The cost of alternative transportation incurred by a victim who lost the use of a vehicle as a result of the defendant’s criminal conduct is not subject to restitution because it does not fall within any of the restitution statute’s five enumerated statutory categories.
Criminal
Herzog v. State, No. 25A-CR-3169, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 18, 2026).
Requiring the State to amend a probation violation petition to allege that the arrest, new charges, or new case, is now a conviction, rather than merely proceeding on the petition that alleged a pending charge, amounts to merely a matter of form over substance rather than preserving due process.
Boyd v. State, No. 25A-CR-2071, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 5, 2026).
Where a human law enforcement officer lacks probable cause to enter a vehicle to search, there is no reason why a canine officer should be permitted to enter a vehicle to search, whether that entry is instinctive or not.
Watters v. State, No. 25A-CR-3310, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Jul. 31, 2026).
When a defendant in the probation context wants to waive counsel, the record must show that the probationer was made aware of the nature, extent, and importance of the right to counsel as well as the necessary consequences of waiving such a right.
Parksey v. State, No. 25A-PC-2268, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Jul. 6, 2026).
Mandatory lifetime parole is a direct, as opposed to collateral, consequence of a plea to voluntary manslaughter and that a defendant is entitled to be advised regarding this consequence before pleading guilty.