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.
Criminal
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.
State v. Zerbe, No. 49A05-1410-MI-463, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., May 29, 2015).
Indiana Sexual Offender Registration Act (SORA) requirement for out-of-state sex offender registrants to register in Indiana for the period required by the other jurisdiction was enacted before defendant moved to Indiana, and therefore was not unconstitutional ex post facto law.
Zamani v. State, No. 32A05-1406-CR-264, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., May 29, 2015).
Since competence to stand trial had been at issue throughout the case, defendant failed to show good cause for belated request (five days before trial) to assert an insanity defense.