Indiana

Client Faces Sentence of Up to 50 Years for Kidnapping Indiana Lawyer

A client who kidnapped his lawyer at knifepoint before dumping him in a nature preserve could be sentenced today to up to 50 years in prison. The lawyer, Thomas Hamer, suffered only minor injuries in the July incident, according to the Anderson, Ind., Herald Bulletin. The client, Richard Hudson, pleaded…

Feb 2, 2009 1:39 PM CST

Latest Layoffs: Skadden Staff Attorneys & 65 Akin Gump Staff, Among Others

The ax reportedly has fallen on attorneys and staff at four more well-known law firms, in addition to three that made layoffs news last week. According to Above the Law, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom gave pink slips on Friday to a significant number of its staff attorney workforce,…

Jan 20, 2009 10:17 PM CST

Missing Pilot is Arrested at a Fla. Campground

A pilot who apparently tried to fake his death by parachuting from his plane before it crashed has been arrested at a Florida campground. Marcus Schrenker, an Indiana investment adviser, was arrested in Quincy in the northern part of the state, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service told the…

Jan 14, 2009 11:51 AM CST

Did Indiana Lawyer’s Help With Son’s Plea Cross Ethical Line?

An Indiana prosecutor is facing attorney disciplinary charges for helping his son negotiate a plea in a drunken-driving case. Madison County Prosecutor Thomas Broderick Jr. contends that he was acting as his son’s father, not his lawyer, both when he wrote to a Florida prosecutor in 2001 concerning a misdemeanor…

Jan 8, 2009 1:56 AM CST

Crime Stoppers Launches Inmate TV to Generate Tips on Felonies

A Crime Stoppers group in Central Indiana is beginning to broadcast short segments aimed at closing unsolved cases. Inmates who view the broadcasts and pass on tips that lead to successful prosecutions can designate a beneficiary to collect $1,000. The segments, which include a photo or sketch and possibly surveillance…

Dec 24, 2008 5:10 PM CST

Frost Brown Expands to Indiana With Locke Reynolds Merger

Louisville, Ky-based Frost Brown and Indianapolis firm Locke Reynolds have announced they will merge, creating a 450-lawyer firm with offices in five states. The merger is to be effective Jan. 5, according to reports in the Indianapolis Business Journal and Louisville Journal-Courier. Locke Reynolds, which has 79 lawyers, will lose…

Dec 4, 2008 8:34 PM CST

Defendant’s Bench Trial Gamble Pays Off

Because of the “gruesome” nature of the evidence in the murder case against him, Indianapolis murder suspect Jerone Bussey opted to rest his fate in the hands of a single individual. Bussey waived his right to a jury trial and instead let Marion Superior Court Judge Patricia Gifford decide whether…

Dec 3, 2008 8:28 PM CST

‘Otis the Town Drunk’ Racks Up 71 Arrests

There are habitual offenders. And then there’s Douglas E. Smith, a northwest Indiana man who has the infamous distinction of being the most arrested person ever in Porter County. His latest arrest last week was for public intoxication, resisting arrest and intimidation, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports. The 49-year-old…

Dec 2, 2008 4:51 PM CST

Moonlighting Prosecutor Must Repay $18K, Faces Investigation

A prosecutor in Muncie, Ind., who moonlighted as a lawyer for a drug task force and was apparently paid attorney fees in drug cases involving confidential civil forfeiture agreements, must repay $18,395 in legal fees, a Delaware Circuit Court judge has ruled. Plus, prosecutor Mark McKinney also faces possible criminal…

Nov 13, 2008 9:11 PM CST

Truck Carrying Judge Crashes into Law Office of Opposition Lawyer

A pickup carrying an Indiana judge and six of his supporters crashed into the law office of a lawyer who represented his election opponent. Judge Abe Navarro of Clark County said the Sunday evening crash was a “freakish” accident, the News and Tribune reports. “It was surreal in a bad…

Nov 4, 2008 4:46 PM CST

2 Baker & Daniels Partners Leave for Athletics Director Posts

If you ever had a dream of becoming your alma mater’s athletics director, making partner at your law firm could be good job training. At least that’s what two former partners at the sports-savvy Indianapolis-based Baker & Daniels have discovered. In July, John “Jack” Swarbrick, a former Baker partner, became…

Nov 3, 2008 5:38 PM CST

Ind. Judge Accused of Slashing Sentence in Exchange for $100K Donation

A senior judge in Indiana’s LaPorte County is facing an ethics charge that claims he slashed a defendant’s drug sentence in exchange for a $100,000 donation to court programs. Judge Walter Chapala is accused of suspending 18 years of a defendant’s 20-year cocaine sentence after the convicted man’s father donated…

Oct 30, 2008 5:36 PM CDT

Indy Sheriff’s $3M Lock Reynolds Contract Under Microscope

Since 2003, Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson has spent more than $3 million in legal fees with law firm Lock Reynolds. Five three-year contracts signed by Anderson last year could produce another $1.5 million for the firm, significantly more than outside counsel for neighboring counties and similarly-sized Midwestern cities, the…

Oct 27, 2008 11:12 PM CDT

Lawyer Arrested for Bringing Gun to Use as Courtroom Prop

An Indianapolis lawyer is taking his lumps after his arrest last week for bringing an unloaded, but nevertheless real gun to use in a trial demonstration. “I should have got a squirt gun or a wooden gun,” Loren Jay Comstock told the Indianapolis Star. “It was a dumb thing, not…

Oct 20, 2008 5:05 PM CDT

Lawsuits, Disciplinary Complaints Over Indiana Defendant’s Delayed Release

An Indiana judge is facing potential discipline after court commissioner under his supervision delayed the release of a convicted rapist apparently cleared by DNA evidence. Although former Master Commissioner Nancy Broyles held a hearing in March 2005 to consider DNA evidence in the case of Harold David Buntin, it wasn’t…

Oct 9, 2008 5:31 PM CDT