When a juror makes a clear statement indicating that he or she relied on racial stereotypes or animus to convict a criminal defendant, the trial court must consider the evidence of the juror’s statement and any resulting denial of the jury trial guarantee.
Criminal
Sams v. State, No. 67A01-1604-CR-814, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Feb. 21, 2017).
Where an item searched would not have been the target of a well-regulated inventory search, and would not have been searched at all but for the criminal suspicions of the searching officer, the search is pretextual and unreasonable and an item discovered is inadmissible.
Brantley v. State, No. 49A04-1606-CR-1401, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Feb. 24, 2017).
State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant acted under sudden heat to sustain a conviction for voluntary manslaughter.
Sandoval v. State, No. 21A01-1609-CR-2027, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Feb. 24, 2017).
Trial court may not order balance of defendant’s bond be held in trust to be applied towards possible future public defender fees.
Jean-Baptiste v. State, No. 49A02-1608-CR-1798, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Feb. 24, 2017).
Absent a defendant’s personal waiver on the record, it is fundamental error to deny a request for trial by jury even when defendant was advised of and failed to comply with Criminal Rule 22 requiring a written demand for a jury trial ten days before the scheduled trial date.