Reverses bench trial conviction and acquits defendant on the basis of caselaw “fixed insanity” doctrine that a “defendant who manifests a mental disease or defect, as opposed to intoxication, caused by prolonged and chronic alcohol abuse that renders him or her unable to distinguish right from wrong is not responsible for a crime committed while in that condition.”
Criminal
Carpenter v. State, No. 49S02-1104-CR-198, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., July 21, 2011)
“A complete review of Carpenter’s criminal history reveals that—although ample in number and clearly a recidivist—his crimes are of the type where a forty-year sentence is inappropriate.”
Bellamy v. State, No. 49A02-1011-CR-1214, __ N. E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., July 21, 2011).
When defendant had been warned he would be held in contempt if he failed to promptly appear for future scheduled proceedings, his appearance almost an hour late for his trial was properly punished summarily as direct criminal contempt.
Huddleston v. State, No. 20A05-1012-PC-813, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., July 8, 2011).
“We cannot conclude that Huddleston’s ultimate ‘yes’ to the question of whether he was guilty of murder was sufficient to override his earlier statements expressly denying the requisite culpability for murder.”
Lewis v. State, No. 49S02-1010-CR-00619, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., July 11, 2011).
There was no search when the traffic stop officer “needed to speak with the passenger and lowered his head down to her level” and, “[i]n the process, . . . saw a gun that was plainly visible between the driver’s seat and center console.”