pyle dissents with separate opinion.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Matthew Ward v. Lowe's
93A02-1609-EX-2133
Agency. Affirms the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Board’s denial of Matthew Ward’s application for workers’ compensation benefits. Finds the board did not abuse its discretion in denying his application. Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik dissents with separate opinion.

Indiana Court of Appeals
David Earl Ison v. State of Indiana
24A04-1607-PC-1618
Post-conviction. Grants rehearing to delete the second paragraph of footnote three in the Indiana Court of Appeals’ original opinion. Finds that the footnote erroneously concluded that Indiana Code section 35-50-2-9 contains a technical error. Affirms the original opinion in all other respects.

Indiana Supreme Court
Trondo L. Humphrey v. State of Indiana
48S02-1609-PC-480
Post-conviction. Reverses denial of petition for post-conviction relief. Finds Trondo Humphrey has shown the evidence leads unerringly and unmistakably to a conclusion opposite that reached by the post-conviction court. Remands for a new trial. Justices Mark Massa and Geoffrey Slaughter concur with separate opinion.

Indiana Supreme Court
Marcus Zanders v. State of Indiana
15S01-1611-CR-571
Criminal. Affirms Marcus Zanders’ convictions of two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, and his adjudication as a habitual offender. Chief Justice Loretta Rush writes for the majority that under federal precedent, the Fourth Amendment does not require police to obtain a search warrant to gather information an individual has voluntarily relinquished to a third party — in this case, cellphone historical location data.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Mohinder Singh v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
41A05-1606-CR-1405
Criminal. Affirms Mohinder Singh’s conviction of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in a manner endangering a person as a Class A misdemeanor. Finds the Johnson Superior Court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence.

Indiana Court of Appeals
J.P., et al. v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
71A03-1610-JT-2441
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms the termination of J.P.’s parental rights to her three children. Finds the St. Joseph Probate Court’s findings — there was a reasonable probability that the conditions leading to the children’s removal and continued placement outside J.P.’s care would not be remedied and that the termination of J.P.’s parental rights was in the children’s best interests — were supported by evidence.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Robert C. Mills v. Indiana Department of Child Services, Shirley Starks, Kristen L. Sparks, Melanie Reising, and Elizabeth Herrmann
82A01-1606-PL-1482
Civil plenary. Affirms the Vanderburgh Superior Court’s rulings in favor of the Indiana Department of Child Services on Robert Mills’ various claims for discrimination on the basis of sex and age, and for retaliation. Finds the trial court did not err in ruling against Mills.

7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Lois Marie Trask v. Edgar Rodriguez, et al.
14-2601
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division. Judge Rudy Lozano.
Civil. Affirms the award of summary judgment to the casino employee defendants. Finds that if Lois Trask never received a copy of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, she should have asked for a copy, which she failed to do. Also finds the district court did not err in enforcing a settlement between Trask and the defendants.

Indiana Court of Appeals
State of Indiana, Indiana Department of Correction, and Indiana State Employees' Appeals Commission v. Debra Mills, et al.
49A02-1605-PL-998
Civil plenary. Affirms and reverses in part the Marion Superior Court’s order on petition for judicial review granting judgment in favor of Debra Mills, Thomas Bird, and other DOC teachers. Finds the Indiana State Employees’ Appeals Commission and an administrative law judge properly determined that the state calculated the employees’ retention scores and adhered to statutory layoff rights in accordance with Indiana Code 4-15-2-32(a)-(b).

Indiana Court of Appeals
Dugniqio Forest v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
82A04-1609-CR-1980
Criminal. Affirms Dugniqio Forest’s conviction of Level 4 felony possession of cocaine and sentence to 11 years. Finds the Vanderburgh Superior Court did not abuse its discretion by granting the state’s motion for continuance and that Forest’s sentence is not inappropriate.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Willie Dixon v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
49A02-1606-CR-1400
Criminal. Affirms Willie Dixon’s conviction for resisting law enforcement as a Class A misdemeanor. Finds Officer Babacar Diouf’s action of pulling his car in front of Dixon’s and trying to “cut him off” constituted an order to stop under Indiana Code 35-44.1-3-1(a)(3). Also finds that given the fact that Dixon was violating Indiana Code 9-21-17-14, his argument that he did not have a duty to stop when Diouf ordered him to do so necessarily fails.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Matthew L. Johnson v. State of Indiana
32A05-1604-CR-703
Criminal. Reverses the Hendricks Superior Court order overruling Matthew L. Johnson’s objections to the habitual offender enhancement charges. Finds that “convictions from which the offender was released more than 10 years before the current offense do not count for habitual offender purposes under Section 8(d).” Remands for review.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Wanda Roberts, et al. v. Anthony W. Henson
10A01-1607-PL-1647
Civil plenary. Reverses summary judgment in favor of Anthony Henson on the Robertses’ lawsuit claiming the construction of his home on a lot in their subdivision violated the neighborhood’s restrictive covenants. Affirms Henson’s home did not violate the covenants against barns or other outbuildings being used a residence, but finds questions of material fact regarding whether his home’s height and garage size violate the covenants.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Rueth Development Company and Rueth Development Company d/b/a Superior Lumber Company v. H&H Rueth, Inc. (mem. dec.)
45A03-1608-CP-1821
Civil plenary. Affirms the grant of summary judgment to H&H Rueth Inc. in complaint that it owed money to Rueth Development Co. The Lake Superior Court correctly found that Rueth Development’s untimely response to H&H’s motion for summary judgment and corresponding documents could not be considered.

The following Indiana Tax Court opinion was posted after IL deadline Thursday:
Zimmer, Inc. v. Indiana Department of State Revenue
49T10-1507-TA-25
Tax. Grants summary judgment in favor of Zimmer Inc. on its exhibition booth components that were stored in Indiana for subsequent use solely outside Indiana, but grants summary judgment to the Indiana Department of State Revenue on the exhibition booth components that were repaired in Indiana during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 tax years. Finds the undisputed material facts establish that Zimmer stores its exhibition booth components in Indiana for subsequent use solely at out-of-state trade shows, but that it repaired some exhibition booth components in its Indiana warehouse on an as-needed basis.