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Judge, Indiana Court of Appeals
Lydia Theresa Conley v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals · 2026-06-23
Lydia Theresa Conley appealed the post-conviction court's denial of her petition for relief following her conviction for the 2019 murder of her ex-girlfriend Delilah Martinez. She argued that her trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object to a witness's hearsay testimony recounting Martinez's statement that Conley had threatened to shoot her, by stipulating to surveillance videos without challenging their foundation, and by not requesting a supplemental reasonable-theory-of-innocence jury instruction. The Court of Appeals held that counsel performed unreasonably by not objecting to the hearsay evidence, as the objection would have been sustained, but concluded that Conley failed to demonstrate unreasonable performance regarding the videos or instruction. On the full record, the court determined that the single error was insufficient to establish that the post-conviction court erred in denying relief, and it affirmed the denial of Conley's petition.
criminal law
Nicholas A. Blackburn v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals · 2026-05-06
In April 2023, Nicholas Blackburn crashed his vehicle into another car while having fentanyl in his blood, killing the driver, Brittany Wilson, who was 20–24 weeks pregnant; emergency responders performed a C-section, but the child died shortly afterward. The State charged Blackburn with two counts of Level 4 felony causing death while operating a vehicle with a controlled substance or its metabolite in his blood—one count for Wilson and one for her child. The Court of Appeals affirmed both convictions, holding that the trial court properly admitted the blood-test evidence and that the State presented sufficient evidence for a reasonable fact-finder to conclude the child was a “person” under the statute because it had a detectable heartbeat at the time of delivery. The court rejected Blackburn’s argument that viability required proof the child could have survived long-term outside the womb, finding the evidence of a heartbeat and post-delivery medical intervention adequate.
criminal lawabortion
George Lane v. Lloyd Arnold
Indiana Court of Appeals · 2026-05-01
George Lane was convicted in Indiana in 2008 of Class C felony child molesting and initially required to register as a sex offender for ten years. After moving to Kentucky in 2018, where his Indiana conviction triggered a lifetime registration requirement, he registered there; upon returning to Indiana in 2019, state officials determined that his Kentucky lifetime status now obligated him to register for life under Indiana law. Lane sued the Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner and Dearborn County Sheriff for declaratory relief, arguing that his Indiana obligation remained only ten years and that he was no longer subject to Kentucky requirements. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants, and the Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that Indiana’s jurisdiction statute requires lifetime registration for any offender who incurs an ongoing lifetime duty in another state of residency, regardless of later relocation back to Indiana.
criminal law
Barry Demarlo Billingsley v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals · 2026-04-30
The case involved Barry D’Marlo Billingsley’s appeal of his murder conviction from the Lake Superior Court, primarily challenging the denial of his motion to dismiss under Indiana Criminal Rule 4(C) for an alleged speedy-trial violation, along with an evidentiary issue. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, holding that the new Criminal Rule 4.1(A)(4), effective January 1, 2024, requires trial courts to designate on the record whether any granted continuance is excluded from the 365-day speedy-trial period due to the defendant’s acts, court congestion, or emergency. The court further ruled, as a matter of first impression, that a party must make a timely and specific objection to any such designation to preserve the correctness of that designation for appellate review; absent that objection, the issue is waived. This requirement ensures a clear record without altering the State’s duty to bring the defendant to trial within the Rule 4(C) timeframe or imposing any reminder obligation on the defendant.
criminal lawprocedure
Madison Futa v. Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Inc.
Indiana Court of Appeals · 2026-04-28
Madison Futa and Sarah Denunzio, former students at Saint Joseph High School, sued the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, the school, principal John Kennedy, athletic director Debra Brown, and volleyball coach Justin Cochran. They alleged negligence, negligent or intentional infliction of emotional distress, and Title IX violations stemming from Cochran’s alleged inappropriate sexual comments to players and transmission of explicit photos and messages to Denunzio, along with the school officials’ alleged failure to act on prior complaints. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants. On appeal, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the claims were barred by the two-year statute of limitations under Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4(a). The court found that neither COVID-related tolling, equitable tolling, the discovery rule, nor fraudulent concealment (active or passive) extended the deadline, as the plaintiffs presented no designated evidence of statements or actions by the defendants calculated to prevent inquiry or mislead them about their claims.
civil rightsproceduretorts & liability
Michael A Conley, Sr. v. USA Track & Field, Inc.
Indiana Court of Appeals · 2026-04-27
In this case, Michael A. Conley, Sr., former chairman of USA Track & Field’s Board of Directors, appealed the trial court’s denial of his motion to compel arbitration in a third-party lawsuit brought by USATF. The underlying dispute arose from Conley’s alleged communications and coordination with another board member during the 2024 Olympic marathon trials bidding process, which USATF claimed constituted a breach of Conley’s fiduciary duties after an ethics investigation affected its status as the national governing body for track and field. Conley argued that USATF’s bylaws required arbitration of any controversy involving its recognition as that governing body. The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s denial, holding that the bylaw applied only to controversies directly concerning USATF’s ongoing recognition as the national governing body, not to a claim of individual fiduciary breach whose resolution would have no effect on that status.
business & regulatoryprocedure