Last week, the Indiana Supreme Court issued an opinion in favor of four clients of the Notre Dame Law School’s Exoneration Justice Clinic (EJC) holding that they are entitled to have their cases heard by a new judge.
The Supreme Court’s decision arose out of several cases that the EJC is litigating in Elkhart County, Indiana on behalf of its clients Iris Seabolt, Reginald Dillard, Leon Tyson, and Pink Robinson. Each of these individuals alleges that they were wrongfully convicted due in part to systemic police and prosecutorial misconduct in Elkhart County. Six individuals have already been exonerated of serious crimes in Elkhart County — tied for the most of any county in Indiana.
The EJC clients’ cases were all assigned to Judge Teresa Cataldo, the presiding judge in Elkhart Superior Court No. 3. But, in a prior case involving EJC client Andy Royer, this same judge had issued an order finding that allegations of “systemic misconduct” by police and prosecutors in Elkhart County were “defamatory” — prior to hearing any evidence in the case. The judge subsequently recused herself from Mr. Royer’s case, and in 2021, Mr. Royer was exonerated.
Ms. Seabolt, Mr. Dillard, Mr. Tyson, and Mr. Robinson argued that the judge should also recuse herself from their cases, as she had done in Mr. Royer’s case, because they raised similar allegations of police and prosecutorial misconduct in Elkhart County. The judge declined to do so, and the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed her decision. The EJC then petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court to take up all four cases.
The Indiana Supreme Court consolidated the cases and heard oral argument this past January. Sidley Austin LLP partner Rob Hochmann, who served as co-counsel to the EJC in the appellate proceedings, argued the case. Then, in a published opinion last Tuesday, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the Indiana Court of Appeals and ordered that Judge Cataldo must recuse herself in all four cases, paving the way for the EJC clients’ cases to be heard by a fair and impartial judge.
Professor Jimmy Gurulé, the founder and director of Notre Dame Law School’s Exoneration Justice Clinic, said, “This a major legal victory for the EJC and will allow us to litigate our clients’ claims of actual innocence before an unbiased judge. Our EJC clients are one step closer to being exonerated and regaining their freedom.”
The result was the product of years of hard work by EJC staff and students. The EJC filed its first motion for recusal in these cases in May 2021 — more than three years ago. During that time, several EJC students participated in every stage of litigating the issues, from arguing for recusal before the trial judge, to drafting appellate briefs, to preparing for the oral argument in the Indiana Supreme Court.
EJC staff attorney Kevin Murphy said, “This result would have never been possible without the hard work and dedication of our students, who fought to ensure that our clients would someday have their day in court before a fair and impartial tribunal.”
Read more about the Law School’s Exoneration Justice Clinic at exoneration.nd.edu.
Originally published by at law.nd.edu on August 26, 2024.