Attorney General Curtis Hill today commended the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for upholding an Indiana law permitting a county election board, but no one else, to request an order from a state court extending voting hours when justified by state law.

Such extensions may be necessary in the event of technical problems at polling places, but they cannot be undertaken without a court order making specific state law findings.

A lawsuit by Common Cause Indiana argued that anyone should be able to request such a court order, but Attorney General Hill observed that the legislature limited the law’s reach in order to avoid inundating courts with demands for extended polling hours.

Indiana law, he added, affords voters ample opportunity to cast their ballots even before Election Day, and the statute at issue does not preclude voters from filing claims under federal law in either state or federal court.

“Fortunately, we are seeing federal appeals courts nationwide recognizing states’ legitimate authority to enact and enforce reasonable election laws,” Attorney General Hill said. “Taken as a whole, election regulations must exist for elections to be fair, meaningful and legitimate.”

Attorney General Hill also recently prevailed in two other federal appellate cases involving Indiana’s election laws. In those cases, the 7^th Circuit upheld state laws 1) prohibiting election officials from counting mail-in ballots received after noon on Election Day and 2) permitting only some categories of voters, including the elderly, to cast mail-in ballots.

Attached is the 7^th Circuit’s most recent decision involving Indiana election law.

This past week, Executive Director of the Indiana Sheriff’s Association, Stephen P. Luce, announced in the association’s summer/fall publication that Scott County Sheriff Jerry Goodin was chosen as the Indiana Sheriff of the Year by the associations’ board of directors.

This is a very prestigious award as the Indiana Sheriff’s Association represents all ninety-two Sheriff’s in the state of Indiana.

Just some of the reasons Sheriff Goodin was chosen as Sheriff of the year is, his Firm but Fair approach to crime, his office’s record number of criminal arrests, his implementation of Community Oriented Policing techniques into Scott County, his relentless pursuit of arresting drug dealers, his program for drug addicts once they are incarcerated in the Scott County Jail, his programs to teach offenders how to assimilate back into society, his job skills training for inmates, the fact he was able to have the Scott County Jail pass the state jail inspection for the first time in over twenty years and his open ear/open door policy for every citizen of Scott County.

Sheriff Goodin commented, “it is a great honor and very humbling to be chosen when there are so many great Sheriff’s across the state of Indiana.” “The real gratitude should go to the hard-working Scott County Deputies and Scott County Jail Officers whose dedication and belief in our ideas made all the good things happen.” “The great citizens of Scott County are also a very important and strategic part of our plan by keeping our phone lines busy with incoming information.”

Sheriff Goodin closed his comments by saying “I truly care for and love Scott Countians and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office is just getting off the ground with training, professionalism, and courtesy to our citizens.” 

As the rate of Coronavirus continues to rise in Indiana, the Indiana Department of Health today announced that 2,765 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at the state laboratory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and private laboratories.

That brings to 160,454 the total number of Indiana residents known to have the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard.

A total of 3,882 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 24 from the previous day. Another 236 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record.

According to the Regenstrief Institute which tracks recoveries in Indiana, there is now a 77.4 percent recovery rate, which had decreased over the past month. 

They say 113,498 people have recovered from Covid-19

Deaths are reported based on when data are received by the state and occurred over multiple days.           

To date, 1,618,331 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 1,605,596 on Sunday.

A total of 2,681,197 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26.

The agency also is reporting 236 total probable deaths in Indiana. Probable deaths are those for which a physician listed COVID-19 as a contributing cause based on X-rays, scans and other clinical symptoms but for which no positive test is on record.

Washington County has had 35 new cases in the past week and 111 cases of Covid-19 in October. 

There was one new death this week, bringing the total to 3. 

Washington County has a 12.5 percent positivity rate. 

Here is a breakdown of cases around the WSLM Listening Area:

170 NEW CASES IN OUR LOCAL AREA Since Yesterday’s Numbers

3 NEW DEATHS IN OUR LISTENING AREA

Lawrence County

• 8453 (86 New) Tests, 940 Cases, 37 Deaths 32 New Cases 
• 11.2 percent positivity rate

Jackson County

• 9190  117 New) Tests, 1164 Cases, 17 deaths (1 new)  – 20 new cases 
• 8.4 percent positivity rate

Jennings County

• 4446 (24 New) Tests, 373 Cases, 13  deaths, 4 new cases 
• 7  percent positivity rate

Orange County

• 3940 (38 New) Tests, 417 Cases, 25 deaths – 8 new cases 
• 7.7  percent positivity rate

Washington County

• 4411 (32 New) Tests, 384 Cases, 3 deaths, 6 new cases 
• 12.5 percent  positivity rate

Scott County

• 5990 (39 New) Tests, 534 Cases, 13 deaths  –  10 new cases
• 5.1 percent positivity rate

Clark County

• 27,820 (406 New) Tests, 3007 Cases, 63 deaths (1 new) – 40 new cases 
• 7 percent positivity rate

Floyd County

• 18,152 (211 New) Tests, 1839 Cases, 68 deaths (1 new), 38 new cases 
• 5.8 percent positivity rate

Harrison County

• 8600 (55 New) Tests, 783 Cases, 24 deaths, 11 new cases 
• 4.5 percent positivity rate

Crawford County

• 2151 (29 New)  Tests, 160 Cases, 1 deaths – 1 new cases 
• 7.1 percent positivity rate

An early morning car versus deer crash resulted in a separate fatality crash involving the car and a northbound semi-truck. 

Shortly after 4:00 Saturday morning, a 2015 Nissan Versa Note traveling northbound on I-65 near the 26.5 mile-marker struck a deer in the roadway. 

The vehicle was disabled due to the crash and remained partially in the right-hand lane. The driver, Veronica McCall of Crothersville, Indiana, then exited the car due to its position in the road. 

A short time later, a 2014 Volvo Semi Tractor-Trailer approached from the south and struck the unoccupied Nissan Versa from behind. 

After colliding with the car, the semi traveled off the east side of I-65 and up an embankment coming to rest in a treeline. 

The Scott County Sheriff’s Department and Scottsburg City Police Department responded, along with the Scottsburg City Fire Department and the Monroe Township Fire Department. 

The driver of the semi-truck required extradition, and due to weather conditions, medical helicopters were not able to respond. 

Units on-scene requested assistance from the Indiana State Police (ISP), including an ISP crash reconstruction team. 

The semi-truck driver, 71-year-old Johnny G. Skarb of Wonder Lake, Illinois, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Scott County Coroner’s Office. 

Next of Kin was notified by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department. 

The driver of the Nissan was not injured in the crash.

I-65 northbound remained closed until approximately 9:30 a.m., and all northbound traffic was diverted off onto US31 while the interstate was closed. 

Early this morning, Detectives with the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post were called to investigate an officer-involved shooting and a separate homicide that occurred in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. 

Two Lawrenceburg residents died as a result of the incidents.

At approximately 3:00 am, on October 24, 2020, officers with the Lawrenceburg, Indiana Police Department were called to the Summit Pointe Apartments located on Deer Run Drive in Lawrenceburg reference a disturbance. 

The first officer arrived shortly after the call was dispatched. 

Upon entering the apartment building and standing in the hallway, the officer was confronted by Brandon G. Evans, age 33, who was naked and holding a knife.  The Lawrenceburg officer fired at least one round from his department handgun, striking Evans. 

The LPD officer along with other officers from the Lawrenceburg Police Department, Dearborn County Sheriff’s Office, and Greendale Police Department attempted to administer first aid to Evans. 

Evans succumbed to the injuries he received.  He was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Dearborn County Coroner’s Office.  The officer was not injured.

While canvassing the apartments, officers located Staci L. Coyne, age 37, deceased inside one of the apartments. 

The investigation determined that Coyne was the victim of a homicide. 

She was pronounced deceased at the scene by the coroner’s office. 

Investigators believe the two incidents were connected and that Evans and Coyne knew each other. 

Detectives also discovered that Evans had allegedly entered a different apartment in the building and caused damage inside the unoccupied apartment prior to officers arriving on the scene.    

The Lawrenceburg Police Department requested that detectives from the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post respond and conduct an investigation into the incident.

The investigation is ongoing at this time.  Autopsies are scheduled to be performed Monday in Hamilton County, Ohio.  The involved LPD Officer’s name will be released in a later news release.

At the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the Dearborn County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

The Indiana State Police was assisted by the Lawrenceburg Police Department, Dearborn County Sheriff’s Office, Greendale Police Department, Dearborn County Prosecutor’s Office, and Dearborn County Coroner’s Office.