Domestic-battery victim’s hearsay statement to forensic nurse examiner was admissible as statement for medical diagnosis or treatment. Sentencing order properly “merged” multiple counts, without entering conviction on them, to avoid double-jeopardy violation.
Appeals
Guffey v. State, No. 21A01-1410-CR-446, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 19, 2015).
Defendant’s convictions on five counts violated actual-evidence test for double jeopardy—though the court “merged” Counts II and IV into other counts, jeopardy still attached because it had previously entered judgment on them; and Counts III and V should also have been vacated and merged into Count I. But trial court could properly impose a longer sentence for the remaining Count I on remand, as long as it did not exceed the aggregate consecutive sentences previously imposed.
Additionally, sentencing order was defective for entering a habitual-offender sentence separately instead of applying as an enhancement to an underlying sentence.
Washington v. State, No. 49A02-1405-CR-306, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 20, 2015).
Under recent SCOTUS decision in Rodriguez v. U.S., defendant’s traffic stop was not unreasonably extended by drug-dog sniff or by officer’s questions.
Singh v. State, No. 49A02-1410-CR-717, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 20, 2015).
Distinct evidence supported convictions for attempted promotion of human trafficking and criminal confinement; convictions therefore did not violate double jeopardy.
Cavallo v. Allied Physicians of Michiana, LLC, No. 71A05-1406-PL-285, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 20, 2015).
Defendant did not have a right to a jury trial on the reasonableness of attorney fees, but there are instances where a jury may decide whether the amount of an attorney fee award is reasonable.