Indiana’s ex-Secretary of State Charlie White said Friday he was elated to learn his sentence of home detention. “After last night we felt a stone has been lifted off our chest. Most important is spending time with my wife, my son and step children. We were elated,” said White. Despite losing his job as a result of his conviction, potentially losing his law license and being bared from voting, White said he feels blessed. Read More »

A Hamilton County judge today sentenced former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White to one year of home detention. White was convicted of voter fraud and other felonies for casting a ballot in a district in which he no longer lived during the May 2010 primary. White received one year for each of six convictions, to be served concurrently. He also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. Before announcing the sentence, Judge Steve Nation said he considered White’s actions intentional. “Because of what he did, I believe he violated the trust of the people,” Nation said. Read More »

Indiana’s ousted top elections official faced a final shot at regaining his office Thursday when his attorney planned to ask a judge to reduce each of his six felony convictions to misdemeanors. Secretary of State Charlie White was scheduled to be sentenced on voter fraud, perjury, theft and other charges Thursday afternoon by Hamilton Superior Court Judge Steven Nation. Defense attorney Carl Brizzi said he would ask that each of the charges be reduced to misdemeanors so White could hold onto his job, but one legal expert said Nation is likely to reject that request. Read More »

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was convicted of six felonies early this morning, and consequently lost his job. But the Republican could get it back soon. White, 42, Fishers, plans to ask a judge to reduce his convictions – all class D felonies – to misdemeanors at sentencing. It’s uncertain whether that move would allow him to reclaim his job. “We don’t know the right answer to that,” White said. “This is all very new.” Shortly after White’s verdict was read, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in a news release shortly before 3 a.m. that he has appointed Jerry Bonnet, White’s chief deputy, as interim secretary of state. Read More »

A Sprint representative could shed light today on where Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White lived while he campaigned for office in late 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors  say White’s cellphone records will show he lived in a townhouse with his then-fiancee — instead of in a home with his ex-wife, as he has claimed.Evidence on where White lived during that time could convince a Hamilton Superior Court jury as to his guilt or innocence on seven felony charges, including voter fraud and theft. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today. Read More »

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White’s defense lawyer rested Thursday without presenting a case against voter fraud charges that could oust White from office. Closing arguments in the weeklong trial are set for Friday, when the case is expected to go to jurors in Hamilton County Superior Court. White is charged with seven felony counts, including fraud, perjury and theft. If White is convicted of a single count, he faces removal from office and possible prison time. Read More »

Prosecutors delved into documents regarding Charlie White’s home loan and employment during his trial Tuesday to try to show that he lived in a townhome with his new wife when he claimed to be sharing a home with his ex-wife. They say they’ll also present records that show the Indiana secretary of state has lived at the townhome since late 2009. Confusion over White’s address from late 2009 through 2010 led a grand jury to indict him on seven felony charges, including theft and voter fraud, in March. If convicted of any of those charges, he’ll lose his elected position and face prison time. Read More »

Indiana’s top elections official committed voter fraud to preserve his political clout and protect his finances, a special prosecutor said Tuesday during opening arguments of a trial that will determine if Secretary of State Charlie White keeps his office — and his freedom. “This case is about deceit and cheating,” special prosecutor Dan Sigler Sr. told jurors at the Hamilton County Courthouse in the Noblesville, about 20 miles north of Indianapolis. “Somebody tried to get away with something … somebody got caught.”… Sigler portrayed White as a man “obsessed with politics, with success in politics.” Read More »

Indiana’s top elections official is himself facing allegations of voter fraud. Secretary of State Charlie White, a Republican, is in the unusual position of being the person entrusted to protect the integrity of the ballot box, while at the same time fighting seven felony charges involving allegations he registered to vote at his ex-wife’s house and served as a local councilman when he actually lived outside the district. Jury selection in White’s trial is set to begin this morning at the Hamilton County Superior Courthouse, in Noblesville, Ind. ”We’ve always abided by the law,” White told Fox News in an interview last November. Through a spokesman, he declined another interview on the eve of the trial. Read More »

A jury has been set in the criminal trial of Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White in Hamilton County. White is charged with seven felonies, including voter fraud and perjury, stemming from allegations that he lied about where he lived in 2010 so he could continue collecting his salary as a member of the town council in Fishers, just north of Indianapolis. Slightly fewer than 50 potential jurors were called for questioning Monday morning, RTV6′s Derrik Thomas reported. Read More »

In the days after his indictment on seven felony charges, Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White received the same advice repeatedly from his top advisers: Don’t talk to the media about the charges. White listened and nodded in agreement, according to sources close to him, but when it came time to follow that advice, he went his own way. Before his March 11, 2011, initial hearing, White shocked his advisers by giving a 12-minute impromptu news conference about his theory that the charges, which included voter fraud and theft, are politically motivated. White, who had been one of the Republican Party’s most faithful servants, had gone rogue. Read More »

Charlie White might not have been aware he could be breaking election law when he registered to vote at his ex-wife’s address in Indiana’s May 2010 Republican primary. But whether he acted deliberately or out of ignorance, experts say the action undermines the credibility of the state’s top elections office. ”There are two scenarios, and neither one is very flattering,” said Robert Dion, a political science professor at the University of Evansville. “Either he was not aware of the law — and that doesn’t raise a lot of respect — that you have to live in the district you represent, (or) if he did know, that’s even worse.” Read More »

Fireworks flew in a Hamilton County courtroom as lawyers prepared for the Charlie White criminal trial. White, Indiana’s secretary of state, faces seven felony charges, including voter fraud, perjury and theft. His lead defense lawyer, Carl Brizzi, sees the upcoming criminal trial as an tough task. ”Any time someone is charged by the state or federal government for a crime, it’s an uphill battle,” he said. “We talk about a legal presumption of innocence, but i don’t think that really exists out in society.” Read More »

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to review the case of Secretary of State Charlie White. A Marion County judge ruled in December that White is ineligible to hold office because he was improperly registered to vote at his ex-wife’s house in 2010 when he was a candidate. His ruling overturned a June decision by the Indiana Recount Commission that White could stay in office. Read More »

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has asked the state Supreme Court to decide whether Charlie White can remain secretary of state. The court didn’t immediately say Tuesday whether it’ll take up the case. Zoeller represents the state recount commission, which is appealing a judge’s decision that found White ineligible to run for the office he won in November 2010. That reversed a previous recount commission ruling that upheld White’s candidacy. The judge has delayed enforcing the order pending the appeal. Read More »

Marion Circuit Court Judge Louis Rosenberg ruled Wednesday that Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White can remain in office while he appeals an order removing him from the statewide post.

Rosenberg said he reached the decision because he felt “the negative consequences would be great and irreparable” if he did not grant the stay. Rosenberg had issued an order Dec. 22 ousting White because he was improperly registered as a candidate when he ran for office in 2010.
But he stayed that order pending a hearing Tuesday requested by White, who has filed a notice of appeal. Read More »