Category Archives: Roundup

Roundup

Monday roundup 10/6

This is more of a September Roundup, really. As promised, I am (finally) back. My goal with this blog is to have more in-depth content and less filler, so I might not post every day from here on, but the posts should be longer with more original thought. But I do plan on keeping the Roundup around. Once a week, just to catch things that slipped through the cracks. Continue reading Monday roundup 10/6 →

Roundup

Monday roundup 8/25

Local:

Two men were sentenced in separate cases on Friday involving children, one for child abuse and one for molestation. Both received 12 years.

State:

Indiana is currently not enforcing the right-to-work law, after two judges have ruled it unconstitutional. The Governor believes the law will be upheld, but in the meantime, is following the direction of the courts. I think he learned his lesson about messing with judges. H/t ILB.

National:

The Obama administration has come up with new birth control rules that comply with the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling. SCOTUSblog has the details.

Roundup

Monday roundup 8/18

In the area:

In the strange case of two brothers who disposed of a body of a person whom one of the brothers may or may not have killed, but definitely attacked, and whose death may have occurred in Allen or Nobel County, one brother has pleaded guilty to moving the body and has been sentenced to three years. As part of the deal, it has apparently been settled that she officially died in Noble County.

In the state:

Indiana officially has its first ever female Chief Justice

William Clyde Gibson has a second date with the executioner, although it’s also unlikely to be met, as appeals will push the date back.

Nationally:

SCOTUSblog has a repeatedly-updated post about movements on the Virginia same-sex marriage case at the end of the week. It seems that the deadline for responses to the request for a stay was about 20 minutes ago, so the justices may be looking those over as I type this. Perhaps a ruling tomorrow?

Roundup

Monday roundup 8/11

Couple of things to hit on today:

Rebecca Green with the J-G has a nice article about big changes in local courts as employees flee in droves to avoid expected changes to their retirement fund. This is apparently happening throughout the state, per ILB.

A lot of people are talking about the legal ramifications of the Tony Stewart-Kevin Ward accident Saturday. Here’s just one example (which I’m not necessarily endorsing). For now, it’s enough to remember that Stewart could be liable even if he didn’t have any “criminal intent.” Also, that criminal liability and civil liability have different standards. To be convicted of manslaughter, the state would have to prove either intent to injure (1st degree) or recklessness (2nd degree). To win in a civil case, Ward’s family would need only prove negligence, which is an easier standard to meet than recklessness. One last thought: New York is a “pure comparative negligence” state. That means that, even if Ward is mostly to blame, if a jury assigns any percentage of fault to Stewart, he’d be liable for that share of the damages.

In the local courts last week, one of our many outstanding bar shooting cases has made it to the end, as Senaca Lapsley was sentenced to 78 years for aggravated battery and criminal recklessness with a specification for being an habitual offender.

The death of an elderly lady whose body was discovered Friday has been ruled a homicide.

Civil Rights, Criminal, Environment, Health Care, Roundup

Early Monday roundup 8/4

I took an early weekend, so I have a couple of things to catch up on. Most legally important news happens before Friday, but things do still happen. I might make it a regular habit to dump the stuff that slips through the cracks over the weekend on Monday morning.

First, same-sex marriage. The plaintiffs aren’t going to be given a lot of time in the Indiana/Wisconsin consolidated case to make their arguments. Meanwhile, a county clerk in Virginia is filing for cert with the Supreme Court on the marriage ban there.

With the Seventh Circuit case moving so quickly, it seems likely that the issue of same-sex marriage is going to be decided once and for all during the next Supreme Court term.

Next, health care. The issue of health subsidies for states using the federal exchange is also being pushed forward as fast as possible. Nothing new here, but I expect the Court to take this up right away, as well.

Looking ahead. Nothing much on the SCOTUS front, as the new term doesn’t start until the very end of September.  The Indiana Supreme Court starts hearing cases again just after Labor day.

However, there will be some interesting legal topics in the news this week. Definitely pay attention to the Toledo water crisis. As of this writing, the water was officially down to safe toxin levels(!), but mayor Collins wasn’t ready to lift the advisory on account of two “too close for comfort” results. We’re going to be talking a lot about the cause of the algal bloom, which is almost certainly directly related to farm fertilizer runoff (thanks to a heavy rain season). I suspect the end result on the legal front will be either 1) Ohio enacting new regulations and farmers suing or 2) Ohio not enacting many new regulations and environmental groups suing (or 3) both).

There is also one execution to watch for this week. There were three scheduled, but two have already been stayed. Michael Worthington is set to die Wednesday in Missouri. Worthington broke into his neighbor’s house while drunk and high, strangled her unconscious, raped her, and then beat her and strangled her to death when she woke up and tried to fight him off. Interestingly, he was sentenced to death despite pleading guilty, which is not something you see every day. After Joseph Wood appeared to suffer tremendously in a prolonged death in Arizona last month, all eyes will be on Missouri. I don’t think either the public or the Supreme Court has the political desire to ban executions outright, but if states prove that they are unable to kill people without torturing them (whether or not you blame it on the European Union), that sentiment might begin to shift in both cases.