Waiver of the home study requirement in an adoption when the adoptive parents are not a stepparent or the grandparents is reversible error.
Appeals
Cohen v. State, No. 24A-CR-710, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 23, 2024).
Once a defendant demonstrates that they have testified pursuant to a grant of immunity to matters related to the prosecution before a grand jury, the State has the burden of showing an independent, legitimate source for the disputed evidence if the defendant/witness is the target of the same grand jury.
Helvie v. State, No. 24A-CR-1441, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 16, 2024).
Indiana Criminal Rule 3.3(C)(1) provides, in part, that a “defendant may plead guilty to all charged offenses without a plea agreement or to at least one of the charged offenses pursuant to a plea agreement negotiated with the state.” Therefore, absent a plea agreement, the Rule’s language precludes a defendant from pleading guilty to anything less than all of the charges.
England v. Siebe, No. 24A-CT-497, __N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 4, 2024).
Trial court properly granted TR 21(B)(1) motion for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction when plaintiff’s claim fell under the Worker’s Compensation Act. Plaintiff was an employee of defendant’s sibling corporation and the Act defines “employer” to expressly include “a parent corporation and its subsidiaries,” which “shall each be considered joint employers” of the injured employee.
M.S. v. State, 24A-JV-715, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Dec. 5, 2024).
The exception to the dangerous possession of a firearm statute, parental permission to possess, is an affirmative defense and not an element of the offense.