When officer who made the investigatory stop did not testify as to her reasons for making the stop and supporting officer’s testimony amounted only to “postulation” as for reasons for the initial stop, there was no showing that there was any constitutional basis for stopping the defendant.
Cartwright v. State, No. 82S01-1109-CR-564, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., Feb. 22, 2012).
Affirms trial court’s rejection of Batson challenge.
Abbott v. State, No. 34S02-1202-CR-110, __N.E.2d __ (Ind., Feb. 22, 2012).
Maximum sentence was inappropriate when B felony enhancement was due to the arresting officer’s stopping the defendant’s car a few yards from a church.
Addison v. State, No. 49S05-1105-CR-267, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., Feb. 22, 2012).
In addressing a Batson challenge by a defendant who failed to rebut the State’s purported race-neutral explanation at trial, the fundamental error standard is used on appeal to evaluate the argument the explanation was a pretext; concludes State’s explanation was a pretext when “the State failed to strike apparently similarly situated non-black venirepersons, . . . mischaracterized Turner’s voir dire testimony when offering its race-neutral reason for striking him from the panel and failed to engage Turner in any meaningful voir dire examination on the issue of his reliance on expert witness testimony.”
In re Ind. Newspapers, Inc., No. 49A02-1103-PL-23, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., Feb. 21, 2012).
Regarding whether a non-party news organization can be compelled to disclose in a defamation lawsuit the identity of an anonymous commenter, the Court of Appeals adopts a modified Dendrite test requiring the plaintiff to produce prima facie evidence to support only those elements of the cause of action that are not dependent on the commenter’s identity.