Role of defendant’s alleged mental illness in double-murder was not so “exceptional and extraordinary” as to warrant appellate revision of LWOP sentence. Jury’s weighing of LWOP aggravators and mitigators is not subject to appellate review.
Supreme
Layman v. State, No. 20S04-1509-CR-548, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind., Sept. 18, 2015).
Evidence was insufficient to convict defendants of felony murder in the course of burglarizing a home they thought was unoccupied; none were armed or engaged in any “dangerously violent or threatening conduct” that was “clearly the mediate or immediate cause” of their co-perpetrator’s death.
Sharp v. State, No. 20S04-1509-CR-549, ___ N.E.3d ___ (Ind., Sept. 18, 2015).
Evidence was insufficient to convict defendants of felony murder in the course of burglarizing a home they thought was unoccupied; they were unarmed and did not engage in any dangerously violent of threatening conduct that was clearly the mediate or immediate cause of their co-perpetrator’s death.
Clifton v. McCammack, No. 49S02-1504-CT-228, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Sept. 21, 2015).
Father of victim of an accident cannot recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress, because none of the three circumstantial factors were met; the claimant must demonstrate that the scene viewed was essentially as it was at the time of the incident, that the victim was in essentially the same condition as immediately following the incident, and that the claimant was not informed of the incident before coming upon the scene.
Boyer v. Smith, No. 15S01-1509-CT-526, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Sept. 10, 2015).
Indiana does not have personal jurisdiction over an attorney that never practiced law in Indiana and did not seek business from Indiana residents – she had no minimum contacts within or substantial connection to Indiana.