Inventory search of defendant’s vehicle was unconstitutional, absent proof of existence of (or compliance with) established police procedures for such searches.
Criminal
Kansas v. Carr, No. 14-449, ___ U.S. ___ (Jan. 20, 2016).
The Eighth Amendment does not require capital-sentencing courts to instruct a jury that mitigating circumstances need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Joint capital-sentencing proceeding did not violate defendants’ Eighth Amendment right to an “individualized sentencing determination.”
Garcia v. State, No. 49S05-1505-CR-335, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Jan. 21, 2016).
Searching contents of pill container, which had already been seized incident to lawful arrest, was reasonable under the Indiana Constitution.
State v. Hancock, No. 39A05-1506-CR-633, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App. Jan. 22, 2016).
Elements of Ohio residential burglary offense were not “substantially similar” to Indiana offense, and therefore did not establish serious violent felon (SVF) status.
Rondeau v. State, No. 49A02-1505-PC-427, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App. Jan. 12, 2016).
Post-conviction court did not abuse its discretion in denying some requests for subpoenas, despite not issuing “a finding on the record” under P-C.R. 1(9)(b); subpoenas either were not specific enough to establish proposed witnesses’ relevance, or relevance was only to matters available at trial or on direct appeal.