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UE men pick up big road win at Valparaiso

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Excellent effort gives Aces the road triumph

VALPARAISO, Ind. – Ryan Taylor and Dru Smith each had stellar nights to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team to a 75-65 win over Valparaiso on Wednesday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center in the team’s first meetings as Missouri Valley Conference members.

“This was a good win for us, everybody contributed,” Aces head coach Marty Simmons said.  “We got into some foul trouble in the first half and the guys off the bench did a great job.  Valpo made a run in the second half, but we showed some great poise to get the win.  I am very proud of our guys.”

Dru Smith and Ryan Taylor combined to score 45 points in the win for UE (13-9, 3-6 MVC).  Smith led all scorers with 23 points as he hit 12 out of 13 free throws.  Taylor went 8-of-19 from the field on his way to 22 points playing just 20 minutes from his hometown.  Blake Simmons finished with 8 points.  As a team, the Aces hit 29 out of 31 free throws.

Leading the Crusaders (11-11, 2-7 MVC) was Bakari Evelyn with 17 points while Tevonn Walker and Mileek McMillan had 14 and 12, respectively.

A pair of triples saw Valparaiso take a 6-2 lead in the opening minutes.  Neither team could get it going early on as each squad hit two of its first seven attempts.  Evansville knotted the game at 8-8 on a Ryan Taylor jumper six minutes in before the Crusaders had their best run of the half.

Valparaiso scored the next five as Tevonn Walker hit a three and Markus Golder had a dunk.  Their run turned into a 10-2 stretch to take an 18-10 lead midway through the stanza.

From that point on, Evansville got its offense cranking, finished the final 10 minutes of the first half on a 28-12 run.  The pivotal stretch came with VU up 21-17.  The Aces rallied to score 13 in a row to open up a 30-21 lead.  Four in a row by Dru Smith tied the score at 21-21 before John Hall gave UE its first lead of the day at 23-21 with a pair of free throws.

An and-one from Smith kept the run going as Noah Frederking and Blake Simmons also hit buckets with just over three minutes remaining.  The lead grew to as many as 10 points before the Crusaders closed the gap to 38-30 at the break.  Following the slow start, UE finished the half hitting 11 of its final 20 attempts from the field.

Taylor opened the latter period with a basket as UE extended its lead back to 10.  The lead remained at three possessions eight minutes into the half at 49-42 when the Crusaders roared back.  A 5-0 run that included a Walker trey got them within a pair at 49-47.  That is when Taylor took matters into his own hands.  After hitting a layup to push the lead to four, he made three out of four free throws on a Valpo technical foul as the lead was extended back up to nine points.

With under six minutes left in the contest, Taylor’s 20th point of the night also gave UE its largest lead at 61-50.  Evansville held a 67-57 lead entering the final minute before Max Joseph connected on a three-pointer to make it a 7-point UE lead.  Smith countered with a pair of free throws to put the game on ice as the Aces finished with a 75-65 win.

Evansville outrebounded the Crusaders by a 42-34 margin.  UE shot 39.3% on the night with the Crusaders finishing at 36.8%.

A special day is on tap Saturday when the Purple Aces host Drake in a 1 p.m. game.  It will mark the retirement of eight jerseys (Arad McCutchan, Jim Crews, Hugh Ahlering, Brad Leaf, Marty Simmons, Scott Shreffler, Andy Elkins and Marcus Wilson).  The first 3,000 people at the game will receive a replica banner commemorating the jerseys being retired.

 

EPD ACTIVITY REPORT

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EPD REPORT

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Records

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http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/recent-booking-records.aspx

“READERS FORUM” FOR JANUARY 25, 2018

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WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

We hope that today’s “Readers Forum” will provoke “…honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?”
Todays “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that the chances of 8th District Congressman Larry Bucshon being re-elected to another term are very good?

 

Please take time and read our articles entitled “STATEHOUSE Files, CHANNEL 44 NEWS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, READERS POLL, BIRTHDAYS, HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS”.  You now are able to subscribe to get the CCO daily.

 If you would like to advertise on the CCO please contact us City-County Observer@live.com.
EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City-County Observer or our advertisers.

7th Circuit: Suit Against Evansville, Kentucky Police May Proceed

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Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com

A federal complaint alleging coercion, constitutional violations, and falsification at the hands of Evansville and Kentucky police officers investigating a murder will continue after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals determined qualified immunity was not appropriate for certain claims against the officers.

In June 2012, Marcus Golike’s body was found on the banks of the Ohio River, and an autopsy determined he had died from strangulation. Evansville police detectives began questioning Golike’s foster nephew, William, who was with Golike the night before he died.

A subsequent conversation with Golike’s brother revealed he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had threatened to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge over the Ohio River. But Kentucky and Evansville police officers requested that William come in for a police interview, during which he gave a consistent account of what had happened the night before Golike’s death — that the two had played chess, and Godlike then left.

The officers accused William of being a liar, so he “confessed” that he and his sisters, Deadra and Andrea, were responsible for Golike’s death by punching and choking him to death, dumping his body in the river and using his debit card after the murder.

Deadra also “confessed” after undergoing a similar interrogation, and all three, including Andrea, were arrested based on those confessions. But according to a Wednesday 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, the confessions were replete with evidence that could have been proven as inaccurate, and the siblings seemed to be guessing at answers to the officers’ questions until the officers seemed satisfied. Similarly, a summary report omitted a critical detail — a clerk at the store where the teens claimed to have used the debit card said she did not recall the teens coming into the store that night.

Andrea was eventually released, the charges against Deadra were dropped, and William was not found guilty of any of the charges against him.  The siblings then filed a federal complaint alleging constitutional and state-law violations at the hands of the state medical examiner, and Kentucky and Evansville police officers. The Indiana Southern District Court granted authorities summary judgment on all but four of those claims: the siblings’ Fourth Amendment claims against the officers who questioned them; their failure to intervene claims against the Evansville and Kentucky State police departments; Deadra and Williams’ malicious prosecution claims against EPD; and Deadra and William’s due process claims against the interrogating officers.

In a Wednesday opinion, 7th Circuit Chief Judge Diane Wood, taking the facts of the case in the light most favorable to the Hurts, agreed with the district court that there were material factual disputes precluding immunity on the false arrest claims and undermining even arguable probable cause to arrest them.  Similarly, because a trier of fact could reasonably determine the Evansville police defendants were aware of Fourth Amendment violations against the siblings, the denial of summary judgment on the failure to intervene claim was also proper, the chief judge wrote in William Hurt, Deadra Hurt and Andrea Hurt v. Matthew Wise, et al., 17-1771, -1777.

The appellate court then upheld the denial of summary judgment on William’s malicious prosecution claims against EPD, finding the falsified police reports could have prolonged his prosecution. With respect to Deadra’s claim, however, the court found that William Arbaugh and Jason Pagett — two officers involved in the investigation — were entitled to qualified immunity because they allegedly falsified a report after her charges were dismissed.
Finally, the 7th Circuit determined William and Deadra did not suffer from a substantive due process deprivation through their interrogations, but the court did uphold the denial of summary judgment on their involuntary confessions claims. Specifically, the court found the officers had forced Deadra into an involuntary confession by telling her she would spend time in jail and would “hang” if she did not tell the truth. William received similar statements, and a trier of fact could find those statements to be threats, Wood wrote.

“Perhaps, as the officers argue in their briefs, a trier of fact might come to the opposite conclusion and think that they were pushing, but doing nothing that crossed a constitutional line,” Wood wrote. “It is not for us to resolve that question. It must await further proceedings.”

 

 

New Energy Sparked into Roberts Park Plan

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JANUARY 24TH, 2018  TYRONE MORRIS EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

 There is renewed interest in creating a 30-acre park and green space on the vacant space where Roberts Park once sat. The Director of Headwaters Park Geoff Paddock spoke about the development of the park to the public and local leaders.

Paddock took interest in the park in hopes of creating a destination park just like the one in Fort Wayne.

“What we did in Fort Wayne was to address a couple of things, flood control was important having a downtown festival center, and ice skating rink and also have something that’s self-supporting,” says Paddock.

Several attempts to use city money to fund the park have been rebuffed in the past. Creating a nonprofit to raise funds continues to work for Headwaters Park and may work for Evansville too.

 

Tyrone Morris

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Senate Committee Hears Testimony On Hate Crime Bill

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By Emily Ketterer
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS — La’Kysha Gardner’s 15-year-old son, Jason, was beaten nearly to death and left in a ditch because of his race. His attacker was sentenced to 30 days.

“I sat in the courtroom yesterday and watched a young man who almost killed my child receive 30 days,” Gardner told the Senate Correction and Criminal Law Committee Tuesday as it heard testimony on bias crime legislation, Senate Bill 418. “Is that the going rate now for hate? Thirty days?

La’Kysha Gardner describes her son’s beating to the Corrections and Criminal Law committee Tuesday morning. Photo by Seth Fleming, TheStatehouseFile.com

Indiana is one of five states without a hate crime law. SB 418, in its current form, would allow judges to weigh everything from race and sex to gender identity and sexual orientation as aggravating circumstances in sentencing a criminal defendant. Hate crime legislation has been proposed in the past but was defeated.

“If you’re going to adopt a bill, make sure that bill is for everyone,” Gardner said. “Make sure the police know they need help, they need guidance, they need extra training in this matter so we can work with them so the next family, God forbid, the next family that may have to go through this.”

Eric Thiel, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church in West Lafayette, said that he supported the bill as it would promote “Hoosier hospitality rather than Hoosier hostility.” His church was vandalized last week with slurs about race, minorities and sexual orientation.

“I’m a straight, white male. I feel comfortable everywhere. Nobody is attacking me,” Thiel said. “All I want is for everybody else in the state to feel as comfortable as I do walking down the street, attending events, going to bars or going into churches.”

Melanie Davis, a transgender woman from Bloomington, was shot at by a man who continued to shout hateful slurs at her. Davis supports the bill but said SB 418 must include transgender people.

“’Will I be next?’ is constantly on our minds,” Davis said. “We simply ask for protection against the discriminatory violence we routinely face. Gender identity should be included in any law that addresses hate crimes.”

Ryan McCann of Indiana Family Action said the bill is “the very definition of exclusivity” because it creates specially protected classes that treat victims of similar crimes differently.

“We have pushed, especially last session, to have the bill be more inclusive and help more Hoosiers, and we were rejected,” McCann said, explaining he wanted a broader statement that didn’t single out any one group for protection.

Micah Clark, president of the American Family Association of Indiana,  said a person who commits a violent crime should not be further punished because of their opinions.

Micah Clark presents his thoughts on SB 418 in front of the Corrections and Criminal Law committee Tuesday. Photo by Seth Fleming, TheStatehouseFile.com

“In America, we punish people on what they do, not what they think,” Clark said.

Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, chair of the committee, withheld vote on the bill in order to go over the number of amendments to the bill and listen to all testimony. Sen. Tim Lanane said he believes one amendment would remove gender identity from the bill.

Feeling the bill was in peril after the hearing, Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody released a statement urging Gov. Eric Holcomb to endorse the bill to lessen the GOP divide on the issue.

Emily Ketterer is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Applications Open For Coming Court of Appeals Vacancy

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IL for www.theindianalawyer.com

Northern Indiana judges and lawyers may now apply to succeed long-serving Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Michael Barnes, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush announced Wednesday.

Lawyers and judges from Indiana Court of Appeals District 3 may apply by April 2. The district includes Allen, Benton, DeKalb, Elkhart, Fulton, Jasper, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Newton, Noble, Porter, Pulaski, St. Joseph, Starke, Steuben, Warren and Whitley counties. Applications may be submitted online here.

Barnes, 70, of South Bend, whose retirement in June will cap 40 years in public service as an appellate judge and before that a prosecutor, said he will seek senior status.

“Service has been the hallmark of Judge Barnes’ career — 20 years at St. Joseph County’s elected prosecutor, and nearly 20 more thoughtfully representing the northern third of our state on the Court of Appeals,” Rush said. “His service should inspire judges and lawyers in that region to consider likewise giving back to Indiana by joining the appellate bench.”

Court of Appeals Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik praised Judge Barnes’ 18 years of service to the Court. “Judge Barnes has contributed enormously to the reputation of the Court for quality, timeliness, collegiality, and fairness. During his tenure on the Court, Judge Barnes has authored more than 2,800 majority opinions that have added significantly to the development of Indiana law. We look forward to applicants who will carry on Judge Barnes’ legacy of clear writing, sound judgment, and good, old-fashioned Hoosier common sense.”

The seven-member Judicial Nominating Committee will interview applicants and select three names to forward to Gov. Eric Holcomb for his appointment. No interview dates have been set. Rush chairs the commission that includes three lawyers elected by bar members and three non-lawyers appointed by the governor.

Along with being a resident of the northern Indiana COA district, applicants also must have been a member of the Indiana Bar for at least 10 years or an Indiana judge for five years. Applicants must provide pertinent background information, writing samples, references and educational transcripts.

There are 15 judges on the Court of Appeals — three from each of the three geographical districts, and three each from two statewide districts.

Those interested in applying may email Adrienne Meiring, counsel for the Judicial Nominating Commission. More about the commission is available here.

NCAA Scores Victory In Trademark Infringement Case

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Olivia Covington for www.theindianalwyer.com

A Las Vegas-based fantasy sports sweepstakes company can no longer use the phrases “Final 3” and “April Madness” in its events related to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship after a district court judge granted the NCAA’s request for a permanent injunction in a trademark infringement case.

After entering a default against Kizzang LLC and its owner, Robert Alexander, in November 2017, Indiana Southern District Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson granted the Indianapolis-based sports giant’s motion for preliminary injunction on Thursday in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Kizzang LLC and Robert Alexander, 1:17-cv-00712. The NCAA sued Kizzang last March for trademark infringement and dilution and unfair competition, arguing Kizzang’s use of “Final 3” and “April Madness” in its sweepstakes was a willful infringement on the well-known “Final Four” and “March Madness” trademarks.

Kizzang failed to respond to the complaint within the applicable timeframe, leading to the entry of default.  The NCAA then moved for default judgment in its favor and a permanent injunction prohibiting the Vegas company from using the contested phrases in its business practices, as well as an order requiring the company to recall all products, services and advertising bearing the phrases.

Magnus-Stinson granted all of the relief the NCAA requested, writing first in her Thursday order that Kizzang failed to show good cause for its default, to act timely to remedy the default or to show meritorious defenses. Thus, the defendants conceded via their default that they engaged in trademark infringement and dilution and unfair competition, she said.

The chief judge then found the NCAA had suffered irreparable harm through Kizzang’s use of the “Final 3” and “April Madness” marks, and that it was in the public interest to prohibit the sweepstakes company from using those marks to avoid consumer confusion. She issued a permanent injunction enjoining Kizzang from using those marks in its sweepstakes, from acting in a way that would cause customers to believe its products were connected to the NCAA, or from acting in a manner that would dilute and tarnish the Final Four or March Madness marks.

 Next, Magnus-Stinson ruled the NCAA’s complaint presented an “exceptional case” entitling the Indianapolis organization to attorney fees.

“Defendants’ marks are obviously similar to the NCAA’s marks, and Defendants planned to use the marks in connection with contests and events related to NCAA basketball games,” she wrote. “This indicates a willful infringement.”

Finally, the chief judge granted the NCAA’s request to order Kizzang to “immediately recall from all distribution channels all products, services, advertising, and promotional materials bearing the NCAA Marks and any colorable imitations of them… .” Further, the defendants must submit a report to the NCAA within 30 days detailing how they have come into compliance with the court’s order.

Magnus-Stinson ordered the NCAA to file for attorneys’ fees by Feb. 23, and also instructed the magistrate judge to meet with the parties to see if they can reach an agreement on the fees. The final judgment will enter in the case after the attorneys’ fee issue is resolved.

Indiana Man Gets Prison Term For Selling Guns In Illinois

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IL for www.theindianalawyer.com

An Indiana man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for bringing guns and ammunition across state lines and illegally selling them to people in Chicago and the south suburbs.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago said Friday 47-year-old Darick Hudson of Michigan City sold five handguns and a rifle in 2015 to a person who turned out to be cooperating with law enforcement.

Prosecutors said Hudson also agreed to sell the person four other guns, but he fled the scene when Chicago police officers approached. He was later arrested in Indiana.

Authorities say the illegal sales occurred in store parking lots in Chicago, Lansing and Calumet City in October and November 2015.

Hudson pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm by a felon.

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