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Indiana near-total abortion ban on hold for now as ACLU files petition to state supreme court

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Indiana near-total abortion ban on hold for now as ACLU files petition to state supreme court


INDIANAPOLIS (WLS) — A near-total ban on abortion was scheduled to go into effect Tuesday in Indiana, but is on hold.

Almost all abortions in Indiana were set to be outlawed with few exceptions, nut Monday night there was a last minute effort to stop that from going into effect.

The ACLU of Indiana asked the state’s high court to keep the ban on hold while it considers challenges to the new law. That means the ban will be delayed while the court considers the matter.

Indiana’s near total ban on abortions includes exceptions for rape, incest, the need to save the mother’s life or if the fetus has a deadly abnormality.

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Abortion in Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker announces new actions to increase access to reproductive care

The ACLU of Indiana’s request comes after the high court ruled on June 30 that Indiana’s Republican-backed ban doesn’t violate the state constitution.

The ACLU of Indiana, representing Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinic operators, had challenged the constitutionality of the ban. A county judge later ruled that the ban likely violated the state constitution’s privacy protections.

But in its June ruling, the high court struck down the county judge’s injunction that has blocked a 2022 law’s restrictions banning the vast majority of abortions in the state since September.

In its decision, the court said that while the state constitution’s liberty clause “protects a woman’s right to an abortion that is necessary to protect her life or to protect her from a serious health risk, the provision does not protect a fundamental right to abortion in all circumstances.”

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An exemption under the ban states that it is limited to circumstances in which an abortion is necessary “to prevent death or a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”

In Monday’s petition for rehearing, the ACLU of Indiana wrote that the high court’s ruling had “left open the possibility that this constitutionally protected right ‘may be broader than the current statutory exception.’”

Gavin Rose, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Indiana, said the group is asking the high court to pause its order striking down the trial court’s preliminary injunction to give it time to file a motion with the trial court seeking “a more limited injunction targeted to the breadth of the serious health risk exemption.”

The rehearing petition suggests that the court keep the previous injunction on hold for 60 to 90 days.

The ACLU of Indiana filed its petition for a rehearing on behalf of abortion providers hours before Monday’s deadline for it to do so.

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Rebecca Gibron, CEO of the Planned Parenthood division that includes Indiana, said in a statement about the rehearing request that the state’s ban “will prevent pregnant Hoosiers from making decisions about their own bodies, and prevent their providers from giving them the care they need.”

Following the court’s June ruling, Indiana’s abortion ban was expected to take effect as soon as Tuesday – or within days afterward once the ruling is certified and entered into the court docket – if no party sought a review by Monday’s deadline.

Now that the ACLU of Indiana has filed a petition for review, that means the court’s decision cannot be certified while the justices consider whether to grant or deny that petition, “thus considering the case or disposing of the rehearing petition,” said Kathryn Dolan, a court spokesperson.

It’s unclear how long it may take the high court to decide the matter, but after rehearing petitions are filed, the opposing party – in this case the state’s attorneys – have 15 days to file a response to that request.

Meanwhile Governor JB Pritzker launched several new initiatives Monday to make abortions more accessible here in Illinois.

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“We’ve made investments to try to prepare for the influx of people coming from out of state and of course our surrounding states are where the majority of those people are coming from,” Governor Pritzker said.

One of the new initiatives Pritzker introduced is aimed at helping women who have complex medical conditions, get the specialized care they need.

This comes as the demand for abortion services are on the rise in Illinois since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade.

“The number of our state patients in our facility has doubled in the past year, and now comprises 1/3 of all patients we care for seeking abortion,” said Dr. Allison Cowett, medical director of Family Planning Associates.

Governor Pritzker said he expects abortion to be a major issue once again in the next election cycle. But he said the initiatives he announced are not driven by politics.

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Current Indiana laws generally prohibit abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and tightly restrict it after the 13th week.

Indiana’s abortion ban also faces a separate court challenge over claims it violates the state’s 2015 religious freedom law signed by GOP then-Gov. Mike Pence. The state’s intermediate Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments in that case Dec. 6.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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Obituary for Jean A. Saggars at Yeager Funeral Home

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Obituary for Jean A. Saggars at Yeager Funeral Home


Jean A. Saggars, age 77, of Ligonier, passed into the arms of Jesus on Saturday, December 14, 2024 at Avalon Village in Ligonier. She was born on November 8, 1947 to Kenneth Alice Noe Deetz in Kendallville and grew up on a farm near Helmer, Indiana. She had great memories



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Indiana Preps for an Execution After 15-Year Pause

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Indiana Preps for an Execution After 15-Year Pause


Indiana officials are preparing to execute the state’s first death row inmate in 15 years, a man who was convicted a quarter-century ago of killing his brother and three other men, the AP reports. Joseph Corcoran, 49, has been on Indiana’s death row since 1999. If he is put to death as scheduled Wednesday, it will be the state’s first execution since 2009. In that time, 13 executions were carried out in Indiana, but those were initiated and performed by federal officials in 2020 and 2021 at a federal prison. Corcoran is scheduled to be executed before sunrise Wednesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, about 45 miles east of Chicago.

Indiana’s resumption of executions is refocusing attention on Corcoran’s case and questions about how the state has been able to obtain a drug for lethal injections. Indiana last executed Matthew Wrinkles, who was put to death in 2009 for killing his wife, her brother, and sister-in-law in 1994. State officials said they couldn’t continue executions because a combination of drugs used in lethal injections had become unavailable. There has been a yearslong nationwide shortage because pharmaceutical companies—particularly in Europe, where opposition to capital punishment is strongest—have refused to sell their products for that purpose.

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That has prompted states to turn to compounding pharmacies, which manufacture drugs specifically for a client. Some states have switched to more accessible drugs such as the sedatives pentobarbital or midazolam, both of which, critics say, can cause excruciating pain. Indiana is following that lead, planning to use pentobarbital to execute Corcoran. The federal government also used pentobarbital in the 13 federal executions carried out during the final six months of then-President Trump’s first term. Many states, including Indiana, refuse to divulge where they get the drugs. When asked how the state obtained the pentobarbital it plans to use in Corcoran’s execution, the Indiana Department of Correction directed the AP to a state law labeling the source of lethal injection drugs as confidential.

(More Indiana stories.)





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These are the Indiana residents charged in Jan. 6 riot who could be pardoned by Trump

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These are the Indiana residents charged in Jan. 6 riot who could be pardoned by Trump


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INDIANAPOLIS — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to pardon rioters accused in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol on his first day in office.  

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If he follows through, the move will affect at least 28 Hoosiers.

That’s how many Indiana residents have been charged in the massive investigation into the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests nationwide. Among the Indiana arrestees, 21 have been sentenced. Trump’s promise has already resonated with at least one of them, a Bloomington man who’s publicly voiced that he’s banking on Trump pardoning him for his crimes and didn’t show up to serve his time.

“I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases,” Trump pledged in his “Meet the Press” interview.

It remains unclear who Trump may pardon, such as whether potential pardons will be awarded to those charged with violent crimes. 

Which Jan. 6 defendants from Indiana could be pardoned?

Nancy Barron 

From: Patriot 

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In May 2024, a federal judge sentenced Barron to three years on probation after a jury found her guilty of her charges in the Jan. 6 attack.  

Investigators said Barron turned herself in after telling police she had entered the Capitol that day. She was then handed her numerous nonviolent charges, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. 

James Link Behymer 

From: Hope 

In October 2024, Behymer and his alleged accomplice, Donald Moss, pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the Capitol breach.  

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According to an arrest complaint, the pair are accused of physically confronting police officers on the Lower West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol building as law enforcement ordered the mob to “move back.”  

Behymer is seen on body camera footage grabbing an officer’s baton and pushing other law enforcement officials’ hands away.  

Behymer and Moss each pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer.  

They are scheduled to be sentenced in February 2025. 

Dona Sue Bissey 

From: Bloomfield 

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Bissey was sentenced October 2021 to two weeks of incarceration, 60 hours of community service and a $500 fine after pleading guilty to one of her charges of entering the Capitol during the attack.  

Bissey was at the Capitol that day with her friend and fellow Hoosier, Anna Morgan-Lloyd – who became the first Jan. 6 defendant to be sentenced in the country.

Eric Cantrell, Jared Cantrell, Quentin Cantrell 

From: Greenwood and Indianapolis 

Jared Cantrell and his two cousins are accused of illegally entering the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, after surveillance footage and social media posts showed the men taking selfies in the Rotunda and climbing over the West Terrace.  

Through plea deals or jury trials, each has been convicted for entering the building.  

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On March 27, 2023, Eric Cantrell was sentenced to three months of probation, 40 hours of community service and $1,510 in fines and restitution. A month later, Jared Cantrell was found guilty of his charges and sentenced to six months of incarceration followed by a year on supervised release, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay $500 in restitution and another $8,060 in fines.  

Quentin Cantrell was sentenced to six days of incarceration, a year on probation, $500 in restitution and $6,035 in fines the same month. 

Michael Greene 

From: Indianapolis 

Greene, accused of being an “operations leader” hired by the far-right Oath Keepers group, was ordered to two years’ probation July 2023 after being found guilty of entering a restricted building. He was acquitted of his more serious alleged offenses in what the Associated Press described as a “rare setback” for prosecutors. 

Prosecutors accused Greene of conspiring with the Oath Keepers in breaching the U.S. Capitol, a claim Greene denied during his trial. The federal judge overseeing the case went against the recommended one year behind bars, arguing Greene did not enter the Capitol building, nor did he have a major presence in the group’s chats, the report states.  

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Ian Horvath 

From: Plymouth  

In May 2023, Horvath was ordered to serve three years of probation after pleading guilty to entering the Capitol during the breach, telling investigators he livestreamed the event.  

Still surveillance footage photos show Horvath inside the Capitol for 30 minutes wearing a furry hat with a raccoon tail. He was then seen exiting the building and telling other rioters, “Come on in, all are welcome.”  

Horvath entered a plea of guilty to a charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.  

Dale Huttle 

From: Crown Point 

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Dale Huttle and his nephew, Matthew Huttle, were each sentenced to prison for their involvement during the breach, which included the elder Huttle striking police officers. 

Court documents state he was captured on surveillance footage among a crowd on the Lower West Terrace trying to push a bike rack placed by officers as a barrier. He is then seen holding an American flagpole and striking two officers on the steps.  

In June 2024, Dale Huttle was ordered to two and a half years behind bars, followed by two years on supervised release after pleading guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.  

Matthew Huttle 

From: Hebron 

Matthew Huttle was arrested after investigators say he was seen on video inside the Capitol building going into “multiple” offices, the Crypt area and hallways.  

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He was sentenced November 2023 to six months in prison and a year on supervised release after pleading guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building, a lower charge than issued to his uncle, Dale Huttle – who he traveled with that day.  

Kash Lee Kelly 

From: Hammond 

Court records state Kelly posted photos of himself on social media climbing a wall at the U.S. Capitol, in one caption stating “the day we let the Traitors who constantly push the divide in OUR country know that we are done playing their games.” 

He was sentenced November 2022 to 60 days in prison after entering a plea to one count of violent and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.  

Troy Koen 

From: Brownsburg 

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Koen pleaded guilty in November 2024 to assaulting law enforcement officers after investigators say he was seen yanking away a barricade and using a flagpole to jab toward police during the Capitol breach.  

A criminal complaint states surveillance footage shows Koen using the pole donned with Trump 2020 and Confederate flags to jab double doors in the Lower West Terrace tunnel and help break the glass. As rioters pushed into the crowd, Koen continued to jab at the officer line.  

He’s scheduled to be sentenced February 2025.  

David Scott Kuntz  

From: Elizabeth  

Kuntz was taken into custody after being identified in video footage in a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol wearing a black tactical vest, according to a criminal complaint.  

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According to the FBI, Kuntz was seen watching rioters breach the grounds outside an entry on the Upper West Terrace and calling out “(explicit) the police.” He is associated with the Three Percenters, an extremist ideology falling within the larger antigovernment militia movement, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.   

Investigators said that in the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, Kuntz on social media mentioned going to Washington D.C. “fully armed” and making a stand. 

He pleaded guilty Dec. 2, 2024 to one count of conspiracy to impede or injure an officer. His sentencing is scheduled for April 1, 2025. 

Mark Mazza 

From: Shelbyville 

Mazza was arrested after police say they retrieved his gun on the Capitol’s grounds following the riot and traced the weapon to him. Investigators say they further found him among the crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, trying to break into the West Front Terrace.  

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In October 2022, Mazza was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting, resisting and impeding officers with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license.  

Mazza reported the gun stolen to Shelbyville police two days after the Capitol breach, claiming it was taken from his car at a Hard Rock casino in Ohio. 

Gregory Mijares 

From: Crown Point 

Capitol surveillance footage showed Mijares was among the first rioters to pursue police in the Lower West Terrace, according to a criminal complaint.  

Investigators in the report said Mijares is seen wearing a gas mask and pursuing officers, then pulling open a broken glass door and ushering other rioters in.  

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He faces a felony civil disorder charge and two misdemeanor counts of entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct in a restricted building in the riot. 

Anna Morgan-Lloyd 

From: Bloomfield 

Morgan-Lloyd made history as the first person to be sentenced in the Jan. 6 attacks.  

In June 2021, she was sentenced to three years of probation after entering a plea in which she penned a note to the judge about her remorse for how the day turned violent. Morgan-Lloyd traveled to Washington D.C. to attend Donald Trump’s rally that day with her friend, Dona Sue Bissey.  

One day after her apology in court, Morgan-Lloyd appeared on Fox News and downplayed the breach. 

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“Where I was at, we see nobody damage anything. People were actually very polite,” she said.  

Donald Lee Moss 

From: Elizabethtown 

Moss pleaded guilty to assaulting officers after conceding to investigators that he struck and pushed law enforcement while outside the Capitol, including using a chair to block them from closing a door to the U.S. Senate wing.  

He and his alleged accomplice, Beyhmer, are scheduled to be sentenced in February for assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer.  

Jeffrey Munger 

From: Goshen  

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Munger, according to a criminal complaint, told investigators he climbed through a broken window to enter the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.  

He told police the crowd behind him was pushing him into a corner and the only way to leave was through the building. Surveillance footage showed him leaving 14 minutes later.  

Munger was sentenced to 30 months of probation in October 2022 after pleading guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. 

Arthur Reyher and Jessica Reyher 

From: Brownsburg 

The Indiana couple were among the first rioters to enter the tunnel on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and push against a wall of police officers.  

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On Nov. 6, 2023, the Reyhers pleaded guilty to a felony offense of civil disorder. 

Arthur Reyher was sentenced to eight months in prison. Jessica Reyher was sentenced to 90 days in prison in February 2024. The Reyhers were also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to each pay $2,000 in restitution. 

Jonathan Ace Sanders Sr. 

From: Vincennes 

Sanders was arrested after the FBI received a tip that he bragged during his shift at a bakery about being just 70 feet away where Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by Capitol police during the attack.  

Investigators following up on the lead said Sanders told them he traveled to Washington D.C. that day and entered the Capitol building.  

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He pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced to three years of probation in November 2021. 

Jon Ryan Schaffer 

From: Columbus  

The heavy metal guitarist was charged after being photographed arguing with police and unleashing a can of bear spray in the building.  

Schaffer, a former member of the band Iced Earth, turned himself into the FBI 10 days after the riot. He pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol to obstruct Congress’ certification of the U.S. presidential election results in 2021, marking the first Jan. 6 defendant to enter an agreement. 

In his plea, Schaffer admitted to being one of the founders of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing militia group that describes itself as a “non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police and first responders.” Schaffer is not charged in the Justice Department’s conspiracy case against the organization. 

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Schaffer was sentenced to three years of probation on Oct. 25, 2024, more than three years after his guilty plea. He was also ordered to pay $1,200 in fines and restitution. 

Curtis Logan Tate 

From: Jeffersonville 

According to police, Tate was seen striking a police officer and charging more law enforcement officials near the U.S. Capitol.  

Body camera footage and surveillance videos showed him entering the Lower West Terrace tunnel and using a metal baton to strike an officer. He is then seen waving the baton, destroying property and throwing items at police, according to his criminal complaint.  

Tate was sentenced July 2024 to more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement.  

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Israel Tutrow 

From: Greenfield 

The Greenfield man was arrested after being seen moving in and out of the U.S. Capitol wearing a distinct black beanie with “TRUMP” lettering during the attack, according to court documents.  

Tutrow entered a plea to and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. 

He was sentenced in December 2021 to three years of probation. 

Annie Vo 

From: Fishers 

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The Fishers mom and her son were charged in the Jan. 6 riot after police said the pair were seen entering the building the day of the attack.  

Annie Vo was arrested March 7, 2024, on four counts pertaining to the riot, including entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. 

Her son, Antony Vo, was sentenced to prison for his participation in the attack and remains a federal fugitive.  

Antony Vo 

From: Bloomington 

The former Indiana University student was found guilty of entering the U.S. Capitol and disorderly conduct in the Jan. 6 attack, having been seen in photographs posing with his mother inside the building.  

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A jury found him guilty in September 2023 on his charges of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; violent entry or disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. 

Vo was sentenced in April 2024 to nine months in prison followed by a year of supervised release, but did not report to the correctional facility and remains a federal fugitive.  

On Nov. 20, 2024, Vo told a reporter with WISH that he expects to be pardoned by Trump. 

Joshua Wagner 

From: Indianapolis 

Wagner was charged in the Jan. 6 attack after law enforcement released a photo of him on a wanted poster. He would become the second Hoosier taken into custody for storming the U.S. Capitol.  

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Police said Wagner and his friend and another defendant, Israel Tutrow, were seen inside the Capitol building that day.  

Wagner was sentenced to 30 days incarceration in February 2022 for a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building.  

William Lance Wilkerson 

From: Bedford 

Charging documents show Wilkerson’s Facebook comments, security camera images from the Capitol and cellphone records led to his arrest in the Jan. 6 riot.  

Closed-circuit television footage captured six photographs of him inside the building wearing an olive-green jacket.  

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He was sentenced in November 2023 to two years probation after pleading guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Contact IndyStar at sarah.nelson@indystar.com



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