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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Ind. Decisions - Many more Indiana Supreme Court opinions expected before July 1
The U.S. Supreme Court is ending its term and seven more opinions are expected during the next few days. Generally, Supreme Court opinions do not hold over from term to term.
The Indiana Supreme Court does not have an official term. However, Court statistics and reports are issued on a fiscal year basis - the state fiscal year ends June 30th.
Joel Schumm, IU-Indianapolis law professor, send this report to the ILB last evening:
I just did a quick search of the oral argument calendar and expect as many as ten, possibly more, criminal cases before the end of the fiscal year. Today's hand-downs were argued April 30 (Lucio) and March 5 (Helton). (No oral argument was held in Dennis, which was transmitted February 2.) I would not expect opinions in cases argued in May or June. (The Terre Haute mayor case is exceptional.)Additions or corrections welcome.The big criminal case headline will be Camm, which was argued May 22, 2008. (The ILB has plenty of entries on the David Camm trials and appeals. Here are entries about the May 22, 2008 oral argument, from the 22nd and 23rd of May, 2008.)
The only other 2008 argued criminal cases still pending are:
- Pendergrass (argued October 9), but it will probably not be handed down until SCOTUS decides Melendez-Diaz, which is the longest pending SCOTUS case. (Note that a related decision, Ricky L. Jackson, decided by the COA Aug. 12, 2008, is pending transfer.)
- George Jackson (argued December 4)
- Hernandez (argued December 22)
From the first four months of 2009:
I only looked at criminal cases. I suspect there are quite a few civils. Moreover, I have no idea how many cases might be pending where there was no oral argument or where transfer will be granted the same day the opinion is handed down. (I had no idea Dennis was pending, and there's really no way to know about direct appeals like it.)
- Holly and Armfield (argued January 15), briefly mentioned in footnote 1 of Bannister in April
- Fortson (argued January 15)
- Mosley (argued January 29 - see briefs here), which could have a big impact on criminal appellate practice re: Anders briefs
- Two LWOP cases: Treadway (argued February 26) and Clark (argued February 27)
- Alvey (argued March 10)
- Carter (argued April 23)
I suspect one or more of the cases will have a disagreement/separate opinion(s) that cannot be ironed out in the next week. If the court were on a term like SCOTUS, they'd get them all out. Since they are not, some opinions might wait, sort of like a state budget this year . . . .
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 24, 2009 10:05 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions