If a defendant wishes to challenge their guilty plea, they cannot do so through a direct appeal; the issue of whether a defendant’s guilty plea was knowing and voluntary should instead be pursued by filing a petition for post-conviction relief.
Clark v. State, No. 22A-CR-2421, __N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., April 25, 2023).
In the entrapment context, apparent agency does not depend on the principal’s express or implied authorization for the agent to act on the principal’s behalf; rather, apparent agency exists when a principal’s manifestations induce a third party to reasonably believe there is a principal-agent relationship.
Falletti v. State, No. 22A-IF-2421, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., April 28, 2023).
Pursuant to Ind. Code § 36-8-12-11, volunteer firefighters may display blue lights in limited places on their vehicles visible to the public, but non-volunteer firefighters may not display blue lights visible to the public at all.
Evans v. State, No. 22A-PC-220, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., May 1, 2023).
A habitual offender adjudication must be based on proof that a defendant has accumulated two prior unrelated felony convictions, meaning that the commission, conviction, and sentencing on the first felony preceded the commission, conviction, and sentence on the second felony. A post-conviction petitioner who challenges his habitual offender determination must demonstrate that he was not a habitual offender under the habitual offender statute and that his various convictions did not in fact occur in the required order.
M.H. v. State, No. 22S-JV-251, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., April 19, 2023).
When a decision implicates a new jurisdictional rule, as in K.C.G. v. State, courts are to apply the principle of non-retroactivity, rather than vacate a final judgment for voidness, unless the jurisdictional error compromised the reliability or fairness of the proceedings.