Justia Indiana Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Associated with a toy gun business, Defendants were charged with counterfeiting, theft, and corrupt business influence arising out of their conduct concerning toy semi-automatic weapons that were look-alikes of real weapons for which a gun manufacturer allegedly owned a federally protected trademark. The trial court granted Defendants' motion to dismiss with respect to counterfeiting, on grounds that the facts alleged did not constitute an offense, but denied Defendants' motions to dismiss the theft and corrupt business influence charges. On interlocutory review, the court of appeals concluded that all charges should be dismissed on grounds that Indiana lacked jurisdiction. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgment of the trial court, holding that the trial court (1) did not err in denying Defendants' motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, as the Court could not conclude as a matter of law that Defendants engaged in no conduct nor effected any result in Indiana that was an element of either charge; (2) erred in dismissing the counterfeiting charges, as the facts alleged constituted the offense of counterfeiting; and (3) did not err in denying Defendants' motions to dismiss the theft and corrupt business influence charges. View "Yao v. State" on Justia Law