Lannan v. State
Supreme Court of Indiana
600 N.E.2d 1334 (1992)
- Written by Peggy Chen, JD
Facts
Donald Lannan (defendant) was charged with molesting a young girl. At his trial, the prosecution presented testimony from another girl who said that Lannan molested her in the past. The prosecution also presented testimony from the victim concerning other instances when Lannan molested her for which Lannan was not charged. A jury convicted Lannan of molestation. Lannan petitioned the Supreme Court for transfer and asked the court to abandon the “depraved sexual instinct” exception to the rule excluding character evidence. This exception allows evidence of other actions of sexual molestation to be admitted.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Shephard, C.J.)
Concurrence/Dissent (Givan, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 782,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.