The evidence, including surveillance video and phone conversations, supported jury conviction of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. LWOP sentence was proper as the jury, not the court, weighs the mitigating and aggravating factors.
Phipps v. State, No. 28S05-1707-CR-499, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Feb. 16, 2018).
Circumstantial evidence may be used to prove intent to violate a protective order and trial courts may weigh ongoing acts of criminal misconduct as an aggravating factor to enhance sentencing.
Brantley v. State, No. 18S-CR-98, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Feb. 16, 2018).
Voluntary manslaughter may be brought as a standalone charge with the element of sudden heat as a mitigating factor, which a jury may consider along with claims of self-defense.
Ward v. Carter, No. 46S03-1709-PL-00569, __ N.E.3d __(Ind., Feb. 13, 2018).
Department of Correction’s change to Indiana’s lethal injection combination of drugs is not a substantive rule that must be promulgated according to the Administrative Rules and Procedures Act.
Gunderson v. State, No. 46S03-1706-PL-423, __ N.E.3d __(Ind., Feb. 14, 2018).
The boundary separating public trust land from privately-owned riparian land along the shores of Lake Michigan is the common-law ordinary high-water mark and that, absent an authorized legislative conveyance, the State retains exclusive title up to that boundary.