Articles

Man gets 50 years in slaying of Terre Haute radio personality

A man who prosecutors say planned a burglary that led to the 2016 beating death of Terre Haute radio personality Matt Luecking has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. Donald Featherstone on Wednesday was the final defendant in the murder case to learn his punishment.

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Fogle files, loses constitutional challenge

Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle has lost yet another challenge to his 15-year sentence for child pornography charges, with the Indiana Southern District Court this time upholding the constitutionality of a statute through which Fogle has been permitted to seek relief.

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Conour spars with court at resentencing hearing

If you ask convicted fraudster William Conour how many victims he’s liable to, he’d tell you only one – and even that one isn’t entitled to any money. The disgraced attorney was resentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday, but not before an hourlong presentation detailing why he believed the court’s findings after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud were inaccurate.

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Defiant Conour sentenced to 10 years for third time

Disgraced former Indianapolis attorney William Conour has been resentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud — the same conviction that was originally imposed on him five years ago. The judge appeared puzzled, though, by Conour's assertion that the millions of dollars in losses for which he was ordered to make restitution to his ex-clients was inaccurate.

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Supreme Court hears criminal gang enhancement case

After his criminal gang enhancement was vacated on appeal, a Vanderburgh County man’s sentence for various armed robbery charges reduced from 60 to 30 years. Now, the state is arguing the trial court should have discretion to resentence the defendant in accordance with his crimes, but the defendant claims no such discretion exists.

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7th Circuit upholds resentencing in mortgage fraud scheme

A northern Indiana couple convicted in a mortgage fraud scheme has lost its second appeal of the spouses’ sentences, with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in its second opinion in the case that the district court did not err in calculating loss or imposing time served.

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Pharmacist in meningitis outbreak gets 8 years in prison

A Massachusetts pharmacist convicted for his role in a deadly 2012 meningitis outbreak fought through sobs as he apologized to victims and their families Wednesday, including those in Indiana, before being sentenced to eight years in prison.

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Justices hear plea modification case as Senate acts on similar bill

Before 2014, it was a cut-and-dry issue: fixed-sentence plea agreements meant an offender would serve out the terms of their plea, with no chance to change it. But after 2014 legislation and a 2016 Indiana Court of Appeals decision, the Indiana Supreme Court must now decide whether such agreements may be modified.

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Fixed plea modifications at heart of legislation, Supreme Court case

When a court accepts a fixed-sentence plea agreement, prosecutors and defenders alike say the long-standing practice has been for courts to uphold the exact terms of that sentence, absent an agreement between the parties. A recent Indiana Court of Appeals ruling, however, has seemingly put an end to that practice, leading to both a legislative and judicial review of the sentencing issue.

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Divided COA again allows sentence modification in fixed-sentence agreement

A divided panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals has ordered a trial court to reconsider a sentence modification for an offender who agreed to a fixed-sentence plea agreement, a ruling that goes against proposed legislation currently pending before an Indiana Senate committee. However, in his first writing as an appellate senior judge, former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Robert Rucker dissented from the majority ruling.

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