« Ind. Decisions - Judge is dismissed as defendant in lawsuit | Main | Ind. Courts - Millionaire Emmis CEO battles Honda over $1,945 »

Friday, December 09, 2005

Ind. Decisions - New sentence is ordered in paint crew fire; Decision is "Not-for-Publication" [Updated]

Today's Indianapolis Star reports on a decision by the Court of Appeals yesterday. The headline is "New sentence is ordered in paint crew fire: Judge shouldn't have considered trauma's effects, appeals court says." Some quotes from the story, by Kevin Cocoran:

An Indiana appeals court on Thursday ordered a new sentencing for Tommy C. McElroy, who admitted setting a fire on I-465 in 2003 that killed two men and badly burned several others on his paint crew.

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that Marion Superior Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt relied on improper factors to lengthen McElroy's eight-year prison sentence on two counts of reckless homicide and one count of criminal recklessness.

Writing for the 3-0 court, Judge Edward W. Najam Jr. found Walton Pratt had, under Indiana law, improperly cited the burn victims' trauma and its effects on their families as a reason for giving McElroy the maximum sentence on each charge in February.

Unfortunately, this decision is not available online because the appellate panel classified it as "Not-for-Publication" (NFP), which means not only that it may not be cited as precedent, but that copies of it are not available online via the Court's website. Here is the relevant portion of the docket entry:
Case Number: 49 A 02 - 0505 - CR - 00381
MCELROY, TOMMY C. -V- STATE OF INDIANA

12/08/05 2005 TERM
REVERSED AND REMANDED--------NAJAM, J.
BARNES, J. AND CRONE, J. CONCUR
MEMORANDUM DECISION/NOT FOR PUBLICATION
12 PAGES KM

Copies of the decision are available to the press, from the Clerk's Office, and to anyone who goes to the Clerk's Office in the Statehouse and requests a copy (copying is $1.00 per page). The ILB every week publishes a list of that week's NFP opinions, which may be accessed via the Category "NFP Lists" in the right-hand column.

The ILB is attempting to obtain a copy -- check back.

[Update] Thanks to the great staff at the Indiana Court of the Courts office for sending the ILB a copy of the McElroy opinion within 5 minutes of my request. I've posted it here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 9, 2005 08:13 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions