VALPARAISO | Judge Nancy Vaidik returned to the bench in Valparaiso on Friday -- not only to hear arguments in a homicide case but also to open up the judicial process to the public.
Vaidik, a former Porter Superior Court judge, was part of a three-member Court of Appeals panel that heard oral arguments in Valparaiso University law school's Wesemann Hall in the case of a fatal 2004 traffic accident.
Vaidik and judges Michael P. Barnes and Terry A. Cronek listened as both sides presented their arguments in the case of (Benton) Barber v. State.
Ruth Johnson, of the Marion County Public Defender Agency, represented Barber, and Deputy Attorney General Cynthia Ploughe argued the state's case.
Last year, Barber was charged with and convicted of two counts of reckless homicide and one count of failure to stop after an accident resulting in death, both Class C felonies. He was given two consecutive maximum sentences of eight years for the two homicides and eight years for failing to stop.
Barber filed an appeal challenging both the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions and the sentence.
Ploughe argued that Barber drove recklessly, committing several traffic violations leading up to the crash, in which the other driver swerved into oncoming traffic.
At the conclusion of the arguments, the three judges remained to answer questions of the audience about the judicial process.
The Indiana Court of Appeals always presides in panels of three. Case hearings are coordinated so that the same three would not serve together more than once in a two-year period.
A member of the Indiana Court of Appeals since 2000, Vaidik attended Valparaiso University and served as a judge in Porter Superior Court from 1993 to 2000.
Vaidik said the most successfully argued cases are presented by attorneys who are ready to address issues that aren't outlined in the brief. The open dialogue set up in the oral arguments gives attorneys the opportunity to get into the judges' brains.
After discussion of the briefs and arguments, the court will make its decision.
Friday's case was the Court of Appeals' fifth appearance at Valparaiso's School of Law since 2001. The visit was sponsored by the international legal fraternity Phi Delta Phi.
