10 June 2024 Dearborn County Circuit Court NOTES
Judge F.Aaron Negangard presided.
Present: Mike Lawrence and his attorney Ms Harter who was via Zoom.
Jim Thatcher and his 3 attorneys, Larry O. Wilder, Zachary F Stewart, and Sunnye Bush-Sawtelle from Jeffersonville IN
Also present in the courtroom: Tamara Taylor,The Beacon, Glenn Wright (Council), and Harlan Burlage
No newspaper reporters were present.
Judge Negangard advised us that there was to be no cell phone usage and no recording of the hearing.
Arguments:
Zachary Stewart for Jim Thatcher- presented the Motion to Dismiss noting. it was based off a strict statutory requirements and failure to meet statutory procedure. He mentioned this was not a common law right. You must follow procedure to the letter. He referenced Section 12 and 10 of the code and his interpretation. He said the only possible timing issue was in 12, but that the surety bond versus the cash bond were separated in these 2 sections of the code. he code does use SHALL deposit a cash bond. In 10 it should have been paid prior to the 14 day window. In his case law he says he is using an older case as an example. He ended with the Petitioner filed on May 17 and the court ordered the cash bond on May 23. The bond was paid on May 31.
Negangard said he took judicial notice of these filings.
Ms Harter for Mike Lawrence- said the bond was paid on May 31. There is no deadline in the code and nothing that states the bond has to be filed contemporaneously with the petition. It is NOT in the statute.The respondent has presented case law that required contemporaneous payment. There are other sections that sow costs assessed AFTER some of these recounts. No deadlines, no justification im case law for contemporaneous payment with filing.
Rebuttal:
Zachary Stewart for Thatcher- 10 requires bond and allows for corporate surety. 12 does not talk about corporate surety. I leave it to the Court's decision
Judge Negangard
I do not see anything that requires contemporaneous filing of the bond. There are no deadlines when it has to be filed. There is a remedy for NOT filing and if you post the cash bond...The statute makes no sense if I apply your theory. MOTION IS DISMISSED- The recount will proceed.
Judge Negangard - I have appointed the Recount Commissioners (Clerks office has this order dated June 3, 2024. Mike Lawrence did not receive this info- he asked for it after the hearing in the clerks office)
Christine Craig- Democrat
Robert Starks - Republican
Will Nessbit- Machine Technician
He also was asked about a hand count or machine count and will reach out to the Recount Commission members to set a meeting ASAP. They decided on June 18th at 1:30 PM for this meeting to be on the record. The lawyers can be via ZOOM if needed.
Court adjourned at 3:20 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
No comments:
Post a Comment