On rehearing, decides not to adopt original opinion’s supervisory waiver-of-counsel rule requiring advice of an attorney’s ability to negotiate with the State.
R. Rucker
Putnam Co. Sheriff v. Price, No. 49A02-1009-DR-105, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind., Oct. 6, 2011).
County Sheriff Department “that neither owns, maintains, nor controls a county road” does not have a common law duty to warn the public of known hazardous conditions of that road.
Turner v. State, No. 49S00-0912-CR-565, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., Sept. 28, 2011).
Indiana Rule of Evidence 702(b) permitted admission of “tool mark” expert’s “identification” opinion that marks on unfired cartridge found in defendant’s girlfriend’s home matched marks on fired cartridge casings found at murder scene, even though the firearm which might have made the “tool marks” was never found.
Citizens State Bank of New Castle V. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., No. 76S03-1009-CV-515, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., June 29, 2011)
Strict foreclosure is a mechanism to place before the court the question of whether the doctrine of merger should be enforced, but “’[w]hether the conveyance of the fee to the mortgagee results in a merger of the mortgage and the fee depends primarily upon the intention of the parties, particularly that of the mortgagee.’”
Baker v. State, No. 17S04-1009-CR-500, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., June 23, 2011)
When, as in this child molesting case, “evidence is presented of a greater number of separate criminal offenses than the defendant is charged with,” “the State may in its discretion designate a specific act (or acts) on which it relies to prove a particular charge,” but “if the State decides not to so designate, then the jurors should be instructed that in order to convict the defendant they must either unanimously agree that the defendant committed the same act or acts or that the defendant committed all of the acts described by the victim and included within the time period charged.”