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Friday, March 17, 2006

Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals decides four today

In Ben Cochran v. State of Indiana, an 11-page opinion (including a 3-page dissent by Judge Riley), Judge Barnes writes:

The evidence most favorable to the judgment reveals that on November 13, 2003, Versailles Town Marshal David Adams was informed by dispatch that a citizen had called to complain about a person standing at the intersection of U.S. 50 and State Road 421 and displaying a poster apparently depicting an aborted fetus. The caller alleged that the poster was obscene. Marshal Adams went to the intersection to investigate the complaint. He approached the person holding the poster, Cochran, advised that he was investigating a complaint, and asked Cochran for identification. Initially, Cochran was reluctant to comply, stating that there was no law requiring that he have identification. However, after Marshal Adams explained that he wanted to know Cochran’s identity for his own safety and to know to whom he was talking, Cochran gave his name and date of birth. Marshal Adams called the information into dispatch, which relayed to him that there were no outstanding warrants for Cochran and that there was no information at all on Cochran, including that he apparently had no driver’s license.

Marshal Adams then returned to Cochran and said that there was no reason he could not continue protesting and displaying his poster. Later that day, however, Marshal Adams observed Cochran driving a vehicle. Because of his knowledge that Cochran had no driver’s license, Marshal Adams pulled him over and issued a citation for driving without a license.

After determining that Cochran had never received a driver’s license, the State charged him with operating a vehicle without ever having received a license, a Class C misdemeanor. Cochran moved to suppress all evidence derived from Marshal Adams’s request for identification, claiming that the information gained thereby was the fruit of an illegal stop or seizure. The trial court denied the motion. At Cochran’s bench trial, he objected to the same evidence, which the trial court overruled. The trial court found Cochran guilty and imposed a fine of $1 and costs of $136. Cochran now appeals. * * *

Conclusion The trial court properly admitted all of the evidence in this case; Marshal Adams’s interaction with Cochran and request for identification violated neither the United States nor Indiana Constitutions. We affirm. 1 It appears, viewing the evidence most favorable to the trial court’s ruling, that when Cochran’s name and date of birth were run through the available records, there were no records for him at all, not even for a driver’s license, and this information was relayed to Marshal Adams. * * *

RILEY, Judge dissenting.

I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the encounter between Marshal Adams and Cochran was consensual. Rather, I find that Cochran was seized for Fourth Amendment purposes without an objectively reasonable basis; consequently, I conclude that the information Marshal Adams gathered from Cochran during the seizure should have been suppressed. * * *

Moreover, once Marshal Adams observed Cochran conducting a lawful protest, there was no supplementary reason to suspect Cochran of illegal activity. Thus, I fail to find that any reasonable suspicion existed to even briefly detain Cochran. As a result, I conclude that the information Marshal Adams’ seized during his investigatory stop of Cochran, specifically that Cochran did not have a driver’s license, was unlawfully obtained and in violation of Cochran’s Fourth Amendment rights.

In Alfred K. Weidenhammer v. Jacqueline L. Sorenson (Adoption: JBS), an 8-page opinion, Judge Kirsch writes:
Alfred K. Weidenhammer appeals the trial court’s order that set aside the adoption of his step-granddaughter, J.B.S. On appeal, he raises numerous issues, of which we find one dispositive: whether J.B.S.’s maternal aunt, Jacqueline Sorensen, possessed standing to file a Verified Motion to Set Aside Adoption Order. We reverse and remand.
In Allen Francis Foley v. Sharon L. (Foley) Mannor, a 14-page opinion (including a 1-page concurrance by Judge Najam), Judge Baker writes:
Appellant-respondent Allen Francis Foley (Allen) appeals the trial court’s judgment representing a $12,000 child support arrearage in favor of his former wife, appellee-petitioner Sharon Lee Foley Mannor (Sharon). Specifically, Foley challenges the trial court’s exercise of jurisdiction over this case, as well as the order directing him to pay attorney’s fees in the amount of $400 to Sharon’s counsel. Allen also argues that the trial court erroneously ordered a body attachment against him, as well as the amount of the bond that the trial court had set.

We conclude that the trial court had jurisdiction over this matter, and that the award of $400 in attorneys’ fees to Sharon was proper. However, we note that the issuance of a body attachment was improper in these circumstances. Thus, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In Kankakee Valley Rural Electric Membership Corp. v. United Telephone Co., a 12-page opinion, Judge Baker writes:
Appellant-respondent Kankakee Valley Rural Electric Membership Corporation (Kankakee), appeals from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s (IURC) assertion of jurisdiction over a matter regarding certain utility pole attachments that were used by appellee-petitioner United Telephone Company of Indiana, Inc., d/b/a Sprint (Sprint), and appellee-intervenor Indiana Bell Telephone Company, Inc. (SBC). In essence, Kankakee argues that the IURC could not hear the dispute because Kankakee had opted out of the IURC’s jurisdiction. Concluding that the IURC properly exercised jurisdiction over this matter, we affirm its order and remand this cause to the IURC with instructions that it proceed to address the merits of this action.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 17, 2006 08:58 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions