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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Ind. Decisions - COA panel hears arguments at Indiana University Southeast

Yesterday's oral argument before a Court of Appeals panel in the case of Charles Sweeney vs. State of Indiana, heard at Indiana University Southeast, is the subject of a story this morning by Dick Kaukas of the Louisville Courier Journal. (See the case summary here, from Monday's ILB "Upcomng Oral Arguments" entry. Some quotes from the story:

The oral arguments presented yesterday were part of an appeal by Charles Sweeney, a Clark County resident who was convicted of the 1991 murder of Danny Guthrie and is now in the Indiana penitentiary in Wabash Valley.

A key issue was whether Sweeney was adequately represented by his lawyers in the case, both at trial and on appeal.

Before his trial, Sweeney was in federal custody, accused of putting a pipe bomb under a detective's car. As part of a plea agreement, Sweeney entered a guilty plea, according to a court synopsis of the case, and told officers the location of the body of Danny Guthrie.

Sweeney revealed that information, the court documents say, because he thought he was immune from prosecution under the agreement his lawyer said had been made.

As it turned out, however, Sweeney never had immunity because such agreements have to be in writing and meet other requirements. Ultimately, the information about the body was used to convict Sweeney of murder. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1995.

Susan Schultz, a Corydon lawyer represented Sweeney, argued that his case was inadequately presented by his lawyer on an earlier appeal.

More from the story:
The visit by presiding Judge L. Mark Bailey, and Judges Melissa May and Cale Bradford was part of a program designed to educate the public about the workings of the court by seeing the judges in action. * * *

Those attending were told that 15 judges on the appeals court, who sit in panels of three, are appointed by the governor and are subject to voter review in "retention" ballots, first after serving two years and then every 10 years.

During a question-and-answer session, Mark Porter, a member of Leadership Southern Indiana, a nonprofit group that conducts programs to help people learn more about their community, asked the judges how Indiana voters can tell whether members of the appeals panel are "doing a good job" or not.

After all, the judges work in groups of three so it can be tough to tell what an individual is doing, said Porter, executive director of the Center for Lay Ministries in Jeffersonville.

Bradford, who has been on the appeals court since August, told Porter that some information about the judges is available on state Web sites, and that lawyers rate the appeals panel on a regular basis.

Floyd Circuit Judge J. Terence Cody, who was in the audience, said the Indiana system allows appeals court judges "to be truly independent in the cases they decide" because they aren't subject to the public pressures of partisan elections.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 10, 2008 10:16 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions