Court Opinion

ID: 9862193
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 01:03:11.488828+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:30:30.660237
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Casual observers might see this case as a bizarre saga about lawyers and legislators who finally succeeded in sending $100,000 to a crime victim, but its long-term significance is far greater. The Indiana Constitution commands that we place fines, forfeitures, and certain other money in the Common School Fund. Ind. Const, art. VIII, sec. 2. The legislation at issue today really just declares that a forfeiture is not a forfeiture, that Fadli’s cash can be seized through use of a different word and sent somewhere other than the Common School Fund. Judicial approval of this sort of evasion will invite further dismantling of the Common School Fund.
GIVAN, J., joins in this dissent.