Jury service by unopposed candidate for judge of the court in which the trial was held, and who had represented victim’s mother in an unrelated matter but had no recollection of the case, was not fundamental error.
Criminal
State v. Vanderkolk, No. 79S04-1411-CR-718, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind., June 9, 2015).
Probationers or community corrections participants may, pursuant to a valid search condition or advance consent, authorize warrantless searches without reasonable suspicion; but language of home detention participant’s conditions of participation authorized searches only with probable cause.
Minor v. State, No. 49A02-1409-CR-628, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., June 10, 2015).
Erroneous accomplice-liability instruction for attempted murder was harmless surplusage; State relied on ample evidence of Defendant’s liability as a principal and of his specific intent to kill, and did not seriously pursue accomplice liability as a distinct basis for conviction.
Mauch v. State, No. 06A01-1501-CR-16, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., June 10, 2015).
Trial court abused its discretion in revoking defendant’s probation for failure to pay his restitution in full; defendant was elderly, unemployed, and in poor health, and was unable to obtain a reverse mortgage on his marital home because his wife refused to consent, but faithfully made monthly payments from his social-security income.
State v. Taylor, No. 46A04-1407-CR-316, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., June 10, 2015).
Trial court erred in ordering blanket suppression of all testimony from police officers who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights in connection with eavesdropping on defendant’s discussions with counsel. Officers’ misconduct was egregious, but blanket exclusion was too extreme and Court of Appeals was not willing to presume prejudice to defendant’s Sixth Amendment confrontation rights. Instead, trial court would need to make individualized determinations of prejudice at trial in light of each witness’s testimony on direct examination.