The Indiana Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Tuesday in former Secretary of State Charlie White’s bid to overturn his voter fraud and other convictions that forced him from office.
White used his ex-wife's home in the Fishers community as his voting address in 2010 while serving on the Indianapolis suburb's town council and campaigning for secretary of state.But prosecutors say White was actually living with his fiancé outside the Fishers district. The Republican was convicted of six felonies.His appeals attorney, Andrea Ciabanu told the three-judge panel that White’s trial lawyer provided incompetent counsel."There was no offer of proof of anything. He paid his attorney a lot of money to prepare for this trial. There was supposed to be a three-week trial. He spent a lot of money on it. There was no case presented whatsoever," she said.But attorney for the state Justin Roebel says White’s new legal team has failed to prove that his trial counsel was inadequate."Much of what we heard today and they argued in their brief were really requests to re-weigh the evidence. The relevant facts here have already been found by a jury and by a post-conviction court," Roebel said.A judge previously denied White’s request for a new trial. The appeals court did not set a date to issue a ruling.
