Shanks v. State, 2026 Ind. App. LEXIS 141 (Ind. Ct. App. 2026)

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a murder and armed robbery conviction based on double jeopardy violation. The court stated in relevant part:

[H]ere the charging information for murder simply tracks the statutory language, while the robbery charge alleges a threat or the use of force by shooting at Martin. Because of the way the information was drafted, one cannot necessarily tell whether the means used to commit the robbery was something other than murder. In other words, it is entirely possible on the face of this charging information that the use of force alleged in the robbery count was in fact the killing alleged in the murder count. This is an ambiguity that creates a rebuttable presumption of a substantive double-jeopardy violation.