State May Be Looking to Crack Down on Courthouse Security, Judge Tells Pulaski Council

If Pulaski County doesn’t take action to secure its court system, the state may decide to step in. That’s what Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn told the county council Monday. “The Supreme Court promulgates what we call administrative rules,” he explained. “Security’s always been in the administrative rules. And they had a committee that suggested ‘should’ in some of the stuff. And the board which controls all of the judges sent to the Supreme Court the rule I gave you, which was created by the committee, again, with revisions, and it said ‘It shall,’ not ‘should.’”

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Trial Scheduled in the Case of Robert Corbin

 Robert Corbin’s case will go to trial.

Corbin appeared with his attorneys Friday morning for a status hearing in his case in Starke Circuit Court. Indiana Supreme Court justices unanimously reversed an Indiana Court of Appeals’ decision recently to dismiss the case where two felony counts of attempted child seduction were filed against Corbin.

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Indiana Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Corbin Case

 
 

The Indiana Supreme Court gave no indication of when they might rule on a case from Starke County. The justices heard oral arguments this morning in Robert Corbin v. State of Indiana. Corbin was arrested in April of 2012 on attempted child seduction charges stemming from Facebook messages between him and a 16-year-old female Knox High School student. At the time Corbin was a teacher at Knox. His attorney argued unsuccessfully before Starke Circuit Judge Kim Hall that Corbin did not take a “substantial step” to constitute the crime. A state appeals court ruled in Corbin’s favor and dismissed the charges. The state appealed, and the Supreme Court took the case. Continue reading

Robert Corbin’s Case to be Heard by Indiana Supreme Court

  The Attorney General will be representing Starke County in an oral argument to be heard in the Indiana Supreme Court Thursday at 9:45 a.m. ET.

This hearing surrounds the case of Robert Corbin.

Corbin was arrested in April 2012 on two charges of Attempted Child Seduction, as Class D felonies. It was alleged that a then-sixteen-year-old student had been receiving inappropriate Facebook messages from Corbin who at the time was a teacher at the Knox Community School Corporation.

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Supreme Court Disciplines Winamac Attorney

Lisa Traylor-Wolff
Lisa Traylor-Wolff

A Winamac attorney who became romantically involved with a client while serving as his public defender has been disciplined by the Indiana Supreme Court. Lisa Traylor-Wolff has been permanently banned from judicial service, which means she will no longer be able to serve as a senior judge in Pulaski and Fulton Counties. Senior judges are attorneys who work part-time filling in for trial court judges and are also allowed to represent clients. Continue reading

Indiana Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of School Vouchers

 
 
Indiana’s comprehensive, and controversial, school choice program is constitutional. The Indiana Supreme Court unanimously upheld the sweeping program. It allows public tax dollars to be used to pay for private education. A group of teachers and other public school advocates filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of funding a religious activity with public tax dollars. Indiana State Teachers Association Vice President Teresa Meredith is disappointed by the decision. She says the plaintiffs have not yet discussed their appeal options. The Supreme Court previously ruled that a similar law in Ohio was constitutional. Governor Mike Pence is pleased with today’s ruling. He says in a statement that Indiana must continue to find ways to expand educational opportunities for all Indiana families.

Supreme Court Upholds 110-Year Sentence for Ernest Wireman

Ernest Wireman

The Indiana Supreme Court this week denied a petition to transfer jurisdiction in the case of Ernest Wireman, a man found guilty in March of murdering his wife and attempting to kill his stepson.

Wireman was found guilty but mentally ill after the June 2009 murder, but he had filed an appeal claiming that the state’s psychiatrist, Dr. Gregory Hale, should not have been allowed to render his opinion of Wireman’s mental state, alleging Hale lacked knowledge of Indiana’s standard for determining sanity. Further, he claimed the jury’s verdict of guilty but mentally ill was not supported by sufficient evidence.

Despite that, the Appeals Court ruled that Wireman’s mental illness did play a part in his decision to murder his wife and stepson, but the evidence substantiated that Wireman knew fully well that what he was doing was legally wrong. Consequently, the court upheld his 110-year sentence. He was convicted of Murder, Attempted Murder, and Arson.

Laws Regulating Mopeds May Soon Be Updated

With the warm weather and high cost of gas, many Hoosiers have taken a liking to mopeds, but an outdated law could prove problematic for two-wheeled enthusiasts looking to travel at a decent rate of speed.

An Indiana Supreme Court ruling in a case for a man busted for going 43 mph on a moped upheld the current state law which states a “motorized bicycle,” which mopeds are classified under, cannot have a maximum design speed over 25 mph.

State Representative Milo Smith says the current “motorized bicycle” laws shouldn‘t even apply to mopeds because of the changes in technology since the law was written 40 years ago.

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Local Attorney Suspended for Violating Code

Knox Attorney, Todd Wallsmith, has received disciplinary notice from the Indiana Supreme Court for violating the Indiana Professional Conduct Code. In the notice, the court informed Wallsmith that he is suspended from the practice of law for 180 days. The term of the suspension begins September 30th, 2011, with 45 days actively served and the remainder stayed subject to completion of 24 months probation. Wallsmith will not be permitted to practice law from October 1st to November 15th.

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