Former Secretary of State Charlie White remains a convicted felon, despite the Indiana Court of Appeals Monday vacating three of the six guilty verdicts against him. In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals court struck one of White’s perjury convictions on the grounds that lying about one’s home address on a marriage license application is not a material violation of the perjury statute, so long as the applicant lives in the county. Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik, a Porter County native, noted in her 55-page ruling that furnishing false information to a county clerk on a marriage license application is a felony, but White wasn’t charged with that crime. The court also concluded two of White’s voter fraud convictions violated double jeopardy prohibitions because they were based on the same criminal actions that resulted in two of his other convictions. The double jeopardy finding was expected after Deputy Attorney General Justin Roebel admitted at oral arguments earlier this month he would have charged White differently to avoid even the possibility of double jeopardy. At the same time, the appeals court affirmed White is guilty of perjury for lying about his address on a voter registration form, of deliberately voting in the wrong precinct in the May 2010 Republican primary election and of theft, for continuing to receive a salary as a Fishers town councilman after forfeiting his seat by moving out of his district.
According to court documents, White falsified records and submitted erroneous forms to conceal that he moved to a new home while running for secretary of state in 2010 so as to continue receiving his $1,000 monthly councilman salary, which he needed to supplement his earnings as an attorney.
White was removed as the state’s chief elections officer Feb. 4, 2012 after a Hamilton County jury found him guilty of the six felonies. The appeals court ruling undoing three of those convictions does not alter that action.
Full Article: Appeals court strikes half of Charlie White’s felony convictions : Elections.