The 2003 amendment to Ind. Code § 30-4-2.1-2, which abrogated the stranger to the adoption rule, applies retroactively to a trust created in 1953 before the settlor’s son adopted two children.
Calvert v. State, No. 40A05-0911-CR-659, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., July 27, 2010)
Evidence proved no more than defendant’s preparation to commit a crime, which was not sufficient to prove the “substantial step” required for an attempt conviction. Defendant’s conviction of possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon was based on proof he possessed the same sawed-off shotgun relied on to convict him of possession of a sawed-off shotgun, so that sawed-off shotgun conviction was prohibited under Indiana double jeopardy law.
Lewis v. State, No. 49A02-0908-CR-736, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., July 27, 2010)
Plurality opinion holds that officer’s incursions into auto passenger compartment, after driver had been arrested outside the vehicle, violated 4th Amendment and Indiana Constitution Art. I Sec. 11.
Wilkins v. State, No. 02A03-0910-CR-451, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., July 27, 2010)
When factors which would justify a “no-knock” residential search were not “exigent,” but rather were known when the search warrant was applied for but not presented to the judge to have judicial authority for a “no-knock” entry, and the policy of the law enforcement agency was to routinely leave the “no-knock” decision to the police team rather than obtaining approval from an independent authority, suppression of the fruits of the “no-knock” search was appropriate under the Indiana Constitution.
Green Tree Servicing, LLC v. Brough, No. 88A01-0911-CV-550, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., July 26, 2010)
Trial court erred in vacating its order for arbitration, because the arbitration clause in the parties’ contract was not terminated by one party’s bankruptcy discharge.