There were several stories yesterday about recent rulings by our state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
"Conviction in murder of teen set aside: Indiana courts site jury bias," was the headline to this 7/1/04 story in the Louisville Courier Journal about the Roy Lee Ward v. State of Indiana (6/30/4 IndSCt) decision [access ILB entry here]. Some quotes from the story:
The Indiana Supreme Court ordered a new trial yesterday for condemned killer Roy Lee Ward, saying there was too much community outrage for local jurors to fairly judge whether he raped and murdered 15-year-old Stacy Payne at her home in Dale.Here is AP coverage of the decision.The court ruled unanimously that Spencer Circuit Judge Wayne Roell should have granted Ward's request for a trial with jurors who had not had so much exposure to news stories and other information about the crime.
The court said that half of the jurors seated for the trial admitted they believed Ward — who was ultimately sentenced to death — to be guilty. One said she did not know if she could be impartial and consider only the evidence presented at trial, according to the opinion. * * *
The Supreme Court said yesterday that it is "not a prerequisite to a fair trial that the jurors be totally ignorant of the facts involved." Therefore, a juror's mere exposure to news stories is not enough to require a change of venue, the ruling said. But jurors must be willing to render a verdict "based upon the law and the evidence presented." The court said that even the one juror's admission that she may not be able to do that "alone requires that we grant Ward a new trial."
"Disputed billboards get OK from appeals court" is the headline to a brief story yesterday in the Indianapolis Star that reports:
Ten billboards erected on land not zoned by the city of Indianapolis can stay, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. The decision, which thwarts the city's effort to restrict the number and placement of outdoor ads, found that the city attempted to place zoning restrictions on the disputed land only after the signs had been approved by the state.The case, Metropolitan Development Commission of Marion County v. Pinnacle Media, LLC (6/30/04 IndCtApp), was reported in this ILB entry.
Additional stories may be added.
Posted by Marcia Oddi at July 2, 2004 08:50 AM