A probable cause affidavit need not exclude every hypothesis of innocence to establish sufficient probable cause for the warrant; rather, it only needs to demonstrate to the issuing judge that, given all the circumstances, there was a fair probability that evidence of a crime would be found in a particular place. Moreover, facts establishing illegal internet activity associated with a particular IP address, and assignment of the IP address at the time in question to a particular internet subscriber at a specific physical address, provide a nexus between the illegal activity and the physical address sufficient to establish probable cause for a warrant to search the residence at the physical address.
Criminal
Kendall v. State, No. 23A-CR-1473, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 29, 2023).
The crime of identity deception does not require that the identifying information must coincide with any real person or an existing human being. Additionally, the statute governing identity deception includes elements not contained in the statute governing false informing and thus, does not violate Article 1, Section 16, Indiana’s Proportionality Clause.
Owens v. State, No. 23A-CR-985, __N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 11, 2023).
For a party to invoke T.R. 34 as the basis for an alleged discovery violation, that party must have first made a discovery request. In a criminal case, if the defendant made no discovery request to the State, the defendant cannot later challenge the admission of documents or electronically stored information on the ground that the State violated T.R. 34 in its production of the materials.
Sevion v. State, No. 23A-CR-1107, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Nov. 29, 2023).
Post-Conviction Rule 2 does not apply to the denial of a bond reduction motion.
Baker v. State, No. 23A-CR-1340, __N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Nov. 27, 2023).
In a criminal jury trial where the State presents evidence of a greater number of separate criminal offenses than charged and does not designate the specific act or acts on which it relies for conviction, a general unanimity instruction is insufficient. The jury should be instructed that they must either unanimously agree that the defendant committed the same act or acts or that the defendant committed all the acts alleged. However, where multiple similar acts are part of one continuous episode, a special unanimity instruction is not required.