The Court of Appeals of Indiana’s award-winning civics education outreach program, Appeals on Wheels, is coming to Marshall County on November 9, at 7:00 P.M. in the Culver Academy Memorial Legion Building.   A panel of judges will hear live, in-person arguments in Bradley v. State.

The case synopsis states: Appellant, John C. Bradley, appeals his conviction for possession of methamphetamine.  The methamphetamine, which weighed over seventeen grams, was discovered in Bradley’s coat pocket by an ICU nurse when Bradley had been in the hospital’s ICU and the nurse had been documenting Bradley’s belongings.  The nurse placed the baggie of methamphetamine on a table and notified a hospital security officer, who was a law-enforcement officer.  When hospital security arrived at the hospital room, the nurse pointed to the baggie of methamphetamine on the table, and the security officer took the baggie.  Bradley argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the methamphetamine into evidence during his jury trial.  Specifically, he argues that the State’s search and seizure of the drugs constituted a warrantless search and violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution.  The State argues that the trial court properly admitted the evidence because there were no constitutional violations.  The State argues that the nurse was not a State actor when she searched and seized the methamphetamine from Bradley’s coat pocket and that the methamphetamine was in plain view when the security officer took it from the hospital room.

The event is open to the public and the audience will have a chance to ask the judges questions about the judiciary following the argument; however, they are unable to speak about the specific case.

The selected panel of Judges for this Appeals on Wheels event are Judge Patricia A. Riley, Judge Rudolph R. Pyle, and Judge John G. Baker.

The Court of Appeals of Indiana is the second highest court in the state, hearing appeals from Indiana’s trial courts and some state agencies.

The 15 judges of the Court issue over 2,000 opinions per year.