The Eighth Amendment’s protection against excessive fines places not only an instrumentality limit on use-based in rem fines, but also a proportionality one. Based on the totality of the circumstances, if the punitive value of the forfeiture is grossly disproportional to the gravity of the underlying offenses and the owner’s culpability for the property’s criminal use, the fine is unconstitutionally excessive.
G. Slaughter
Int’l Bus. Machines Corp. v. State, No. 49D01-1005-PL-21451, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Oct. 11, 2019).
Post-judgment interest due to the State runs from the judgment on remand; the date of the original judgment was not final.
Rainbow Realty Group, Inc. v. Carter, No. 19S-CC-38, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Sept. 13, 2019).
“Rent-to-buy” agreement was not a land-sale contract, but a rental agreement subject to Indiana’s residential landlord-tenant statutes.
Faith v. State, No. 19S-PC-499, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Sept. 6, 2019).
A trial court may impose consecutive advisory sentences in a case involving multiple acts of child molestation against a single victim.
Tunstall v. Manning, No. 19S-CT-18, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., June 26, 2019).
An expert witness’s professional-licensure status and the reasons for professional discipline may be admissible to challenge the expert’s credibility.