(WISH) — Trent Sisley, star power forward from Heritage Hills High School, released his top five schools on Friday.

Purdue, Indiana, and Notre Dame were all listed. as well as Iowa and Michigan State.

Sisley is visiting going on an official visit to Purdue on September 6.

He’ll visit Indiana on September 20th on an official visit. Braylon Mullins from Greenfield Central and Malachi Moreno from Georgetown, Kentucky will also go on official visits to Indiana the same weekend.

Sisley will take official visits to Notre Dame on September 28 and Michigan State on October 12.

Sisley is listed as a four star recruit and is ranked 74th nationally on 247Sports.

INDIANAPOLIS (INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — The Indiana Supreme Court is considering how to balance the discovery of cell phone information with privacy rights following a hearing Thursday where a car accident victim wanted access to phone data of the driver who struck him. 

The victim, Charles Jennings, argued a lower trial court abused its discretion when prohibiting him from inspecting the phone data.

During Thursday’s oral argument, a lawyer for Jennings said the exclusion of the requested evidence could have contradicted the driver’s deposition and impacted the outcome of a jury trial. Jennings sought phone data showing whether the person driving was using the navigation application “Waze” during the accident.

A smartphone contains far more information than a personal diary.

– Attorney Bob Durham

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“If this jury knew that she was lying about having Waze on, at the end of the day they would say ‘okay we don’t trust her,’” said Bryan Babb.  

However, a lawyer for the driver, Jessica Smiley, said allowing the man to access her unlocked phone posed overwhelming privacy concerns.

“A smartphone contains far more information than a personal diary,” said Bob Durham.

Background of the case

Smiley was driving in Carmel in December 2019 when she struck Jennings, who was walking across the street at the time of the accident. According to an Indiana Court of Appeals opinion, Jennings had stepped into the street from behind a box truck, which had blocked Smiley’s view of him. Jennings sued Smiley in February 2020, arguing she had been “negligent” while driving. In her answer to Jennings’ complaint, Smiley claimed Jennings had been “contributorily negligent.” 

A year later, Jennings moved to compel discovery of Smiley’s cellphone data, seeking to find out if she was using Waze at the time of the accident. Smiley had previously said in a deposition that she had been using the app when she started her drive, but was not using it during the accident. 

Although the trial court initially granted Jennings’ motion, Smiley asked the court to reconsider due to privacy concerns. In September 2021 the trial court overrode its prior decision and denied the motion to compel.

In January 2023 a jury found Jennings had been 90% at fault and Smiley had been 10% at fault for the accident after experts testified Jennings had not crossed at an intersection or crosswalk, and that there was limited evidence Smiley was distracted or driving recklessly. The trial court ruled in Smiley’s favor and the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed that decision.

Balancing discovery and privacy

During Thursday’s hearing, Babb argued the trial court’s decision to deny the requested discovery constituted a reversible error. He said if his client finds data showing Smiley was using the navigation app at the time of the accident, the jury’s judgment should be reversed and vacated.

Babb said Jennings needed access to Smiley’s phone to see if she was using the application within an hour of the accident. If they found Waze was running, Babb asserted they could then investigate further to find out if Smiley was interacting with the app — which allows users to tap on their screens to report traffic delays and accidents. Since Smiley said in her deposition she wasn’t using the app, just that she had checked the app before starting her drive, Babb said contradicting data would prove she was “a liar” — something he believes would influence a jury’s decision.

However, Indiana Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Slaughter said Jennings could have gotten that same information without accessing the phone, such as by contacting Waze to obtain the user data. 

“It’s not obvious to me you couldn’t have gotten it from an alternative source,” Slaughter said.

Additionally, Durham, Smiley’s attorney, said the characterization of his client was not central to the case. 

“The question for the jury was ‘was she negligent?’ not ‘is she a liar?’” Durham told the court. 

The justices asked both parties’ attorneys about the privacy implications of allowing cell phone discovery in civil cases. Durham said that even if the other party was only looking for the hour of Waze data, there are no safeguards to prevent them from accessing texts, emails and other personal information. 

“Discovery in its very nature is intrusive,” Justice Derek Molter said in response to Durham.

The court will issue a decision in the coming months.

INDIANAPOLIS — The 2024 NBA Draft begins next week, and the Indiana Pacers just wrapped up their final pre-draft workout on Thursday. They are trying to prepare for an odd reality in which they have three picks, yet all of them are in the second round.

This year is the first in which the NBA Draft will hold the draft over two nights. It will be on June 26 and 27, and the blue and gold will make their selections on night two, barring trades. “We’re not approaching it any different as far as our preparation,” general manager Chad Buchanan said of the draft late last month.

Indiana will first pick at 36th overall, then will select twice in a row at 49th and 50th. They may be able to get a rostered player with their best pick, but their draft night could largely be about two-way contracts, draft rights, or finding future draft picks in deals.

“With pick 36, we’ll probably try to get the best player we can get,” Buchanan said. The team understands that they are limited in some ways.

Because the Pacers don’t pick until later in the proceedings, there hasn’t been much in terms of reporting or rumors from connected insiders about their draft strategy so far. However, with one week until the selections are made, news will continue to leak out about Indiana, and other franchises, in the coming days.

Here is what has been reported about the Pacers so far ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft.

Mock drafts

Many mock drafts have come out in recent weeks, which is the case every draft cycle. A quick glance over many of them reveals some themes and repeated names.

Report(s) from 2023 say the Pacers are high on Bobi Klintman

A report last year from Michael Scotto in HoopsHype explained that some figures at the 2023 NBA Draft combine believed that the Pacers were high on Bobi Klintman, who played at Wake Forest during the season prior. The Swedish wing dropped out of that draft cycle despite reports of the Pacers giving him a draft promise and is now eligible for the 2024 NBA Draft.

The Pacers have their own picks and many extra future picks to make a trade if they are so inclined since their roster is largely full. This post will be updated.