The abuse of discretion standard of review applies to the review of trial court bond forfeiture rulings.
Criminal
Graff v. State, No. 23A-CR-2546, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Jan. 28, 2025).
Where a suspect has not been arrested, arraigned or indicted, a polygraph examination and post-testing interrogation do not constitute critical stages upon which the right to counsel attaches. Evidence that a polygraph examination directly preceded a confession, occurred in the exact same room, and involved the same officer to which the confession was given may be admissible. Consistent with Indiana Rule of Evidence 106, the preliminaries to a polygraph examination, the examination itself, and the subsequent police interview are all part of one recorded statement, and fairness dictates that neither party should be able to decide that the jury will hear only the parts of the statement it deems favorable to its case.
Cohen v. State, No. 24A-CR-710, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 23, 2024).
Once a defendant demonstrates that they have testified pursuant to a grant of immunity to matters related to the prosecution before a grand jury, the State has the burden of showing an independent, legitimate source for the disputed evidence if the defendant/witness is the target of the same grand jury.
Bradley v. State, No. 24S-CR-206, __N.E.3d __ (Ind., Dec. 18, 2024).
A trial court’s sua sponte order for a competency evaluation does not extinguish and reset time under Criminal Rule 4(B); so long as the defendant maintains a position reasonably consistent with his speedy-trial request, delays attributable to competency evaluations simply toll the applicable deadline.
Helvie v. State, No. 24A-CR-1441, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 16, 2024).
Indiana Criminal Rule 3.3(C)(1) provides, in part, that a “defendant may plead guilty to all charged offenses without a plea agreement or to at least one of the charged offenses pursuant to a plea agreement negotiated with the state.” Therefore, absent a plea agreement, the Rule’s language precludes a defendant from pleading guilty to anything less than all of the charges.