There are a lot of mediocre people in this country, and mediocrity should be represented on the Supreme Court.
"[A]n insured is not 'performing' a life insurance contract by not committing suicide." Dean Officer v. Chase Ins., Case No. 07-2826 (7th Cir. 9/3/08) (Judge Tinder), slip op. at 12. [...] 
Here's the question presented from the order granting cert. in Edwards:For an eye-opener, go have a listen to yesterday's oral argument in Bassett v. State. (RealPlayer required).
Maybe I've drunk too much defense Kool Aid, but I was fairly shocked to see the Indiana Attorney General's Office argue with a straight face that it's just fine for a [...]
If you read the Indiana Law Blog--and who doesn't?-- then you probably saw this item about an oral argument in the Indiana Supreme Court about Blakely and belated appeals. Well, the argument did happen last week. And although I did not make it into the attorney list [...]
Where an eligible defendant convicted after a [...]
There has been a spate of belated appeals cases in the published and unpublished decisions over the last few weeks. Eight published decisions by my count since July 25th.
One came down yesterday with an interesting practice pointer in it for those who labor in the land of Indiana's [...]
The flood of NFP decisions now available for public viewing has provided some very interesting stuff. There are many cases that when I look at them, I wonder why they are NFP. But in this post, I want to take on a case that is definitely small potatoes and deservedly [...]
Wow. I don't want to turn this into the Burton blog, but there's so much to read and say. To give credit to the blog chain: Sentencing Law & Policy led me to Crime & Consequences. From there I landed at the Burton brief collection here, [...]
It's a [...]
During a divorce proceeding, a child's guardian agreed to a financial obligation with respect to the child. After that party later [...]
Keith Combs v. State (Ind. Ct. App. August 4, 2006), out today, offers an interesting Blakely wrinkle. Over a dissent by Judge Vaidik, Judges Mathias and Robb conclude that appellate review of sentences under Appellate Rule 7(B) is subject to Blakely. I think Judge Vaidik has the better [...]
Surely one meaning of "wrong" when speaking of appellate decisions has to be that a decision is contrary to controlling precedent. (And I still don't know how the Missouri Supreme Court had the chutzpah to buck the U.S. Supreme Court in Roper. And who'd have thought that SCOTUS would affirm?!!?)
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