When faced with a permissive expungement petition, trial court should engage in a two-step process when considering a petition for expungement. First, a court must determine whether the conviction is eligible for expungement under the statute. If the conviction is ineligible, the inquiry ends there. But if the court determines that the conviction is eligible for expungement, it must then collect enough information to determine whether it should grant or deny the petition.
Supreme
Holcomb v. City of Bloomington, No. 19S-PL-304, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Dec. 15, 2020).
City can challenge a statute in a declaratory judgment action against the Governor because the legislation challenged vested enforcement authority in the Governor.
In re Paternity of B.Y., No. 20S-JP-554, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Dec. 18, 2020).
The trial court abused its discretion when it found mother in contempt of court and ordered that father have sole legal and physical custody of their infant child; court should not have conflated mother’s contempt of court with the best interest of the child.
Choi v. Kim, No. 20S-PL-706, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Dec. 18, 2020).
Remands for a new trial when trial court erred in communicating with the jury after deliberations began.
Loehrlein v. State, 20S-CR-376, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Dec. 9, 2020).
When a juror commits gross misconduct, a defendant must still demonstrate that they were probably harmed as a result of that misconduct to be entitled to relief.