The test for awarding credit for pre-trial confinement remains whether the defendant’s pre-trial confinement is the result of the criminal charge for which the sentence is being imposed, including where plea agreements involving multiple cases are involved.
Criminal
Carmack v. State, No. 21S-LW-00471, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Jan. 12, 2023).
Sudden heat is characterized as anger, rage, resentment, or terror sufficient to obscure the reason of an ordinary person, preventing deliberation and premeditation, excluding malice, and rendering a person incapable of cool reflection. Here, the State carried its evidentiary burden in negating the mitigating factor and voluntary manslaughter requirement of “sudden heat,” and Defendant’s murder conviction and LWOP sentence.
Passarelli v. State, No. 22A-CR-1116, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Jan. 9, 2023).
The objective component of self-defense, as adopted by our courts, is analyzed from the standpoint of an ordinary “reasonable person.” The question being presented to the fact-finder is whether an ordinary reasonable person would have responded with deadly force if confronted with the same circumstances that defendant confronted.
Chatman v. State, No. 22A-CR-934, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 22, 2022).
Diagnostic testimony from a medical professional based on information acquired from other professionals is inadmissible hearsay; however, the same testimony may be admissible under Evidence Rule 703, which provides: “An expert may base an opinion on facts or data in the case that the expert has been made aware of or personally observed. Experts may testify to opinions based on inadmissible evidence, provided that it is of the type reasonably relied upon by experts in the field.”
State v. Parchman, No. 21A-CR-447, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 22, 2022).
For an alleged violation of Brady v. Maryland to be meritorious, the evidence at issue must be favorable to the accused, either because the evidence is exculpatory or because it is impeaching; the evidence must have been suppressed by the State, either willfully or inadvertently; and prejudice must have ensued.