Jury instruction defining “dwelling” element of B-felony burglary was misleading and invaded the province of the jury. Burglary convictions therefore had to be reduced to Class C felonies.
Supreme
In re: Indiana State Fair Litigation, No. 49S02-1601-CT-51, ___ N.E.3d ___, (Ind. Jan. 28, 2016).
Indemnity language on back of vendor’s invoice could not be applied retroactively to liabilities predating the invoice; retroactive effect was not “clearly and unequivocally” expressed in invoice language, and could not be inferred from parties’ course of dealing.
Slaybaugh v. State, No. 79S02-1601-CR-28, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind., Jan. 20, 2016).
Fact that juror was Facebook “friends” with relatives of the victim did not establish juror misconduct, when juror testified that she did not know them personally or recognize them in court, and trial court found her testimony truthful.
Garcia v. State, No. 49S05-1505-CR-335, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind. Jan. 21, 2016).
Searching contents of pill container, which had already been seized incident to lawful arrest, was reasonable under the Indiana Constitution.
Town of Zionsville v. Town of Whitestown, No. 06S01-1601-PL-36, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Jan. 22, 2016).
“2014 Zionsville-Perry Reorganization is not prohibited and that Whitestown may not adopt annexation ordinances annexing territory in municipalities that are the result of completed reorganizations under the [Government Modernization] Act.”