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Thursday, March 31, 2005

Ind. Courts - Indiana Supreme Court will convene at college

"Indiana Supreme Court will convene at college" is the headline to a story today by Beth Shindle in the Huntington Herald-Press. Some quotes:

Four of the five justices of the Indiana Supreme Court will be at Huntington College next Wednesday to hear oral arguments in a case that examines spousal privilege in a criminal case. * * *

Due to scheduling conflicts, Chief Justice Randall Shepherd will not be present at the event. The public is welcome to attend.

Huntington County Prosecutor John Branham, who teaches the American national government and American constitutional history classes at HC, arranged for the justices to come to Huntington. The Indiana Supreme Court chooses to hear a few cases each year at locations across the state, primarily for public relations and educationally related reasons.

Branham said the event will be a "field learning experience" for his college students and would include students from Huntington North High School if they were not already scheduled for spring break next week. He also said this is the first in recent years that the Supreme Court has come to the Huntington area. The District Court of Appeals was at the college Sept. 27, 1995.

The case that will come before the Supreme Court Wednesday is John Glover v. State [access ILB entry on 11/5/04 Court of Appeals decision here, fifth case]. The state has charged Glover with murder and listed his wife, Bobbie Glover, as a state's witness on the charging information.

Glover wanted to suppress his wife's testimony and felt he could do so according to a spousal privilege code identified in Indiana state law. However, the first place he took the case, the Marion County Supreme Court, said that Glover could not suppress his wife's testimony because the marriage was a "sham marriage" that took place under Kentucky law, Branham said, for the purpose of preventing her from being deported to her native country of India. * * *

After the Marion County Superior Court denied John Glover's motion, he took the case to the Indiana Court of Appeals, and the court said the privilege should apply, Branham said. The state then filed a petition to transfer the case to the Indiana Supreme Court, and the court decided to accept the case.

"It will be a matter not so much of fact but of law and public policy," Branham said.

The issue of Glover's motion to suppress his wife's testimony must be decided before his trial can be held.

Here is a link to the Supreme Court's April 2005 calendar of oral arguments. On Thursday, April 7th the Court will hear an interesting issue of standing under the Administrative Orders and Procedures Act. The case is Indiana Assoc. of Beverage Retailers v. Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Comm’n [access ILB entry on 5/25/04 Court of Appeals ruling here, last case].

On Thursday, April 14 the Court will hear Michael Armstrong v. State. There have been several ILB entries on this case, where the issue was "When a passenger jumped from defendant Armstrong's moving vehicle and was injured as a result, was Armstrong involved in an accident for purposes of IC 9-26-1-1, triggering the duties under that statute?" Access them at 11/23/04 (2nd case); 11/24/04; and 3/2/05.

And on Tuesday, April 19, the Court will hear arguments in Lacey v. State, an unpublished Court of Appeals decision.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 31, 2005 01:19 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts