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The University of Evansville Extends Online Instruction for the Remainder of the Spring Semester

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In a press conference the University of Evansville announced its decision to extend online instruction and cancel all University events for the remainder of the spring semester. The decision was made public at a joint press conference with the City of Evansville, the University of Southern Indiana, Ivy Tech Community College, and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation.

“This is the right time to work together as a broader Evansville community and ensure we do our part to promote public health,” said University of Evansville President Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz. “We understand these are extraordinary times that require us to be extraordinarily vigilant to protect our campus and local community. We look forward to delivering the same level of personal attention that is the hallmark of the University of Evansville from our faculty members to our academic and support services. While the delivery will be different, this will be a time for UE to shine.”

The Trump Administration Drove Him Back to China, Where He Invented a Fast Coronavirus Test

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The Trump Administration Drove Him Back to China, Where He Invented a Fast Coronavirus Test

A federal crackdown on professors’ undisclosed outside activities is achieving what China has long struggled to do: spur Chinese scientists to return home. In this crisis, it’s costing the U.S. intellectual firepower.

by David Armstrong, Annie Waldman and Daniel Golden

SERIES: CORONAVIRUS

On the fourth floor of the University of Florida cancer research building, the once-bustling laboratory overseen by professor Weihong Tan is in disarray. White lab coats are strewn over workbenches. Storage drums and boxes, including some marked with biohazard warnings, are scattered across the floor. A pink note stuck to a machine that makes copies of DNA samples indicates the device is broken.

No one is here on this weekday afternoon in February. On a shelf, wedged next to instruction manuals and binders of lab records is a reminder of bygone glory: a group photo of Tan surrounded by more than two dozen smiling students and employees.

As the Florida lab sat vacantly, a different scene unfolded half a world away in China, where a team of 300 scientists and researchers worked furiously to develop a fast, easy test for COVID-19. The leader of that timely project? Tan, the former Florida researcher.

The 59-year-old Tan is a stark example of the intellectual firepower fleeing the U.S. as a result of a Trump administration crackdown on university researchers with ties to China. Tan abruptly left Florida in 2019 during an investigation into his alleged failure to fully disclose Chinese academic appointments and funding. He moved to Hunan University in south-central China, where he now conducts his vital research.

Tan, a chemistry professor whose research has focused on diagnosing and treating cancer, quickly pivoted to working on a coronavirus test when the outbreak began in China. Boosted by a Chinese government grant, he teamed up with researchers at two other universities in China and a biotechnology company to create a test that produces results in 40 minutes and can be performed in a doctor’s office or in non-medical settings like airport screening areas, according to a 13-page booklet detailing the test’s development and benefits. It has been tried successfully on more than 200 samples from hospitals and checkpoints, according to the booklet, which Tan shared with a former Florida colleague. It’s not clear how widely the test is being used in China.

Epidemiologists say that testing is vital to mitigate the spread of the virus. But the U.S. has lagged well behind China, South Korea, and Italy in the number of people tested. It’s hard to know if Tan’s test would have made a difference. The slow U.S. ramp-up has been blamed largely on bureaucratic barriers and a shortage of chemical agents needed for testing.

A star researcher funded by the National Institutes of Health, Tan taught for a quarter-century at Florida and raised two sons in Gainesville. He was also a participant in the Thousand Talents program, China’s aggressive effort to lure top scientists from U.S. universities, and had been working part-time at Hunan University for even longer than he had taught at Florida. Last year, alerted by NIH, Florida began investigating his outside activities.

Weihong Tan’s biography in a booklet about developing the COVID-19 test lists his Chinese affiliations and his professorship at the University of Florida. He shared the booklet with a former Florida colleague.

Tan declined to answer questions about his departure from Florida or his new test, but he provided documentation that his department chairman at Florida was “supportive” of his research in China as recently as 2015. He is one of three University of Florida researchers — along with others from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Louisville — who relocated to China while under investigation for allegedly hiding Chinese funding or affiliations with universities there.

Such nondisclosure may well be pervasive. A ProPublica analysis found more than 20 previously unreported examples of Thousand Talents professors who appear not to have fully revealed their moonlighting in China to their U.S. universities or NIH.

NIH has contacted 84 institutions regarding 180 scientists whom it suspects of hiding outside activities or funding, and it has referred 27 of them for a federal investigation, said Michael Lauer, the agency’s deputy director for extramural research. “There’s no reason why the U.S. government should be funding scientists who are engaged in unethical behavior. It doesn’t matter how brilliant they are,” said Lauer, who declined to discuss specific professors under scrutiny. “If they don’t have integrity, we can’t trust them for anything. How can we be sure that the data they’re producing is accurate?”

Yet the government’s investigations and prosecutions of scientists for nondisclosure — a violation previously handled within universities and often regarded as minor — may prove counterproductive. The exodus of Tan and his colleagues highlights a disturbing irony about the U.S. crackdown; it is unwittingly helping China achieve a long-frustrated goal of luring back top scientific talent.

Thousand Talents aimed to reverse China’s brain drain to the West by offering elite Chinese scientists premier salaries and lab facilities to return home permanently. Finding relatively few takers, it let participants like Tan keep their U.S. jobs and work in China on the side.

By investigating Tan and other Chinese researchers for nondisclosure, the U.S. government is accomplishing what Thousand Talents has struggled to do. None of the professors identified in this article have been charged with stealing or inappropriately sharing intellectual property. Yet in the name of safeguarding American science, federal agencies are driving out innovators, who will then make their discoveries and insights in China instead of the U.S. The potential drawbacks hark back to an episode in the McCarthy era when a brilliant rocket scientist at the California Institute of Technology was deported by the U.S. for supposed Communist sympathies and became the father of China’s missile program.

John Brown, the FBI’s assistant director of counterintelligence, told the U.S. Senate in November that participants in Thousand Talents and other Chinese talent programs “are often incentivized to transfer to China the research they conduct in the United States, as well as other proprietary information to which they can gain access, and remain a significant threat to the United States.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., disputed such characterizations. “The purpose of China’s ‘Thousand Talents Plan’ is to promote talent flow between China and other countries and to galvanize international cooperation in scientific and technological innovation,” Fang Hong said. While firmly opposing any “breach of scientific integrity or ethics … we also condemn the attempt to describe the behaviors of individual researchers” as “systematic” intellectual property theft by the Chinese government. “It is extremely irresponsible and ill-intentioned to link individual behaviors to China’s talent plan.”

Steven Pei, a University of Houston physics professor and former chair of the advocacy group United Chinese Americans, said that both countries have gone too far. “The Chinese government overreached and the American government overreacted,” Pei said. “China tried to recruit but it was unsuccessful. Now we help them do what they cannot do on their own.”

Pei added that U.S. universities are failing to protect their Chinese faculty: “When the pressure comes down, they throw the researchers under the bus.”

NIH has long viewed collaborations with China as a boon for biomedical research, even initiating a formal partnership with China’s National Natural Science Foundation in 2010. But it became concerned in 2016 when it learned from the FBI that an Asian faculty member at MD Anderson had shared federal grant proposals he was reviewing with researchers at other institutions — a violation of NIH rules.

Examining the grant applications of its federally funded researchers, NIH found many undisclosed foreign ties, particularly with research institutions in China. Some researchers were accepting dual appointments at Chinese universities and publishing results of U.S.-funded research under their foreign affiliation. Often, these foreign positions were not reported to the NIH or even the researchers’ own American universities.

In August 2018, the NIH launched an investigation to ensure that its researchers weren’t “double-dipping” by receiving foreign funds for NIH-funded work or diverting intellectual property produced by federally backed research to other countries. The NIH found at least 75 researchers with ties to foreign talent programs who were also responsible for reviewing grant proposals. In some cases, Lauer said, Thousand Talents scientists with access as peer reviewers to confidential grant applications have downloaded them and emailed them to China. Other researchers have disclosed consulting or teaching in China but haven’t acknowledged that they’ve signed an employment contract with a Chinese university or are heading a lab, he said. NIH gave the names of “individuals of possible concern” to the researchers’ institutions but did not make them public.

To gauge the extent of the problem, ProPublica matched Thousand Talents recipients identified on Chinese-language websites with their disclosures to their universities and grant applications to NIH, which we obtained through public records requests. We found at least 14 researchers who apparently did not disclose foreign affiliations to their U.S. universities, which included the University of Wisconsin, Stony Brook University and Louisiana State University. We couldn’t determine if these researchers were also on NIH’s confidential list.

Of 23 Thousand Talents recipients in our survey who have sought NIH funding, none reported conflicts of interest with Chinese universities to the agency. Just three revealed these positions in the bio sections of their grant applications. Because NIH redacted foreign funding from the applications it provided to us, citing personal privacy restrictions, we couldn’t tell if the researchers reported any grants from institutions in China.

It’s not always easy to define or prosecute theft of intellectual property in academia, especially if the research is considered basic and doesn’t require a security clearance. Unlike corporations that protect trade secrets, universities see science as an open, global enterprise and promote international collaborations. Practices such as photographing another research team’s specially designed lab equipment may be considered unethical by some, but they aren’t necessarily unlawful. Thus the U.S. government is trying to clamp down on suspected intellectual property theft by targeting nondisclosure.

Yet the link between hiding Thousand Talents affiliations and stealing research secrets may be tenuous. Universities bear some responsibility for the nondisclosure because they are supposed to certify the accuracy of information supplied to NIH. Until recently, many schools were lax in enforcing disclosure rules. “It’s fair to say, at some universities, they have not really been paying attention to how their faculty spend their time,” Lauer said. One professor was away for 150 days a year and the university didn’t notice, he said.

Non-Chinese scientists, including doctors paid by pharmaceutical companies, also underreported outside income. Nor did universities want to restrict partnerships with Chinese universities; in the prevailing culture of globalization, they encouraged foreign collaborations and sought to open branches in China to boost their international prestige and attract outstanding, full-tuition-paying students.

Now times have changed, and Chinese scientists at U.S. universities are trapped in the backwash. Even those who rejected overtures from China have been hounded. Xifeng Wu, an epidemiological researcher, worked at MD Anderson for nearly three decades and amassed an enormous dataset to help cancer researchers understand patient histories. She twice turned down invitations to join Thousand Talents. But she collaborated with and accepted honorary positions at research institutions in China, where she grew up and attended medical school. Although she said she earned no income from these posts, NIH identified her as a concern, and MD Anderson found that she did not always fully disclose her Chinese affiliations.

In early 2019, she left MD Anderson — one of at least four researchers who were pushed out of the center in the wake of the federal investigations. She has become dean of the School of Public Health, with a well-equipped laboratory, at Zhejiang University in southeast China.

Dong Liang, Wu’s husband and the chair of the pharmaceutical and environmental health sciences department at Texas Southern University, felt that MD Anderson buckled under pressure from NIH, which provided the institution with more than $145 million in federal grants in 2018.

“A few years back, they wanted the collaborations [with China],” said Liang. “And now, they take it back.” The disclosure rules, said Liang, weren’t clear, “and now it becomes a violation.”

Professors who were in the process of being fired could have exercised their rights to a hearing before a faculty panel as well as “several rounds of peer discussions,” but they instead left “on their own volition,” MD Anderson spokeswoman Brette Peyton said. “As the recipient of significant NIH funding,” MD Anderson had a responsibility to follow up on the agency’s concerns, or risk losing federal money, she said.

Baylor College of Medicine in Houston took a less punitive approach than MD Anderson. When NIH alerted the Baylor College of Medicine that at least four researchers there — all ethnically Chinese — erred in their disclosures, Baylor corrected the documents and allowed them to continue working.

China began sending students to the U.S. in the late 1970s in the hope that they would return with American know-how and foster China’s technological prowess. But, especially after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, many of the students stayed in the U.S. after earning their degrees.

The Chinese Government Has Been The Most Assertive Government In The World In Introducing Policies Targeted At Triggering A Reverse Brain Drain

A 2012 paper by David Zweig and Huiyao Wang

Established in 2008, Thousand Talents was intended to lure prominent scientists of Chinese ethnicity under age 55 back to China for at least half the year with generous salaries and research funds and facilities, as well as perks such as housing, medical care, jobs for spouses and schools for children. Some Thousand Talents employment contracts require members to sign nondisclosure agreements related to their research and employment with Chinese institutions, according to a November 2019 report by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

“The Chinese government has been the most assertive government in the world in introducing policies targeted at triggering a reverse brain drain,” David Zweig, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Huiyao Wang, director-general of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, wrote in 2012.

The program succeeded in attracting 7,000 foreign scientists and researchers as of 2017, the Senate subcommittee reported. But it had trouble enticing professors at elite U.S. universities, who were reluctant to uproot their families and leave their tenured sinecures. It created a second tier for recruits who were “essentially unwilling to return full-time,” Zweig and Wang wrote. They could keep their U.S. jobs and come to China for a month or two. Complaints arose in China about “fake returnees” who “work nominally in China for six months” but “in fact, most of them are still abroad,” according to a 2014 op-ed on the BBC News Chinese website.

Scandals marred the program’s reputation in the U.S. In 2014, Ohio State contacted the FBI about engineering professor Rongxing Li, who had fled to China. Li, a Thousand Talents member, allegedly had access to restricted NASA information. The U.S. attorney’s office did not bring charges against Li, who is teaching at Tongji University in Shanghai. Another Thousand Talents member, Kang Zhang, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of California, San Diego, resigned last year after reports that he failed to disclose being the primary shareholder of a Chinese company whose focus overlapped with his UC research. No charges were filed against Zhang, now a professor at Macau University of Science and Technology.

Struggling to attract top researchers, Thousand Talents also reached out to non-Chinese scientists, like Charles Lieber, the Harvard chemistry chairman charged in January with making false statements to the U.S. government by denying his involvement with Thousand Talents and with Wuhan University of Technology. His three-year Thousand Talents contract called for Wuhan to pay Lieber $50,000 a month plus more than $1.5 million for a research lab, according to the Department of Justice. Lieber has not yet entered a plea. His attorney, Peter Levitt, declined comment.

“In the last five years, there has been a definite deliberate move toward targeting non-ethnic Chinese,” said Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence. “They’ve been getting so many rejections from their own people who don’t want to go back home and have fallen in love with their Western culture and their life. Or their wife won’t go back. Or their kids won’t go back.

“The other thing that we’ve seen, which I think is very troubling, ‘Hey, you don’t have to come back home full time.’ In the intel community, we call that a RIP, recruitment in place.”

Staying in the U.S. meant that Thousand Talents recipients had to report their Chinese positions to their American universities. Some didn’t. Richard Hsung, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Wisconsin, affirmed annually on disclosure forms that he had “no reportable outside activities.” He acknowledged in an interview that, from 2010 to 2013, he was in Thousand Talents and worked part-time as a visiting professor at Tianjin University, which has 25,000 students and is 70 miles southeast of Beijing.

He said that he didn’t mention the Tianjin position because the disclosure forms confused him. He includes “National Thousand Talent Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tianjin University” among his honors on the faculty website. “I was not flaunting it, but I was not hiding it,” he said.

His stints in China helped the University of Wisconsin, he said. “When there’s an opportunity such as this one, you take it, it expands the visibility, it expands interacting with more students in training, and they come here to help us.”

Also unreported was Hsung’s relationship with a biotech company in Shanghai. Incorporate records, Shanghai Fangnan Biological Technology Co. says that it “was founded by the national ‘Thousand Talents Plan’ specially invited experts,” and it names Hsung as a director. Hsung said he was unaware of being listed as a board member and is asking the company to remove his name. He has consulted for the company “from time to time” but is compensated for expenses only, he said. “I have not been involved in any of their projects nor have they supported my research here,” he added in an email.

When There’s An Opportunity Such As This One, You Take. It Expands The Visibility, It Expands Interacting With More Students In Training, And They Come Here To Help Us.

Richard Hsung, Professor Of Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of Wisconsin spokeswoman Meredith McGlone said that Hsung should have reported his job at Tianjin on outside activities forms, as well as an “unexpected honorarium of less than $5,000” from the Shanghai biotech firm. He has since updated his disclosure form to reflect the honorarium, she said. While the university has no “uniform penalty” for nondisclosure, she said, the appropriate response in cases, like Hsung’s, where there is no “evidence of intent to mislead” would be “additional training and perhaps a letter to the personnel file.”

The university convened a working group last year to “consider policies and practices intended to bolster security without sacrificing the free exchange of ideas,” McGlone said. It then added a question to the disclosure form: “Do you have an ongoing relationship with a foreign research institute or foreign entity?”

Each year, the University of Florida’s chemistry department evaluates its 40 or so faculty members by criteria that include amounts raised for research funding and the number and impact of studies published. Weihong Tan, who joined the department in 1996, was usually ranked among the top three professors every year, said a department official who asked not to be identified.

Tan’s research group developed a new way of generating molecules that bind to targeted cells, as a possible approach to identifying and treating cancers. He collaborated with researchers in other departments and became close with top deans and research officials on campus. He was popular with students. Each week, dozens of graduate and postgraduate researchers lined up in the hall outside his office, waiting to meet with him. He also won prestigious chemistry awards and developed an international reputation.

Tan’s University of Florida lab, which was vacant and in disarray last month while his team worked furiously in China on the COVID-19 test. (David Armstrong/ProPublica)

While at Florida, Tan maintained a connection to Hunan University in China, where he studied as an undergraduate. His curriculum vitae states he was an adjunct professor at the school from 1993 through at least 2019, when he left Florida. The part-time teaching job is the CV’s only reference to any professional work in China.

In his annual disclosures to Florida, Tan did report positions and income in China, but not everything alleged by university investigators. In 2017, he said he was working 10 hours a week at Hunan for a salary of $30,000. In 2018, he said his hours had doubled to 20 a week, for $50,000. In 2019, he reported working a total of 20 hours a week for Hunan and the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Renji Hospital in Shanghai. His combined pay from the positions was $120,000, according to his form.

The association with Hunan began during a gap in Tan’s resume — between receiving a 1992 doctoral degree from the University of Michigan and starting postdoctoral work in 1994 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory.

In recent years, according to colleagues, Tan’s work in China intensified. He was making frequent trips there, sometimes traveling twice a month from Gainesville, one said. Tan told colleagues that his research in China complemented his Florida work and that it was easier to conduct testing on people in China than in the U.S. His research in Florida focused on basic science testing that didn’t involve patients.

Tan knew his increasing workload in China was putting a strain on his full-time position in the U.S. He told a colleague he was considering asking for a leave of absence from Florida. It’s unclear if he did request a leave.

In January 2019, the NIH notified Florida that Tan might have undisclosed affiliations with foreign institutions as well as foreign research funding. The university then launched its own inquiry. It provided investigator notes regarding Tan and two other researchers allegedly involved in Chinese talent programs to a special state legislative committee reviewing foreign influence on publicly funded research. Those notes do not name the faculty members under investigation, instead referring to them by numbers such as “faculty 1.” The details for faculty 1 — including date of hire, area of research, department and Chinese affiliations — match those of Tan.

Faculty members two and three appear to be Lin Yang, an NIH-funded professor of biomedical engineering, and Chen Ling, an up-and-coming pediatric cancer researcher.

Florida hired Yang from the University of Kentucky in 2014 as part of a “Preeminence Initiative” to boost its ranking among public universities. Yang traveled to Beijing for a Thousand Talent interview in 2016, according to the university’s investigative notes. The following year, he was selected for the program at a Chinese university.

The Effect Of This is Universities Are Bleeding Good People

Peg O’Connor, attorney for Lin Yang, ex-Florida professor of biomedical engineering

Yang resigned his Florida position last year after the university began looking into his alleged failure to disclose his association with China’s Thousand Talents program. University investigators also allege that he hid being chief executive, founder, and owner of an unidentified China-based company.

In an email, Yang said he disputes many of Florida’s findings. He said he applied for a talent program but then turned it down. He said he never had any foreign grants or academic appointments in China while employed by Florida. Yang’s attorney, Peg O’Connor, said the University of Florida began a push in 2010 to encourage overseas collaborations. “To be punished for doing what the university called on you to do doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “The effect of this is universities are bleeding good people.”

Ling, a part-time research associate professor, won multiple grants to study gene therapy techniques that target the most common pediatric liver cancer. “Early in a very promising career, Ling is already making great strides in the development of innovative therapies for cancer,” the chairman of the medical school’s pediatrics department said in a 2012 press release.

Ling left Florida last year. The university investigative notes that appear to refer to Lin allege that he failed to inform NIH that he was participating in a Chinese government-sponsored talent program and that he received an unreported research grant from a Chinese foundation.

However, Ling did report working at Fudan University in Shanghai to the University of Florida officials in 2018. His disclosure, which can be viewed at ProPublica’s Dollars for Profs site, shows that Fudan paid him $53,732 for activities that included “establishing a regular molecular biological laboratory, conducting gene therapy research, teaching curriculum, publishing manuscripts.” He indicated that the activity would require eight months of work each year. It’s unclear if Florida officials relayed this information to NIH.

Ling, who did not respond to emails seeking comment, is continuing his research as a professor at Fudan. A former Florida colleague described him as “very smart” but somewhat naive in dealing with conflict of interest issues. “I don’t think he did anything with malicious intent,” said the colleague. “He paid a heavy price for this.”

Mengsheng Qiu, a neurobiologist at the University of Louisville, not only disclosed a part-time position in China to his department, but he even accepted a pay cut at Louisville to offset his foreign income. Nevertheless, NIH targeted him.

Qiu, 56, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in China and his doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1992. After spending five years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, he joined the Louisville faculty in 1997 and was tenured in 2001.

Qiu has received several NIH grants over the past two decades. Fred Roisen, the department’s former chair, described Qiu as an excellent and dedicated researcher. “He had a very active lab that published extensively,” Roisen said. “His students were highly sought after for postdocs at all the best schools in the U.S. Some were Chinese and some were not. I could only give him the highest recommendation. His lab, if I went in Saturday and Sunday, there were always people working there.”

Qiu joined the Thousand Talents program in 2009, taking a part-time job at Hangzhou Normal University, which announced that it had hired him as its first scholar “under a high-level creative talents program” that aimed to “attract elites from all walks of life at home and abroad.” Someone at Hangzhou sent the announcement to Louisville administrators, who did not know that Qiu was seeking a position in China and were taken aback, according to a friend of Qiu’s. The friend said that Qiu had not informed Louisville because terms of the Hangzhou job were still being negotiated.

I Just Knew He Had Access To A Lab In China. I Never Had A Negative Thought Connected With Him Whatsoever

Fred Roisen, former department chair, University of Louisville

Louisville and Qiu then agreed to reduce his salary to compensate for his time in China. “We negotiated a pay cut that was proportional to the time he was away,” Roisen said. “If he was taking two months off, that was two months’ pay you don’t get.”

Roisen said he didn’t know about Qiu’s participation in the Thousand Talents program. “I just knew he had access to a lab in China. I never had a negative thought connected with him whatsoever.” By working in China, Qiu “was trying to get additional help for projects,” Roisen said. “Some issues were not readily available in the U.S.” The current chair, William Guido, declined comment.

His wife, Ling Qiu, said that each time Qiu visited China, he received the university’s approval. “They wanted him to report everything,” she said. “He said, ’I did.’ Every time I go to China, I tell you.”

“He is a good citizen,” she said. “He does not even use a coupon if it is expired.” Thousand Talents paid for his travel to China and his work there, she said, but it wasn’t big money. “I wish,” she said. She added in an email, “He did not do anything wrong but I don’t know the details about his research activity.”

In recent years, a Louisville colleague said, Qiu had a “lag” in federal funding, and NIH turned down one of his grant applications. “I suspect, and we all felt, that this might have been due to him putting a lot of emphasis on his Chinese involvement in those laboratories and less here,” the colleague said.

The colleague added that at Qiu’s most recent career review, “We did think it was interesting he managed to publish 17 papers in the previous five years, some in prestigious journals, with such a small laboratory. I think some of it was done in China. That might be why they’re looking into it.”

People close to Qiu said that the probe has been going on at least since the summer of 2019, and that he met for half a day on campus with investigators. University of Louisville spokesman John Karman III declined comment, citing “an ongoing investigation involving this former faculty member.” Also citing the investigation, Louisville declined to provide any outside activity forms that Qiu submitted to the university

FOOTNOTE: ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.  This article was co-published with The Chronicle of Higher Education

Coronavirus Update: Southern District Closes Evansville Courthouse To Public

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Coronavirus Update: Southern District Closes Evansville Courthouse To Public

| IL Staff

The latest: Updated 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has ordered the closure of the Evansville federal courthouse to the public starting at 5 p.m. CDT Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, the court ordered the closures of the courthouses in Indianapolis, Terre Haute and New Albany due to the ongoing risk posed by the coronavirus. The latest order, signed by Southern Indiana District Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, is meant to protect the general public, court personnel and the administration of justice.

Anyone who does not have access to the court’s electronic filing system should mail all filings to the Southern Indiana District Court and Southern Indiana Bankruptcy Court.

In her earlier order issued Wednesday, Magnus-Stinson said because of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the courts had to be closed to protect the public, court personnel and the administration of justice.

The federal courthouses in Indianapolis, Terre Haute and New Albany were closed at noon.

However, the order stated the court will continue to conduct all necessary hearings and other proceedings as deemed proper. Necessary witnesses will be allowed to participate upon notice from counsel.

Court interpreters are still being admitted and may continue to enter court locations for scheduled proceedings. Also, in a press release, the court said the U.S. Probation Office will continue to monitor and enforce court-ordered conditions of release throughout the Southern Indiana District.

The court said it continues to work closely with the United States Marshals Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Indiana Federal Community Defenders Inc. and other agencies to ensure criminal defendants are detained or released as appropriate in each case, and that federal warrants are served as ordered by the court.

Like its Southern District sister, the Indiana Northern District Court noted in an order that it is not possible to summon a pool of potential jurors and conduct a jury trial without exposing potential jurors, counsel and others to COVID-19.

The Northern District thus ordered that all plea colloquies and sentencing hearings in criminal proceedings scheduled to begin before May 1 be continued. Those hearings will be rescheduled to a date after May 1, with case-by-case exceptions from the assigned district or magistrate judge.

Grand juries will continue to meet during the week of March 16, but grand juries thereafter will be continued until the week beginning April 13.

“To the extent criminal proceedings may be conducted via phone or videoconference, in-person proceedings will be converted to telephonic or videoconference proceedings by the assigned District or Magistrate Judge after consultation with counsel,” the order says.

Delays in criminal trials and other criminal matters caused by the continuances implemented by the order will be excluded under the Speedy Trial Act pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A).

Additionally, all in-person civil court proceedings will be converted to telephonic or videoconference proceedings. Case-by-case exceptions to conduct nonjury, in-person proceedings will also be at the discretion of the assigned district or magistrate judge after consultation with counsel.

Meanwhile, the Lafayette District Court Clerk’s Office has closed. Those seeking assistance can call 219-852-6500 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST Monday through Friday.

In Allen County, all nonessential criminal hearings will be canceled during through April 13.

“The most solemn duty we have in the courts is to serve the public, whether by delivering justice or by taking the steps we are announcing today,” Allen Superior Chief Judge Andrea R. Trevino, also the administrative judge of the Family Relations Division, said in a Wednesday news release announcing an emergency operations plan. “The most prudent thing we can do right now to protect and serve is to dramatically reduce the number of people required to come to the courthouse.”

The Indiana Supreme Court granted the northeastern Indiana county’s petition for emergency flexibility in response to COVID-19. But, the courts noted, “(n)o Allen County court functions will cease entirely for the time being.”

In the Allen County Criminal Division, bench trials will remain an option for defendants who request them.

Sentencings and guilty pleas will continue as scheduled. But for any in-person criminal court proceedings except sentencings, courtrooms will be limited to litigants, attorneys, staff and media.

Initial hearings, omnibus, trial settings and bond hearings will all occur via video. Fort Wayne City Court hearings will not be held this week.

Criminal Division services, including in-house classes and support groups, are suspended for two to three weeks. Additionally, social distancing procedures are in place for group client intake appointments.

For lower-risk clients who are in full compliance with the terms of supervision, case management appointments will be conducted via telephone until further notice.

In the Allen County Civil Division, no jury trials are currently scheduled before mid-May. For trials set for after mid-May, judges will enter orders on the use of juries in individual cases. No jury trials will be held while the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Small claims participants and attorneys may arrange for remote appearances via phone. Mortgage foreclosure hearings have already been moved to telephonic appearances. Further questions regarding small claims cases can be directed to smallclaims@allensuperiorcourt.us.

Similarly, litigants in civil cases scheduled in the courthouse may arrange for telephonic appearances. The court is issuing orders regarding appearances and procedures in each case.

Eviction proceedings are temporarily stayed and will be rescheduled. The court will hold a weekly review to determine when to lift the stay.

Tenants in pending eviction cases must keep their landlords and the court updated with their current address, phone number and email address and should continue paying rent during the stay. However, landlords do not waive their right to request an eviction by accepting a payment.

If a tenant voluntarily vacates a residence, he or she must notify the landlord and the court and must return the keys.

Civil mediation may be conducted via telephone or video conference as directed by the assigned mediator.

Additionally, probate and guardianship hearings will move to remote appearances when possible. High-risk populations are often involved in these proceedings, the courts said, so reducing the number of participants at the courthouse is important. Strict social distancing will be implemented for in-person court appearances.

The Courthouse Annex is open to accept petitions for protection orders, which can also be electronically filed. Protection order trials are being reviewed and rescheduled to reduce the number of people at the annex at the same time. Cases involving people living in the same residence and those involving parental contact with children will be made a priority.

In all civil buildings, social distancing measures will be enacted and enforced.

For the Allen County Family Division, nonessential hearings are continued until further notice. That includes periodic reviews, permanency hearings, requests for travel, and children in need of services and termination of parental rights fact-findings, as well as all other hearings not directly related to the safety and protection of children.

Essential hearings – removal of children from parents, guardians or custodians; requests for placement in a more restrictive environment; protection orders; preliminary inquiries; hearings on medical procedures; Family Recovery Court; and others required by the court – will proceed as the court schedule permits and in accordance with statutory deadlines.

Finally, in the Allen County Juvenile Center, nonessential hearings in Family/IV-D Court are continued for a minimum of 30 days. Pleadings alleging emergency circumstances will be reviewed and scheduled accordingly.

Proceedings such as case management and pretrial conferences that can be conducted telephonically will be held as scheduled. Additionally, warrant cases involving adults at the Allen County Jail will be conducted via video as scheduled. Protection order cases will also be scheduled as normal, with hearings held within 30 days.

For probation/juvenile proceedings, many nonessential proceedings will be delayed for at least 30 days. Essential hearings will proceed as scheduled, with social distancing measures enacted and enforced for court check-ins and waiting areas.

At the Juvenile Detention Center, family visitations and volunteers will not be permitted until further notice. Attorneys will be permitted to visit juvenile detainees, but they must follow sanitation and social distancing guidelines.

“Our website and the orders we will issue in specific cases will be the best, most up-to-date information regarding procedure as we move forward in these unprecedented times. The public should be assured that our actions are taken with a grave sense of responsibility to the rule of law, and in keeping with the best interests of the health of our citizenry,” Allen Superior Criminal Administrative Judge Frances C. Gull and Civil Administrative Judge Craig J. Bobay said in a statement.

Per the emergency order, the Allen County courts must provide a status update to the Indiana Supreme Court on April 10. The courts will determine then if a continuation of emergency operations is necessary.

For further details on Circuit Court operational changes, represented litigants should contact their attorneys and pro se litigants should contact the court.

For continuing updates on the status of court operations, visit www.allensuperiorcourt.us/covid19.

Also over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, the LSAT has been canceled for March and the April test date is in question.

The Law School Admission Council sent a letter this week to all those who had registered to take the March exam, notifying them of the decision to cancel. To ease the impact, all the March registrants in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been automatically registered for the April 25 exam.

However, the LSAC pointed out that since the severity and duration of COVID-19 are unknown, the plans for administering the test in the April and June could change. The council told registrants that it would make a decision on next month’s test no later than April 10.

“Cancelling the March test is a difficult step, but we believe it is the most responsible course of action to protect test takers, test center personnel, and the broader community,” the LSAC wrote in its letter to March registrants.

The LSAC also said it is “aggressively exploring” alternative ways to administer the LSAT. To protect the health of test-takers and administrators, the council is exploring secure remote-proctored tests and an additional spring/summer administration, among other options.

Also, the LSAC is working with law schools that are still accepting applications for the fall 2020 enrollment to push the deadlines for candidates. The council said it is confident “that our admission community will continue to respond to this extraordinary crisis with compassion and agility.”

Previously …

Courts

Indiana Supreme Court: The state’s high court announced Monday afternoon that attendance at upcoming oral arguments will be limited to attorneys and parties in the case. It also issued an order advising Indiana trial courts statewide to implement all relevant and necessary portions of their continuity of operations plan in conjunction with county emergency and public health authorities.

The judicial branch stated Monday afternoon that it is “prioritizing the health and well-being of its employees and the community while ensuring that essential court operations continue,” with Chief Justice Loretta Rush monitoring the situation with guidance from the Indiana State Department of Health.

“The Indiana Supreme Court will continue to hold oral arguments (subject to change), review cases, and accept filings — while taking proper measures to reduce exposure of COVID-19,” Rush said in a statement. “We also know our trial court judges across the state are focused on ensuring essential court functions continue while being mindful of the safety of their communities. The Judicial Branch has avenues in place to ensure court operations at all levels continue.”

Attendance at Supreme Court oral arguments will now be limited to the attorneys and parties in the case, but the public is encouraged to watch the arguments live, online. The Supreme Court Law Library in the Statehouse is closed to the public.

In its order advising trial courts statewide, the Indiana Supreme Court ordered Monday that courts implement “all relevant and necessary portions of its continuity of operations plan in conjunction with county emergency and public health authorities.”

The order comes after Gov. Eric Holcomb declared a public health emergency earlier this month related to COVID-19 and President Donald Trump declared a national emergency relating to the virus.

“Appropriate public health responses to the COVID-19 outbreak will likely require limiting trial court operations and inhibit litigants’ and courts’ ability to comply with statutory deadlines and rules of procedure applicable in courts of this state,” Rush wrote in the Monday order. 

Trial courts are now directed to utilize Indiana Office of Court Services assistance to prepare appropriate emergency local plans to protect the health of court personnel, court users and the public through enhanced social distancing, the order says.

Additionally, trial courts should consider whether local needs warrant petitioning for emergency measures under Indiana Administrative Rule 17, including:

  • Tolling for a limited time all laws, rules, and procedures setting time limits for speedy trials in criminal and juvenile proceedings, public health, mental health, and appellate matters; all judgments, support and other orders; and in all other civil and criminal matters before all Indiana trial courts
  • Suspending and/or rescheduling criminal and civil jury trials for a limited time, subject in criminal cases to the constitutional right to a speedy trial and the constitutional protection against double jeopardy
  • Suspending new juror orientations, extending existing jury panels and/or postponing jury service to a later date for jurors who are ill, caring for someone who is ill or in a high-risk category
  • Continuing and/or rescheduling non-essential hearings, excluding emergency matters, domestic violence hearings and evidentiary hearings in criminal cases
  • Using telephonic or video technology in lieu of in-person appearances, unless a litigant’s due process rights would be violated
  • Flexibility allowing judges to exercise general jurisdiction over cases in each other’s courts
  • Issuing summonses in lieu of bench warrants or notices of failure to appear
  • Considering the existence of flu or flu-like symptoms in any attorney, self-represented litigant or witness expected to testify; exposure of such individuals to anyone who has or may have COVID-19; or status of such individuals in a high-risk category as constituting “good cause” to either appear remotely or continue a court setting, to the extent possible without violating statutory or constitutional rights.
  • Allowing any attorney wishing to appear remotely for any status conference or non-evidentiary hearing without further leave of court upon filing a “Notice of Remote Appearance” in the court in which the matter will be heard
  • Subject to applicable constitutional limitations, limiting spectators in courtrooms to the extent necessary to provide adequate social distancing
  • For trial court clerks, making drop boxes available for conventionally filed documents.
  • Posting signage at all public entry points to judicial facilities advising individuals not to enter the building if they have been exposed to or have tested positive for the virus, if they are exhibiting symptoms including fever, cough, and shortness of breath, if they have traveled domestically to areas with widespread community transmission, or if they have visited or come into contact with a person who has visited China, Iran, South Korea, Europe or any high-risk country in the last 14 days
  • Allowing individuals with legitimate court business to stay home and request a continuance by phone to the county clerk if they are ill, caring for someone who is ill or in a high-risk category
  • Providing sanitation materials such as hand sanitizer or bleach wipes at all courtroom entrances and counsel tables

If an at-risk person attempts to enter a court office in violation of the protocols, the order says courts should consider permitting bailiffs and other security personnel to deny entrance.

The Office of Judicial Administration has already put in place social distancing and telework options for its employees, the high court reiterated. All levels of the courts have e-filing and other technology in place that enables social distancing measures.

“AR 17 provides the framework for trial courts to put operational changes in place in the face of an emergency. Chief Justice Rush has already signed orders allowing for adjustments to jury trials, hearings, and other business practices as requested by counties. The Supreme Court is prioritizing review of any AR 17 petitions filed,” the high court announced.

Additionally, a website with guidance to courts and messages to staff is providing details on the judiciary’s response to COVID-19.

The Indiana Supreme Court and Clerk’s Office remain open, with appropriate adjustments in place to protect the health and well-being of employees and the community. The high court further advises that Hoosiers contact their local courts for details on the status of visitors to buildings and to check individual cases on mycase.in.gov.

Southern District: Indiana Southern District Court Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson in an order Friday continued all trials until at least May 1.

“It is not possible to summon a pool of potential jurors and conduct a jury trial in a manner that does not expose potential jurors, counsel, court staff and litigants to substantial and unacceptable health risks, specifically, the danger of becoming infected with COVID-19,” the order states.

The Southern District Court noted such risks may be significantly mitigated by temporarily modifying court operations and that good cause exists to implement temporary changes.

The order also says that unless otherwise ordered by the assigned district or magistrate judge, all other criminal court proceedings will proceed as scheduled. Conversion of in-person proceedings to telephonic or videoconference proceedings will be at the discretion of the assigned district or magistrate judge in criminal proceedings. The same is true for all other civil court proceedings, which will proceed as scheduled unless otherwise ordered by the assigned district or magistrate judge.

Additionally, all naturalization ceremonies have been canceled.

Northern District: Individuals preparing to become citizens of the United States  in the Indiana Northern District Court will have to wait after it too canceled several naturalization ceremonies through April 24, 2020.

7th Circuit: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing plans to deal with the outbreak and are advising judges and staff to stay home if they become ill. It has not made any changes to its operations, according to the appellate court. However, it is monitoring the outbreak and said it will take whatever steps are necessary as the situation evolves.

Indiana Trial Courts: In a pair of letters sent March 11 to Indiana judicial officers and Indiana Supreme Court staff, the Indiana Supreme Court outlined its updated measures in response to the outbreak. The letters stated that the Supreme Court, Appellate Clerk’s Office and the Office of Judicial Administration remain open and oral arguments are continuing as scheduled.

However, the Spring Judicial College, Justice Services Conference and district meetings will not be conducted in-person. The court is developing alternative methods for delivering the programming to registrants and will provide information on that when it is available.

Also, all meetings with external stakeholders will be held remotely. All out-of-state work travel for court staff is cancelled, and approval for all in-state work travel will be given on a case-by-case basis.

The court has amended its work-from-home policy to give employees greater flexibility if they need to quarantine themselves or take care of children who are staying home because of school closures. Employees are not required to work from home. They can use any benefit time they have.

In his letter to court staff, Justin Forkner, chief administrative officer, wrote “… your health and wellbeing are a priority for us, and we will continue to take responsible and proactive steps to mitigate risks to you — and maintain the essential operations of the Court and our agencies — even if that means ‘the way we’ve always done it’ need to change.”

The court has created a special webpage where it will post all updates on court operations during the coronavirus outbreak.

Indiana Court of Appeals: The Indiana Court of Appeals cancelled its planned appearance at Andrean High School in Merrillville. As part of its Appeals on Wheels initiative, the court was scheduled to hear oral arguments Monday but has scrapped the event over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. The event will be rescheduled.

Also, the COA has directed its employees to work remotely at least through March 16 after learning some of its workers have had second- and third-degree exposure to others who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We would like to emphasize that nobody from the court has tested positive or is currently exhibiting symptoms,” Chief Judge Cale Bradford said in a statement. “Given the importance of our work, our employees are equipped and trained to work remotely. … We will continue to evaluate this situation as it unfolds.”

Bradford also advised, “Those doing work with the Court of Appeals of Indiana should conduct business under the regular rules and procedures.”

Marion Circuit and Superior Courts: On Monday, Marion County Small Claims Courts announced they will now continue many pending cases through the beginning of April as measures are taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett applauded the move Monday in response to Marion County Circuit Court Judge Sheryl Lynch’s order.

The order issued Friday continues small claims cases scheduled March 16 through April 3. Emergency hearings will continue as scheduled and the Marion County Small Claims Court will remain open to the public.

Additionally, the order says Lynch is working with the City of Indianapolis and the Marion Superior Court Executive Committee to determine future action during the Marion County COVID-19 health emergency.

“With some of the highest eviction rates in the country, and limited tools available to us under state law, the leadership shown by these judges should be applauded,” Hogsett said in a statement. “At a time in which many are grappling with the sudden closure of workplaces and schools, the ripple effects of public health policies will hit our most vulnerable neighbors the hardest.”

As Indianapolis “confronts an unprecedented public health emergency that has required drastic steps to slow the spread of this virus,” Hogsett said his office would “continue to seek ways to alleviate the impact these policies will have on Indianapolis families.”

Only essential and emergency hearings will be held during this time, including initial hearings for public defendants, bond review, initial hearings for children in need of services cases and continued initial hearings, time sensitive CHINS fact-finding hearings, juvenile delinquency initial hearings and in-custody trials, civil commitments, probate mental health hearings, limited guardianships, detention hearings for CHINS and juvenile delinquencies, and other emergency hearings at the judge’s discretion.

Marion Circuit and Superior Courts will be operating under reduced staffing and will also reduce the number of hearing rooms available. Any essential and emergency major felony cases will be held in Criminal Court 21. Any essential and emergency Level 6 or misdemeanor cases will be heard in Criminal Court 8.

Likewise, any essential and emergency probate matters will be heard in the probate court’s physical location. Directions of precise hearing rooms will be posted for any essential and emergency matters heard at the juvenile court location at 25th Street and Keystone Avenue in the main building.

All traffic court cases will be continued. All ordinance violation and proceedings supplemental cases have been postponed for at least 30 days; those litigants should check mycase.in.gov for more information.

Individuals called for jury duty between March 16 and April 3 are advised not to report for service. Likewise, people scheduled to come to court for a hearing in a criminal matter during that time are advised to check mycase.in.gov or contact their attorney to verify the court date.

The Marion Circuit and Superior Courts also  will continue to review bonds, but all other hearings and trials will be rescheduled.

A series of recommendations and two orders issued by the executive committee March 12 were joined by Marion Circuit Judge Sheryl Lynch. The committee described the steps as precautionary measures to ensure the health and safety of the public and the staff who work for the city of Indianapolis and Marion County.

In addition to the continuances, the executive committee was also “strongly requesting” March 12 that for the next 30 days, judges consider the following steps:

  • Advise line deputies to not bring defendants to court for pretrial conferences that will only result in the setting of a new court date
  • Allow parties to appear remotely
  • Continue pretrial conference and non-essential hearing that will not result in a resolution of a case
  • Exercise flexibility on requests for continuances
  • Allow attorneys-only conferences whenever possible without the requirement of a motion

Also, the executive committee requested that the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department issues summonses for non-violent misdemeanor cases. These will be set for the initial hearing calendar for Wednesdays in May.

The committee emphasized that this request only applies to potential misdemeanor arrests that would normally be released on recognizance pending a future initial hearing date. No police officer is obligated to follow this request.

Additionally, the executive committee ordered that through April 20, any attorney wishing to appear remotely for any status conference, pretrial conference or non-evidentiary hearing is permitted to do so. The attorney shall file a simple “Notice of Remote Appearance” to inform the court.

Also, the executive committee ordered that people coming to Marion Superior courtrooms immediately notify the staff if they are experiencing flu or flu-like symptoms or if they have been exposed to someone who has or may have the coronavirus.

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is encouraging its employees to telework in response to the local emergence of the COVID-19 virus.

“The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will maintain services to Marion County residents through this unprecedented situation,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement. “We are encouraging employees to work from home as much as possible as the health and safety of our employees and members of the public is of the utmost importance.”

The prosecutor’s office says it has the capability to perform many of its duties and meet its responsibilities by phone, email and video conferencing.

Individuals with pending criminal matters are advised to reference www.mycase.in.gov to verify upcoming court hearings. Litigants can also contact via email or phone the assigned deputy prosecutor to verify scheduled case-related meetings, depositions and court hearings.

General questions or requests for assistance in contacting the appropriate deputy prosecutor should be directed to mcpo@indy.gov. Walk-in assistance at all locations will not be available until further notice.

Additionally, all child support hearings will be continued until after May 6, as approved by the Marion Circuit Court. However, child support services will still be available by phone at 317-327-1800 or email at familyadvocate@indy.gov.

Marion County Juvenile Detention Facility: Unnecessary and non-essential public traffic at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Facility will also be suspended beginning March 16 for approved family members and volunteers. The youth will receive extra phone time. Additionally, youth who are ordered detained will be visually evaluated before being brought into the detention center.

Marion County Probation: Indianapolis courts said they will suspend client in-person reporting requirements through April 6. Instead, the activities will be conducted over the phone and on the computer.

Monday morning, Allen Superior Court announced jury trials scheduled for Tuesday in the Allen Circuit and Superior Courts have been canceled. That change comes just days after the Allen County courts initially announced that all scheduled jury trials would continue as scheduled for the foreseeable future.

Prospective jurors who have been summoned for jury duty were advised in a Friday announcement to contact the jury office at 260-449-7520 or 260-449-7022 if they are ill, in isolation or believe they have been exposed to COVID-19. The Allen Circuit and Superior Courts also advised that whenever possible, measures would be taken to separate jurors waiting to be called in order to maintain recommended “social distancing” buffers.

Additionally, all mortgage foreclosure hearings will be conducted remotely and by telephone until further notice.

“Processes are being put into place to reduce to the greatest extent possible the need for in-person appearances in Small Claims Court cases, collections and other matters. Additional details will be posted here next week,” the announcement says.

Any changes that occur will be posted on the court website and to the Allen Superior Court Twitter page.

St. Joseph Circuit Court, St. Joseph Superior Court and St. Joseph Probate Court will take “extraordinary measures” in the coming weeks to continue providing access to justice.

The SJC courts said they will work with the St. Joseph County sheriff to address the wellness needs of the St. Joseph County jail population.

“If it becomes necessary to do so, the judicial officers will assess sentences being served at the Jail, as well as pre-trial release decisions, in order to try to strike a proper balance between community safety and community wellness,” a statement from the northern Indiana courts said. “Similarly, the judicial officers of the St. Joseph Probate Court will assess the population of the Juvenile Justice Center to make sure that safety and wellness needs of the community are properly met.”

Court proceedings will be conducted “to the extent doing so is prudent.” All civil jury trials will be postponed, as well as criminal jury trials, provided that such postponements are consistent with the rights of the parties and the interests of justice.

Requests for continuances of trials and hearings will be considered in light of the outbreak, according to the statement. The court is also encouraging attendance at hearings by telephone and video conferencing, including but not limited to all hearings involving defendants in criminal cases, whenever possible and when consistent with the rights of the parties and the interests of justice.

Attorneys will be allowed to participate in pretrial conferences by telephone without filing a motion, and the court will take reasonable steps to limit the number of people attending hearings and trials to individuals essential to the proceedings being conducted, subject to the requirements of all applicable rules.

Additionally, special consideration will be given to excusing prospective jurors from service if the health and well-being of such jurors likely would be adversely affected by jury service.

The SJC courts said they will “support and encourage compliance with mandatory preventative measures like quarantines and isolations, protect potentially vulnerable staff, and be prepared for situations such as school closings that could impact court staff.”

Judges of the SJC courts will remain in regular communication through the outbreak with a variety of departments, including the St. Joseph County clerk, Board of Commissioners, Board of Health, bar association, prosecutor, chief public defender and county sheriff.

Lake Circuit Court issued two orders March 10 in response to the outbreak.

From now until April 10, 2020, the court will allow attorneys to just file a “Notice of Remote Appearance” rather than filing a motion in order to appear telephonically for any status conference or non-evidentiary hearing. Also, the court has ordered anyone who comes to the Lake Circuit courtrooms who is ill or has been exposed to COVID-19 to immediately alert the court staff.

The United States Supreme Court has shut its doors to the public until further notice out of concern for the health and safety of the public and Supreme Court employees.

The Supreme Court building closed to the general public at 4:30 p.m. Thursday but will remain open for official business, according to a statement on the high court’s website. Case filing deadlines are not extended under Rule 30.1.

All public lectures and visitor programs are temporarily suspended, the Supreme Court announced.

Law schools

Indiana University has postponed its May graduation ceremony for its law students due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Dean Andrew Klein sent an email to faculty, staff and students yesterday with the announcement that the May 15 commencement will not be held. Also, classes are transitioning online for the remainder of the semester once students return from spring break March 29, and all in-person events at the Indianapolis law school have been canceled at least through the end of May.

All staff at the law school are being asked to work remotely if possible. They should remain reachable during business hours.

Klein told the “McKinney Law family” to “be patient, calm and flexible on all fronts. I remain confident that we will handle the challenges ahead and come out strong on the other side.”

Also, Indiana University announced March 10 that it would be suspending all in-person classes on all campuses from March 23 to April 5. For those two weeks following the university’s spring break, classes and coursework will continue online.

The suspension includes both IU Maurer and Robert H. McKinney schools of law. They join a growing list of law schools, including Harvard, Stanford University, Columbia University, The Ohio State University, New York University and University of California Berkley, that have cancelled in-person classes or closed completely, according to the ABA Journal.

The University of Notre Dame, including Notre Dame Law School, announced March 11 it would be canceling classes through March 20, and then begin online instruction March 23 through at least April 13.

Valparaiso University announced it will be conducting all classes online starting Monday and plans to resume in-person classes April 13. Also, the university is limiting on-campus gatherings to no more than 100 people but is still planning to hold the law school commemoration April 24.

The American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar issued a memo in February giving guidance to law schools for dealing with emergencies or disasters. As to moving classes online, the ABA advised that law schools must consider not only whether the course is appropriate for being taught via the internet but also whether faculty members have the experience and training and the school has the technological capacity to deliver distance education.

“Simply moving a classroom-based course to a video conference call or to a school’s learning management system that supports other courses may be relatively easy, but … may not be an appropriate accommodation compared to, for example, adding extra days to the term when a regular schedule can be resumed,” the memo stated.

Law firms

Taft Stettinius and Hollister LLP said Friday that in the event of an office closure, its infrastructure is set up to allow lawyers and staff to work remotely. Taft chairman and managing partner Robert Hicks advised that communications with Taft will continue on as normal.

“We have protocols in place to ensure the security of confidential documents and emails,” Hicks said in a statement.

Taft has assembled a COVID-19 Task Force comprised of attorneys across its practices “to provide ongoing guidance during this uncharted and fluid situation.” Likewise, a toolkit provides legal updates, information from health care authorities and other helpful resources.

“Our attorneys and staff are also armed with resources to help them stay safe while continuing to meet client needs and exceed expectations,” according to the statement.

Ice Miller LLP also released a statement saying it is “open for business and expect(s) to remain so.

“We are implementing precautions and a business continuity plan that will allow us to maintain the uninterrupted high level of service and value you expect from us,” the statement reads. The firm’s preventative measures include migrating to phone or video conferences, limiting entrance into physical locations to essential meetings, implementing social distancing and working remotely in shifts, among other measures.

Like Taft, Ice Miller has developed a coronavirus task force and resource center “willing to jump in and answer the tough questions around this evolving situation and its impact on your business.”

Likewise, Frost Brown Todd has assembled a Coronavirus Response Team and a trending topics page to address client questions relating to such issues as supply chain issues, remote work/cybersecurity and pandemic planning, among others.

Also, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath has asked its attorneys and staff to work remotely until at least March 31.

The law firm said Tuesday that while it may be virtual, it is not “sitting still.” Despite the cautionary closure of its offices March 10, the firm “remained open for business with over 2,700 attorneys, consultants, professionals, operations and administrative staff around the globe working from the firm’s virtual network.”

“Our attorneys, consultants and professionals are just a phone call or email away, and we are embracing other technologies to stay connected in a virtual world,” co-chairs Thomas Froehle Jr. and Andrew Kassner wrote in a statement.

The firm has, however, canceled its 2020 M&A Conference in Indianapolis, according to public relations coordinator Muhamed Sulejmanagic.

A Faegre Drinker COVID-19 task force was created to help clients fully understand and assess the legal, regulatory and commercial implications of COVID-19.

All EVPL Locations Will Close Will Remain Closed Until Further Notices

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Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library will remain closed until further notice. This comes under the guidance of health experts and following procedures set by the Indiana State Department of Health and Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb.
All due dates will once again be extended and we encourage library users to keep their borrowed materials while we are closed. EVPL is fines free so library users will not have overdue fines.
Again, all EVPL programs, outreach services, Passport Services, and meeting room reservations have been suspended.
EVPL staff are working to bring library experiences to our community in a different capacity. Additional details will be released on our website and social media.
EVPL services can still be accessed through our digital portals. More digital resources are being added to our collection. There are thousands of eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies, TV shows, music, and more, available 24/7.

For more information on how to reduce your risk of exposure to Coronavirus (COVID-19), please visit the Indiana State Department of Health.

EVPL will continue to navigate these circumstances with everyone’s safety in mind, making decisions informed by the latest science-based information and our Library Policies.

Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library has served our community for more than a century. With eight locations throughout Vanderburgh County, immediate access to hundreds of thousands of digital resources, and a dedicated team of library professionals, EVPL strives to create opportunities for you to discover, explore, and connect with your library. For more information, visit evpl.org.

USI cancels spring athletics seasons​​​​​​​

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University of Southern Indiana Athletics has canceled the remainder of the spring athletic schedules, effective today (March 19). Included with the spring season cancellation are all games/events, practices, and public appearances by USI coaches and student athletes in an effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

USI Athletics programs affected by this decision are baseball, softball, men’s/women’s golf, men’s/women’s tennis, and men’s/women’s track & field. Athletics programs in their non-traditional seasons also have canceled all practices and scrimmages.

For more information on USI Athletics, contact USI Director of Athletics Jon Mark Hall through the USI Athletics Communications at 812-465-1622 or by email (rsimmons@usi.edu). Updated information about the University’s response to COVID-19 can be found at usi.edu/COVID-19.

Indiana Law Schools Decline In US News 2021 Rankings

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Indiana Law Schools Decline In US News 2021 Rankings

 Marilyn Odendahl
INDIANA LAWYER
The annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best law schools in the country brought disappointing results for Indiana as all three law schools still being ranked fell in their positions.
Indiana University’s two law schools posted the biggest declines in the 2021 U.S. News rankings while Notre Dame Law School slipped but was still within the range of where it has been consistently ranked for the previous few years.
The tumble was led by Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, which took a nosedive to the 122nd place in the 2021 rankings, down from the 108th position in the 2020 rankings. The Indianapolis institution also fell among part-time programs to the 40th slot from the 30th.
Indiana University Maurer School of Law dropped to the 38th slot from the 34th position in last year’s tally of full-time programs. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was ranked 22nd, a dip from 21st place the year prior. 
Yale University, Stanford University, and Harvard University occupied the top three slots, respectively.

Valparaiso Law School is no longer included in the survey since it is no longer accepting students and has announced plans to close in the summer of 2020. 

Andrew Klein, dean of IU McKinney, said he was disappointed in his law school’s ranking but does not believe the number accurately reflects the quality of programming provided by the Indianapolis institution. He said he is unsure why IU McKinney fell in the rankings, noting the school’s reputational score given by academic peers and members of the legal community is unchanged from last year and the median LSAT score has ticked up by a point.

“Clearly the number doesn’t reflect what we are doing,” Klein said. “We’re proud of our program and we’re proud of providing the most lawyers in Indiana.”

IU Maurer declined to comment. Notre Dame did not respond to a request for comment by IL deadline.

U.S. News ranks the 194 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association based on a weighted average of 12 measures. These measures include assessment scores by peers in academia as well as judges and lawyers, median LSAT and GRE scores, median undergraduate GPA and bar passage, as well as job placement. The data for the 2021 rankings were collected in the fall of 2019 and early 2020.

Both IU McKinney and IU Maurer have been declining in recent rankings. From 2018 to the 2019 listings, IU McKinney slumped from the 88th place to 98th while IU Maurer slipped from 30th to 32nd.

Notre Dame also declined from the 20th position to the 24th. 

The 2021 Rankings Also Included Specialty A programs. Programs and rankings by Hoosier law schools are as follows:

  • 56th IU Maurer and Notre Dame

Clinical Training

  • 44th Notre Dame
  • 82nd IU Maurer
  • 86th IU McKinney

Environmental Law

  • 31st IU Maurer
  • 55th Notre Dame
  • 85th IU McKinney

Health Care Law

  • 15th IU McKinney
  • 40th IU Maurer
  • 102nd Notre Dame

Intellectual Property Law

  • 21st IU Maurer
  • 25th Notre Dame
  • 85th IU McKinney

International Law

  • 28th IU Maurer and Notre Dame
  • 83rd IU McKinney

Legal Writing

  • 24th IU McKinney
  • 51st IU Maurer
  • 76th Notre Dame

Trial Advocacy

  • 25th Notre Dame
  • 78th IU Maurer
  • 121st IU McKinney

Tax Law

  • 20th IU Maurer
  • 45th Notre Dame
  • 98th IU McKinney

Business – Corporation Law

  • 23rd IU Maurer
  • 37th Notre Dame
  • 95th IU McKinney

Contracts – Commercial Law

  • 23rd IU Maurer
  • 34th Notre Dame
  • 81st IU McKinney

Criminal Law

  • 43rd IU Maurer and Notre Dame
  • 111th IU McKinney

Constitutional Law

  • 18th Notre Dame
  • 44th IU Maurer
  • 83rd IU McKinney

Frontier League Preseason Tryout At Bosse Field Postponed

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The Evansville Otters and Joliet Slammers have announced that the Frontier League preseason tryout scheduled for Saturday March 21 at Bosse Field has been postponed due to concerns with the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The tryout will be pushed back to Sunday April 19.

Registration for the original March 21 date will be valid for the April 19 date.

Further registration is closed for the tryouts, and attendance will be limited to registered players and essential staff only to comply in accordance with CDC guidelines.

Tryouts start at 9 a.m. Position players can check in from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and pitchers can check in from 11:30 a.m. to noon (all times CT).

At this time, the preseason tryout in Allentown, Pa. is still on as scheduled for Saturday April 4 starting at 9 a.m. from ECTB Stadium at Bicentennial Park. Position players can check in from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and pitchers can check in from 11:30 a.m. to noon (all times ET).

The event gives each player a chance to showcase their talent in front of Frontier League managers and coaches. The Joliet Slammers and Evansville Otters will be represented at both tryout dates.

If any players registered for the Evansville tryout would like to move their registration to the Allentown tryout, or if there are any questions, contact Andy McCauley via email at andymac22@aol.com.

The Frontier League is a professional, independent baseball organization located in the Midwestern and Northeastern United States. It operates mostly in cities that are not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either. The league formed in 1993 and is the oldest active independent league.

To be eligible to play in the Frontier League, you must be at least 18 years old.

The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.

The Otters play all home games at historic Bosse Field, located at 23 Don Mattingly Way in Evansville, Ind. Stay up-to-date with the Evansville Otters by visiting evansvilleotters.com, or follow the Otters on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

Second COVID-19 Death Confirmed As Administration Faces Criticism From Democratic Governor Candidate

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Second COVID-19 Death Confirmed As Administration Faces Criticism From Democratic Governor Candidate

March 17, 2020, |  Posted by

By Erica Irish 
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—State officials confirmed the second patient death related to the coronavirus Tuesday in Johnson County, one day after government and healthcare leaders imposed drastic restrictions in the effort to contain the widening pandemic.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced the first death in Marion County Monday as he imposed new restrictions on bars, restaurants, and nightclubs to place a temporary ban on in-person service, restricting businesses in the food industry to carry out and delivery orders only. He also called on the state to abide by a recommendation by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to limit gatherings to 50 people or less.

Gov. Eric Holcomb with Community Hospital’s Dr. Ram Yeleti announces the first coronavirus death in Indiana on Monday. Photo by Janet Williams

In addition, Holcomb issued an executive order that includes the restrictions on public gatherings through the end of March, delays non-essential meetings, allows members to participate electronically if the meetings are essential, and activates the Indiana National Guard to be on duty as needed.

His Democratic opponent in the 2020 gubernatorial election, former Indiana State Health Commissioner Woody Myers, held a press conference by telephone Tuesday to outline his “Coronavirus Control Plan,” a response that calls for the immediate closure of all schools, a $100 million appropriation for emergency funding and to convene a special session of the Indiana General Assembly.

The coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has sickened 30 people so far in Indiana, according to the latest reports by the state health department. But many more residents are expected to have contracted the virus, and Myers said this is due in large part to what he said is a lack of testing statewide.

“I absolutely believe we have made a serious mistake by not emphasizing testing earlier and getting the tests done quicker,” Myers said. “We need testing more than any single other items because without testing you don’t know where your patients are, you don’t know where your clusters are, you don’t know where to focus your resources.”

Indiana State Health Commissioner Kris Box told Hoosiers in the Monday press conference those experiencing mild or moderate symptoms should not seek out tests and should instead self-quarantine. Box said this is necessary to prevent further spread of the disease and to ensure resources in hospitals can go to those at high risk of experiencing complications from the disease, such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Myers, however, said healthcare professionals can prioritize access for high-risk populations while still ensuring more Hoosiers are tested.

“They should go to the front of the line, but that shouldn’t mean everyone else doesn’t get the opportunity,” Myers said.

Myers’ said Indiana’s private business leaders should also be prepared to face additional closures to curb the spread of the virus. He recommended the Indiana General Assembly allocate $100 million in additional relief for those affected by temporary closures and to revise state laws on price gouging. He also reiterated the need for a public-private partnership, the Indiana Coronavirus Leadership Group, to facilitate further conversations among government officials, healthcare providers, and private organizations.

Representatives for the Indiana Restaurant & Lodging Association responded soon after Holcomb announced a suspension of dining room service Monday. While industry representatives said they support the governor’s decision, they encourage Indiana residents to consider alternatives to eating out that could still support businesses through the inevitable economic challenge, such as buying gift cards and offering generous tips for takeout and delivery orders.

“We are continuing a very positive dialogue with the governor and his team as we discuss the immediate issues facing our industry and the 14% of Hoosiers that are employed directly in the restaurant and lodging industry in Indiana,,” said Patrick Tamm, president and CEO of the INRLA. “Our team members are experiencing an immediate impact to their lives and are very vulnerable at this time.”

House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, wrote a letter to the governor to focus on issues to increase eligibility for unemployment insurance for those affected by the outbreak, require employers to offer up to four weeks of paid leave, waive co-pays for those using the Healthy Indiana Plan, enhance protections for renters to prevent evictions and protect homeowners from foreclosures.

Nationwide, every state except West Virginia has reported cases of COVID-19. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control reports that there are more than 4,200 cases across the country and 75 people have died.

FOOTNOTE: Erica Irish is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. 

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Undetected Cases May Be Driving Coronavirus Spread, Study Finds

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Undetected Cases May Be Driving Coronavirus Spread, Study Finds

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter

(FOOTNOTE: Thanks to former Evansville City Councilman and retired Heart Surgeon Dr.Dan H, Adams for sending the City-County Observer the following article)

TUESDAY, March 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) — You’re a little feverish, but you feel good enough to get your shopping done and a quick workout at the gym.

If you do, you could become part of the exponential spread of the coronavirus, a new study concludes.

About 86% of COVID-19 cases in China were milder and went undetected during the two-week ramp-up of the epidemic in January, prior to the country imposing travel restrictions, researchers conclude in the March 16 issue of Science.

These undocumented cases of infection were “about half as infectious per person as a documented case who has more severe symptoms and may be shedding more,” said senior researcher Jeffrey Shaman. He’s a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, in New York City.

However, “because there are many more of these undocumented cases, it’s the undocumented infections that are driving the spread and growth of the outbreak,” Shaman said.

The continued and widening lockdown of the United States is therefore the right move to limit the COVID-19 epidemic as much as possible, the researchers said.

On Monday, President Donald Trump announced during a media briefing that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now advises all Americans to avoid all gatherings of more than 10 people, avoid eating and drinking at restaurants, bars, and food courts, and avoid discretionary travel for 15 days.

Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said during the briefing that the latest step was taken because new modeling shows that a significant amount of the coronavirus’ spread is fueled by “silent transmission.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was blunt about the coming weeks. “The worst is yet ahead for us,” he said during the briefing. “It’s how we respond to that challenge that will determine what the ultimate endpoint is going to be.”

Across the country, many shops, schools, restaurants, bars, and gyms have already closed in an effort to promote social distancing and keep people from infecting each other with coronavirus.

Another much-touted policy aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19 — travel bans — is not nearly as effective, a second study published recently in Science found.

Travel bans implemented inside China only delayed the spread of the epidemic by three to five days, while international bans halted the spread of coronavirus by about a few weeks, said senior researcher Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, in Boston.

“Travel restrictions alone do not really do much but delay the spread of the disease,” said study co-author Elizabeth Halloran, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health, in Seattle. “Delaying is good because it slows things down, but the idea is that transmissibility really is key.”

Reducing transmissibility includes detecting and isolating infected people, social distancing, school closures, increased hygiene, and overall improved awareness of the virus, Halloran said.

“Reduced travel and transmissibility does produce a synergistic effect, but it’s the transmissibility that’s more important,” she concluded.

Trump has floated the idea of restricting domestic travel to California and Washington, but the two studies show this would be little more than a delaying tactic, experts said.

“The epidemic now is already seeded in the United States,” Vespignani said. “We see ongoing local transmission in many states, and probably it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Closing travel might delay the progression of the epidemic in some places and provide some time for preparation.”

In the first study, Shaman and his colleagues created a computer model that tracked observations of reported infection and spread within China, as well as human movement within the country as revealed by mobile phone data.

The research team suspected that mild cases of COVID-19 were likely behind the ferocious spread of the virus in China, given human nature.

“If somebody is experiencing mild symptoms, and I think most of us can relate to this, we’re still going to go about our day,” Shaman said. “We’ll still send the kids to school. We’ll still go to work. If we have a little bit of a headache or slight fever, we might take some ibuprofen and still go out shopping and whatnot. It’s that sort of continued contact with people that allows the silent transmission of many respiratory viruses.”

To make sure the model was accurate, the researchers tested it by shutting off the infectiousness of undocumented COVID-19 cases, Shaman said — essentially assuming that no people with mild symptoms could infect others.

QUESTION

Bowel regularity means a bowel movement every day. See Answer

“When we do that, we see nearly an 80% reduction in the number of documented confirmed cases,” Shaman said. “These people are the major driver of it. They’re the ones who facilitated the spread. The undocumented infections which tend to be milder are distributing the virus broadly.”

For the other study, Vespignani and his colleagues used computer modeling to compare travel between transportation hubs with the onward march of the novel coronavirus both inside China and to other countries.

Vespignani’s team found that travel bans within a country are of limited use, but that international travel bans did have a substantial effect in slowing the virus’ spread to other nations. Case importations were reduced by nearly 80% until mid-February when the dam broke and the virus started reaching epidemic levels in other countries.

But the model also concluded that even with 90% travel reductions into and out of China, the number of imported cases in other countries still went up significantly in a matter of weeks. The only thing that halted that spread was a 50% or greater reduction of person-to-person transmission worldwide.

Hill Again Urges Dismissal Of Groping-Related Attorney Dismissal Case

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Hill Again Urges Dismissal Of Groping-Related Attorney Discipline Case

| Olivia Covington

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is continuing his fight to have his lawyer discipline case dismissed, writing in a brief to the Indiana Supreme Court that if he must be sanctioned, it should be no more than a reprimand. Hill is also drawing on the recent discipline of three Indiana judges involved in a downtown Indianapolis shooting to argue that the recommended discipline against him is unfair.

Hill on Monday filed for Supreme Court review of former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Myra Selby’s recommendation that he serve a 60-day suspension without automatic reinstatement for committing misdemeanor battery against four women: Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon and current and former legislative staffers Gabrielle McLemore Brock, Niki DaSilva and Samantha Lozano.

Selby filed her hearing officer’s report Feb. 14, roughly four months after presiding over a four-day evidentiary hearing in the case of In the Matter of Curtis T. Hill, Jr., 19S-DI-156. The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission had sought a two-year suspension without automatic reinstatement.

Hill’s brief seeking the justices’ review tracks with the arguments he has been making since the disciplinary case was opened in March 2019. He did not violate Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct 8.4(b) and (d), he argues, because he did not commit battery, his conduct was not related to the practice of law and he did not prejudice the administration of justice.

At this point in the proceedings, Hill argued the commission did not prove the violations, and Selby did not make findings and conclusions to support them.

“The context in which the alleged conduct occurred is important,” Donald Lundberg, Hill’s counsel and the former head of the Disciplinary Commission, wrote. That context was the March 2018 sine die party where the four women say Hill drunkenly groped them. “It was not in a courtroom. It was not in a courthouse. It was not in a law office. No judge was present.”

Hill argued the commission failed to prove, and Selby failed to find his act of “touching” the four women was done in a knowingly rude, insolent or angry manner, a key element of a battery claim. “It is insufficient that a third person believes the touching is rude, insolent, or angry,” he wrote.

The 63-page brief devotes significant attention to the fact that special prosecutor Daniel Sigler declined to bring criminal charges against Hill.

Hill conceded a criminal conviction is not required to find a violation of Rule 8.4(b). But, he continued, no “other lawyer discipline cases support a conclusion that on the facts of this case, where the conduct was disconnected from the practice of law, has the Commission pursued Rule 8.4(b) violations in disregard of the considered decisions of a duly authorized prosecutor.”

What’s more, under a Rule 8.4(b) analysis, Hill and Lundberg argued that Hill’s role as a “law enforcement lawyer” should not be considered. They relied on Matter of Oliver, 943 N.E.2d 1237 (Ind. 1986), where a part-time special prosecutor got into an accident while driving while intoxicated.

“In its discussion … the Court gave no consideration to the fact that the respondent was a law enforcement lawyer,” the brief says. “Instead, it looked to the nature of the criminal conduct (operating a vehicle while intoxicated) and held that the respondent’s act of driving while intoxicated was not a violation … .”

That no-violation finding in Oliver came about because the prosecutor’s criminal conduct did not relate to his fitness to practice law, Hill argued. “Here,” he continued, “the Hearing Officer did not make any finding that the conduct at issue displayed a lack of honesty or trustworthiness, and it is not supported by the record that the Respondent’s conduct at the sine die party was dishonest or lacked trustworthiness,” thus defeating a Rule 8.4(b) violation.

Further, in a footnote, Hill says the Indiana Supreme Court “has never held in any case that the Attorney General … is akin to a prosecutor for purposes of the Oliver doctrine.”

On the issue of Rule 8.4(d), conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, Hill said there is only one way his conduct could be a violation: “because, like a prosecutor, it fosters disrespect for the criminal law when a law enforcement lawyer violates the criminal law.

“We discussed above why the Respondent’s conduct did not satisfy the elements of the crime of battery and why the Commission failed to prove that he knowingly or intentionally touched any of the four women in a rude, insolent, or angry manner. For that reason, the Respondent did not violate Rule 8.4(d).”

On the issue of sanction, Hill pointed to the American Bar Association’s Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions. Under those standards, he said, the worst he should receive is a public or private reprimand. He said the mitigators in his case outweigh aggravators, including the mitigator of remorse.

“The Respondent is genuinely remorseful,” Lundberg wrote. “The Respondent apologized on June 29, 2018, when he had a telephone conversation with Speaker (Brian) Bosma and Sen. (David) Long.  He reiterated his apology during testimony.

“He has defended himself in this case, but has done so because he has legitimate, good faith defenses, and because the Taft Report was purposely leaked and flawed by all accounts,” he continued, referencing the confidential memo that was leaked to the media and brought the allegations to light. “It is not inconsistent with remorse that the Respondent has vigorously defended himself in this case.”

Another mitigator, Hill said, is the fact that the three southern Indiana judges who were involved in a May 2019 shooting in Indianapolis — Clark County judges Andrew Adams and Bradley Jacobs and Crawford County Judge Sabrina Bell — received 30-60-day suspensions with automatic reinstatement. Adams was convicted of a misdemeanor as a result of the violent altercation at a downtown White Castle restaurant. “The Respondent’s alleged conduct pales in comparison to the behavior of the White Castle judges in the early morning hours of May 1, 2019. At the sine die party, no one was injured, let alone almost killed. There was no gunplay. No one was brawling on the barroom floor. No one was arrested. No one was criminally charged. No one was convicted.”

Hill’s brief also challenges evidentiary rulings made by Selby throughout the disciplinary proceedings. He urges the justices to dismiss his case entirely.

In its own brief on sanctions, the Disciplinary Commission says Selby made findings that were “detailed, complete, and well-supported by the evidence.” The commission supported the recommendation that Hill serves a suspension without automatic reinstatement, though it advocated that he be suspended for longer than 60 days.

“There has not only been a lack of expression of remorse by Respondent, but his actions of retaliation and continuous false denials also prove Respondent’s scorn for those who dare come forward to complain about his conduct,” the commission wrote Monday. “The Supreme Court has determined that a lack of remorse warrants a lengthy suspension without automatic reinstatement, even for what is otherwise minor misconduct (which in no way is the case here).”

The commission had originally alleged that Hill also violated Admission and Discipline Rule 22 by committing “offensive personality,” but Selby disagreed. She also did not find that Hill committed sexual battery against DaSilva, specifically.

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