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Feb. 12, 2026 Get Citation Alerts Download PDF Add Note

Lamenski Ewing v. State of Indiana

Indiana Supreme Court

• Citations: None known
• Docket Number: 26S-CR-00043
• Panel: Mark S. Massa, Loretta H. Rush
• Judges: Molter, Rush, Massa, Slaughter, Goff

• Disposition: Reversed

• Opinion

• Authorities (17)

• Cited By (0)

• Summaries (0)

• Similar Cases (9.1K)

• PDF

Disposition

Reversed

Combined Opinion

                        by Justice Molter

FILED
Feb 12 2026, 4:03 pm

CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
and Tax Court

IN THE

Indiana Supreme Court
Supreme Court Case No. 26S-CR-43

Lamenski Ewing,
Appellant/Defendant,

–v–

State of Indiana,
Appellee/Plaintiff.

Argued: September 25, 2025 | Decided: February 12, 2026

Appeal from the Vanderburgh Circuit Court
No. 82C01-2204-F3-1994
The Honorable Celia Pauli, Magistrate

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals
No. 24A-CR-1721

Opinion by Justice Molter
Chief Justice Rush and Justice Goff concur.
Justice Slaughter dissents with separate opinion in which Justice Massa joins.
Molter, Justice.

Lamenski Ewing appeals his probation revocation. He argues the
community corrections case manager’s petition to revoke his work release
did not notify him that the prosecutor was also seeking to revoke his
subsequent probation too. We agree, so we grant transfer and reverse his
probation revocation.

Facts and Procedural History
Ewing pleaded guilty to criminal confinement (Level 3 felony) and
interfering with reporting a crime (Class A misdemeanor). As a result, the
trial court sentenced him to an aggregate five-year term: two years
through time already served and work release, then three years of
probation. Ewing’s plea agreement said that if he violated the rules of any
“Court-sponsored program”—work release in this case—the violation
“will result in revocation of the Defendant’s placement on the Court-
sponsored program and execution of the Defendant’s sentence.” App. Vol.
2 at 40.

In August 2023, Ewing failed to return to the work release facility. So,
three days after he was supposed to return, his community corrections
case manager filed a Petition and Affidavit of Probable Cause for
Revocation of Vanderburgh County Therapeutic Work Release Program.
The petition requested that the court revoke Ewing’s work release because
he was “AWOL” in violation of the program’s rules. Id. at 74. Critical here,
it said nothing about revoking his probation and did not request that the
court revoke the suspended portion of his sentence.

Several months later, Ewing was arrested and charged with the failure
to return to lawful detention (Level 6 felony) based on his failure to return
to the work release facility. He pleaded guilty, and the trial court
sentenced him to a year in the Department of Correction. At that
sentencing hearing, the judge also addressed the community corrections
petition to revoke work release. Ewing admitted to violating the terms of
his work release, and the State then asked the court to revoke not only his
work release privileges but also his probation. Ewing’s attorney objected,

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 2 of 13
arguing that revoking his probation would violate his due process rights
because the only petition before the court was a petition to revoke work
release. There was no petition to revoke probation.

The trial court disagreed. It explained that probation can be revoked
even before it begins, and it would be illogical to put Ewing on probation
after his noncompliance with work release, which is a more restrictive
program than probation. The trial court therefore granted both requests—
the case manager’s written request to revoke Ewing’s work release
privileges and the prosecutor’s oral request to revoke his probation—and
the court ordered the remainder of Ewing’s sentence executed in the
Department of Correction.

Ewing appealed, arguing (1) the trial court did not have the statutory
authority to revoke his probation because the State had not filed a petition
to revoke probation, and (2) the trial court violated his due process rights
under the Fourteenth Amendment by revoking his probation without
giving him adequate notice. In a unanimous, published opinion, the Court
of Appeals affirmed, finding no error. Ewing v. State, 252 N.E.3d 449
(Ind. Ct. App. 2025).

Addressing Ewing’s first argument, the Court of Appeals held that the
trial court had the authority to revoke Ewing’s probation under Indiana
Code section 35-38-2.6-5(a)(4). Id. at 455. That statute authorizes the court
to revoke placement in a community corrections program and to commit
the defendant to the county jail or Department of Correction when the
defendant violates the terms of the placement.

Addressing Ewing’s second argument, the Court of Appeals held there
was no due process violation. It reasoned that the case manager’s petition
to revoke work release gave Ewing notice that his probation could be
revoked too. This was so, the court said, because Ewing agreed in his plea
agreement that violating the work release program’s rules would result in
the execution of his sentence. Id. at 454. The trial court also reminded him
of that fact during his plea hearing on the failure to return charge. Id. Even
setting all that aside, the Court of Appeals concluded it isn’t necessary to
advise a defendant that committing a new crime could result in probation

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 3 of 13
revocation because that condition of probation is automatically included
by operation of law. Id.

Ewing then petitioned for transfer, which we now grant, thus vacating
the opinion of the Court of Appeals. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A).

Standard of Review
We review probation revocations for an abuse of discretion, Woods v.
State, 892 N.E.2d 637, 639 (Ind. 2008), and one way a trial court exceeds its
discretion is by misinterpreting the law, Mitchell v. 10th & The Bypass, LLC,
3 N.E.3d 967, 970 (Ind. 2014). Whether the notice to a defendant that the
State seeks to revoke probation satisfies due process is a legal question we
consider de novo. Russell v. State, 234 N.E.3d 829, 857 (Ind. 2024).

Discussion and Decision
We grant transfer to answer this question: Does a petition to revoke
work release provide adequate notice that the State also seeks to revoke
probation for the subsequent suspended portion of the sentence when the
petition mentions neither probation nor the suspended portion of the
sentence? Ewing argues the answer is no, and the State argues the answer
is yes. We agree with Ewing, and our analysis proceeds in two steps. First,
we explain that a prosecutor cannot seek a sanction for violating the rules
of work release or probation that is different than the sanction sought in
the revocation petition(s) that is (are) the subject of a final revocation
hearing. And second, we explain that the probation revocation here went
beyond the work release revocation identified in the petition.

I. Due process precludes the State from seeking a
sanction that deviates from the sanction(s)
requested in the revocation petition(s).
The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that no
State shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 4 of 13
process of law.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. Due process “requires
reasonable notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard.” Rotert v.
Stiles, 174 N.E.3d 1067, 1070 (Ind. 2021).

Ewing argues his due process right to notice was violated because the
State sought a different sanction (probation revocation) than the one the
community corrections case manager identified in the revocation petition
(work release revocation). There was never any petition to revoke Ewing’s
probation, the State concedes, but it argues that doesn’t matter. What
matters from the State’s perspective is that the law and Ewing’s plea
agreement were enough to alert him that probation revocation was a
legally authorized sanction for breaking the work release rules.

Before evaluating the notice Ewing received, we first outline the
contours of his due process right to notice in the probation revocation
context. In particular, we explain that due process protections apply to
revocation proceedings, and that means a prosecutor cannot seek a
sanction that deviates from the sanction in the revocation petition(s) the
court considers at the final hearing.

A. Due process applies to revocation proceedings.

Both work release and probation are alternatives to incarceration
through the Department of Correction. Cox v. State, 706 N.E.2d 547, 549
(Ind. 1999). Each is a “matter of grace,” a “conditional liberty that is a
favor, not a right.” Id. (quotations omitted). Liberty is conditioned on
complying with the rules of the work release program and the court. And
if a program participant or probationer breaks those rules, the court may
remove them from the program and/or order that their previously
suspended sentence be executed instead. Ind. Code § 35-38-2.6 -5(a)–(b)
(work release); I.C. § 35-38-2-3(h)(3) (probation).

Before a court revokes work release or probation, though, it must
provide due process. Cox, 706 N.E.2d at 549. Due process in this context is
flexible. It allows “courts to enforce lawful orders, address an offender’s
personal circumstances, and protect public safety, sometimes within
limited time periods.” Reyes v. State, 868 N.E.2d 438, 440 (Ind. 2007). So

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 5 of 13
neither a petition to revoke work release nor a petition to revoke
probation triggers the “full array of constitutional rights afforded
defendants at trial.” Cox, 706 N.E.2d at 549.

Still, due process imposes procedural and substantive limits for
revocation proceedings. Id. Those limits require:

(a) written notice of the claimed violations of [work release or]
probation; (b) disclosure to the [program participant or]
probationer of the evidence against him or her; (c) opportunity
to be heard in person and to present witnesses and
documentary evidence; (d) the right to confront and cross-
examine adverse witnesses (unless the hearing officer
specifically finds good cause for not allowing confrontation);
(e) a neutral and detached hearing body; and (f) a written
statement by the factfinder as to the evidence relied on and
reasons for revoking [work release or] probation.

Puckett v. State, 956 N.E.2d 1182, 1186 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

This case turns on the notice requirement.

B. Due process limits the sanctions a prosecutor can
seek to those identified in the revocation petition(s)
subject to the final hearing.

Notice must be sufficiently detailed and timely to provide a reasonable
opportunity to prepare a defense. See, e.g., Bovie v. State, 760 N.E.2d 1195,
1999 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002) (explaining that notice must be “sufficiently

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 6 of 13
detailed to allow the probationer to prepare an adequate defense”).1 That
means, in part, the State cannot seek revocation based on alleged facts or
violations that are different from those alleged in the revocation petition.
See, e.g., Long v. State, 717 N.E.2d 1238, 1240 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999)
(explaining that “probation may not be revoked based upon proof of an
act that is merely similar in nature to the violation charged in the written
notice”); Hubbard v. State, 683 N.E.2d 618, 622 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997)
(concluding that the court could not base its revocation of probation on
the probationer’s failure to take a test because that was not a basis “set out
in the State’s petition for revocation”).

A related question arises here. Although the State can’t deviate from
the petition’s factual allegations, can the State seek a sanction (probation
revocation) that deviates from the one the petition identifies (work release
revocation)? We conclude due process doesn’t permit either deviation for
the same reason: both thwart the ability to prepare a defense.

Revocation proceeds in two steps. First, the court decides whether there
was a violation of the terms of the program or probation. Parker v. State,
676 N.E.2d 1083, 1085 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997). Second, if there was a
violation, then the court decides the consequence. Id. Just as changing the
alleged violations or factual basis at the first step thwarts the defense
preparation, so too does changing the requested sanction at the second
step.

One reason is that it is common to admit alleged violations, as Ewing
did here. When someone violates the terms of probation, a variety of
results may follow. The court may “[c]ontinue the person on probation,
with or without modifying or enlarging the conditions.” I.C. § 35-38-2-

1See also United States v. Davila, 573 F.2d 986, 987–88 (7th Cir. 1978) (reversing a probation
revocation because “it was not until the final hearing itself that Davila received any written
petition, motion or rule which specified the grounds on which the Government sought to
revoke his probation”); see generally Wayne R. LaFave et al., 6 Criminal Procedure § 26.10(b)
(2024); Neil P. Cohen, Law of Probation & Parole § 23:32 (2025) (“What is needed is sufficient
notice . . . to permit the alleged violator to offer any reasonably available defense to the
charges.”).

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 7 of 13
3(h)(1). The court may extend the probationary period for up to an
additional year. I.C. § 35-38-2-3(h)(2). Or the court may “[o]rder execution
of all or part of the sentence that was suspended at the time of initial
sentencing.” I.C. § 35-38-2-3(h)(3). There is a similar menu for violating the
terms of placement in a community corrections program. The community
corrections director may “[c]hange the terms of the placement,”
“[c]ontinue the placement,” “[r]eassign a person assigned to a specific
community corrections program to a different community corrections
program,” or “[r]equest that the court revoke the placement and commit
the person to the county jail or department of correction for the remainder
of the person’s sentence.” I.C. § 35-38-2.6-5(a)(1)–(4).

Whatever the alleged violation, when deciding whether to admit the
allegation, how extensive a defense to mount, or which alternatives to
incarceration to propose, the accused should be able to rely on the
sanction the revocation petition identifies absent notice that the court may
impose a different sanction. In other words, the program participant or
probationer should be able to infer from the request for a particular
sanction that community corrections or the prosecutor will not seek
different or additional sanctions at the final hearing. See State v. Home
Brewing Co. of Indianapolis, 105 N.E. 909, 916 (Ind. 1914) (describing the
“old maxim of the law” that the “express mention of one person or thing
is the exclusion of another” (quotations omitted)).

We anticipated this due process limitation in Braxton v. State, 651
N.E.2d 268, 270 (Ind. 1995). In that case, Braxton had a fifteen-year
sentence with one year suspended to home detention and thirteen years
suspended to probation. Id. at 269. After she violated the home detention
conditions by tampering with her monitoring device, the trial court
revoked all of her suspended sentence—home detention and probation—
and ordered that she serve the remainder in the Department of Correction.
Id.

The notice that the State was seeking to revoke home detention did not
mention probation. But our Court concluded that Braxton had adequate
notice that probation could be revoked too because the trial court warned
her at her initial hearing for the revocation proceedings that the court

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 8 of 13
might reimpose the entirety of the suspended sentence if the allegations
were proven. Id. at 270. Critically, we said things might have been
different if Braxton had not had actual notice that the State was seeking to
revoke her probation in addition to revoking home detention. Id. (“Had
. . . Braxton had no actual notice that it was revocation of her probation
that the State was seeking, we might very well have concluded along with
the Court of Appeals that Braxton did not receive the notice to which due
process entitled her.”).

The cases the State cites illustrate the same point. In McCauley v. State,
the Court of Appeals held there was no due process violation because
“[t]he State’s notice of violation specifically asked the trial court to revoke
both home detention and probation.” 22 N.E.3d 743, 748 (Ind. Ct. App.
2014), trans. denied. In Wright v. State, there was no due process violation
because “[w]hile not specifically including the word ‘probation,’ the
written notices of violation were seeking to have Wright’s community-
corrections and probation placements revoked as the State requested that
‘all’ of the sentence be imposed.” No. 24A-CR-1, at *3 (Ind. Ct. App. June
11, 2024) (mem.); see also Christie v. State, 939 N.E.2d 691, 694 (Ind. Ct. App.
2011) (holding that notice was adequate because “revocation of Christie’s
suspended sentence necessarily entailed revocation of his community
corrections placement, and the State’s explicit notice of the former implied
notice of the latter”). Similarly, in Patterson v. State, Patterson confirmed at
his initial hearing on a petition to revoke his work release that “he
understood he could be ordered to serve the remainder of his sentence if
he was found to have violated the terms of his placement.” 750 N.E.2d
879, 885 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001). In all these cases, the Court of Appeals
concluded notice was adequate because the probationer was alerted
through either the petition or the initial hearing that the trial court was
considering whether to revoke their probation.

Consistent with these cases, we hold the State cannot seek sanctions
beyond those identified in a revocation petition unless the defendant has
actual notice that the State is seeking those sanctions. And we conclude
the State did not provide that notice here, which we discuss next.

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 9 of 13
II. The State did not give Ewing notice that it was
seeking to revoke his probation.
The petition to revoke Ewing’s work release was straightforward.
Titled “Petition and Affidavit of Probable Cause for Revocation of
Vanderburgh County Therapeutic Work Release Program,” it alleged that
Ewing violated the work release rules by failing to return to the facility.
App. Vol. 2 at 74. And it asked the court to revoke Ewing’s work release as
a result. The petition never mentioned probation, never mentioned the
portion of Ewing’s sentence suspended to probation, and never sought
any relief related to probation.

What we imagined in Braxton is precisely what happened here. Ewing
had notice that his community corrections case manager was seeking to
revoke his work release, but he had no notice, until after he admitted the
violation, that the prosecutor was also seeking to revoke his probation.
Because the case manager and prosecutor had identified only work release
revocation as the requested sanction, Ewing could reasonably infer they
were not seeking any other sanction.

The State disagrees, arguing Ewing had ample notice that it was
seeking to revoke his probation. But each of the State’s arguments fails.

A. The State cannot rely solely on Ewing’s knowledge
of what sanctions the law permits.

First, the State says Ewing had notice that the Indiana Code authorized
the judge to revoke both work release and probation because Ewing
violated the work release terms. For that point, the State cites Indiana
Code section 35-38-2.6-5(a)(4), which permits a trial court to “revoke the
placement and commit the person to the county jail or department of
correction for the remainder of the person’s sentence” when a person
violates the terms of placement. Also, trial courts “may revoke the
probation” of a person “[i]f the person commits an additional crime,” as
Ewing admitted he did when he absconded. I.C. 35-38-2-1(b); Luke v. State,
51 N.E.3d 401, 421 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016) (“The requirement that a
probationer obey federal, state, and local laws is automatically a condition

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 10 of 13
of probation by operation of law.”), trans. denied. And Ewing initialed a
paragraph in his plea agreement that informed him that a violation of a
court-sponsored program would result in the execution of his sentence.

The State’s argument, echoed in the dissenting opinion, conflates notice
of what the law permits with notice of what the State requests. As we
explained in the previous section, due process requires more than just the
defendant’s actual or constructive knowledge of what the law or a prior
agreement permits; the defendant must be informed what sanctions the
State actually seeks, or at least what sanctions the court is considering if
they may be different than what is sought in the petition. That is the
lesson of Braxton, McCauley, Wright, and Patterson. In each of those cases,
either the State mentioned in its petition that it was seeking probation
revocation, or the trial court warned the probationer at the initial hearing
that the court was contemplating revocation as a sanction. Neither
happened here.

The dissenting opinion also emphasizes the plea agreement’s statement
that a violation of work release rules “will result” in an executed sentence,
post, at 2, but that provision isn’t self-enforcing. The State must petition
the court to enforce it, and there is no dispute that the petition must
comply with due process. That due process requirement precludes the
State from misleading Ewing by telling him it is petitioning for one
sanction (work release revocation) when it is really seeking much more
(subsequent probation revocation). While the dissenting opinion says
we’re wrong about that, it doesn’t cite any cases condoning this sort of
misdirection.

B. None of the hearings after Ewing’s work release
violation adequately advised him that the violation
might result in probation revocation.

Next, the State argues the trial court warned Ewing that because the
State alleged he violated work release conditions, he also faced the
possibility of probation revocation. For this warning, the State points to
Ewing’s initial hearing on his new criminal charge for failure to return.

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 11 of 13
There the judge told Ewing that if the judge granted the case manager’s
petition, the judge “could order that [his] sentence . . . be revoked and [he]
serve that sentence in the county jail or the department of correction.”
Tr. at 5. But when the judge asked whether Ewing understood, he
responded that he did not hear what the judge said. Id. at 5–6. The judge
tried again, warning that “Work Release filed a petition to revoke your
sentence there and if the Court revokes that sentence, you could serve that
sentence in jail or prison.” Id. at 6. But when Ewing asked—“What
sentence?”—the judge responded by simply appointing counsel to
represent Ewing, never answering his question. Id. That did not put
Ewing on notice that he faced the revocation of his probation in addition
to the revocation of work release.

The State also points to the plea hearing at which Ewing pleaded guilty
to the failure to return charge and a misdemeanor false informing charge.
There the judge advised Ewing that if “these crimes were committed
while [he was] on probation, parole or serving a prison or . . . any
sentence, the sentence for these crimes cannot begin until the others have
ended,” and “[t]hese are called consecutive sentences.” Id. at 19–20. Ewing
responded that he understood.

Then the judge warned, “Do you understand that a violation during
any portion of your sentence on that probation may result in your entire
sentence being revoked and ordered executed at the” Department of
Correction? Id. at 20 (emphasis added). Ewing responded, “Yes.” Id. But
Ewing was on work release, not probation, when he failed to return, so the
judge’s warning did not preview for Ewing that the court was considering
revoking his probation on the pending petition to revoke work release.

Lastly, the State points out that the trial court rejected a plea agreement
to resolve Ewing’s new charges because that agreement called for
suspending a portion of his sentence to probation, and Ewing had just
failed to comply with the conditions for the more restrictive work release
program. That further proves Ewing’s point. Even though he broke the
rules of work release, the State still wanted to put him on probation for
one of his new criminal charges. Seeking probation for a new charge

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 12 of 13
suggested the State was not necessarily seeking to revoke his probation for
the previous conviction.

Avoiding this sort of notice problem is not difficult. For example, if a
prosecutor wishes to seek sanctions beyond those that community
corrections requests in its petition, the prosecutor can file a second
petition identifying the additional sanctions the prosecutor seeks, and the
trial court can hear both petitions together at a final hearing. But because
here the only revocation petition sought to revoke only work release, we
hold that the trial court erred by revoking Ewing’s probation too.

Conclusion
For these reasons, we reverse the revocation of Ewing’s probation.

Rush, C.J., and Goff, J., concur.
Slaughter, J., dissents with separate opinion in which Massa, J., joins.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT
Matthew J. McGovern
McGovern Law Office
Fishers, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Theodore E. Rokita
Attorney General of Indiana

Caroline G. Templeton
Supervising Deputy Attorney General

Daylon L. Welliver
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 13 of 13
Slaughter, J., dissenting.

The Court reinstates probation for defendant, Lamenski Ewing, who vi-
olated the terms of his probation when he absconded from his work-re-
lease program for seven months before he was eventually re-arrested. The
Court holds that the trial court should not have revoked Ewing’s proba-
tion because he did not know the State was seeking that sanction against
him. In fact, Ewing had actual knowledge—and his plea agreement said in
writing—that “any violation” of his probation “will result in revocation”
of probation and “execution of” his sentence. And that is exactly what the
trial court did here: It revoked Ewing’s probation and ordered him to
serve the rest of his sentence with the department of correction. Yet the
Court holds this disposition was illegal because the State’s petition sought
only to revoke his placement in the work-release program and not his pro-
bation. I respectfully dissent.

A

Ewing went missing from his work-release program in August 2023. A
few days later, his community-corrections case manager concluded that
Ewing was AWOL, absent without leave. The State, acting through the
case manager, petitioned the trial court to revoke his work release. Ewing
was re-arrested in March 2024. He admitted violating the terms of his
work release and pleaded guilty to failure to return to the work-release fa-
cility, a Level 6 felony. The trial court imposed a one-year executed sen-
tence, and it revoked Ewing’s community-corrections placement and his
probation.

B

Like all criminal defendants, probationers have certain due-process
rights, Cox v. State, 706 N.E.2d 547, 549 (Ind. 1999), one of which is the
right to receive “written notice of the claimed violations” before a court re-
vokes their probation. Isaac v. State, 605 N.E.2d 144, 148 (Ind. 1992). Notice
must be sufficient to allow the defendant to prepare an adequate defense
against the charged violations. Bovie v. State, 760 N.E.2d 1195, 1199 (Ind.
Ct. App. 2002).

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 1 of 3
Ewing did not contest that he failed to return to work release or that his
failure to return broke work-release rules or that breaking work-release
rules violated the terms of his probation. Yet the Court finds a due-process
violation because the State’s petition sought to revoke only his work re-
lease and did not mention revoking his probation. There is no dispute that
Ewing had actual knowledge from statutory law, Ind. Code § 35-38-2.6 -
5(a), that the revocation of probation was a possible outcome for violating
probation. And he had actual knowledge from his plea agreement that the
revocation of probation was a certain (“will result”) outcome for violating
probation. Thus, he had actual knowledge of both the violation and the
consequences. Due process required nothing more.

The Court holds otherwise, concluding that the probationer must re-
ceive “actual notice” of the State’s requested sanction within the revoca-
tion petition itself or through the trial court’s advisement at the initial
hearing. Ante, at 6–9 (Part I.B). Our case law does not compel today’s limi-
tation on “actual notice”. Indeed, we specifically rejected requiring “actual
notice” in the revocation petition in Braxton v. State, 651 N.E.2d 268 (Ind.
1995). There, we held the probationer had adequate notice when the trial
court warned at the initial hearing that her probation could be revoked
due to her conduct, though the petition said nothing about that sanction.
Id. at 270. Critically, Braxton neither defined “actual notice” nor set the
minimum notice required to meet due process. It simply noted in dictum
that “we might very well have concluded” that notice would have been
insufficient without the trial court’s advisement at the hearing. Ibid. The
Court ignores Braxton’s holding and overstates Braxton’s implications
here.

Nor do the three appellate cases on which the Court relies compel to-
day’s holding. Ante, at 9 (citing Wright v. State, No. 24A-CR-1 (Ind. Ct.
App. June 11, 2024) (mem.); McCauley v. State, 22 N.E.3d 743 (Ind. Ct. App.
2014); Patterson v. State, 750 N.E.2d 879 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001)). All three
cases held that the defendant had sufficient notice that his probation could
be revoked. And none precluded using a probationer’s knowledge of the
potential sanction, outside of what is contained in the revocation petition,
as evidence of “actual notice”. Thus, the Court creates an arbitrary rule
that looks only to the petition and the trial court’s comments during the

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 2 of 3
revocation hearing to determine if Ewing had actual notice of the sanction
but disregards the notice provided by both the applicable statute and the
plea agreement.

The Court also tries to justify its decision by noting that Ewing’s plea
agreement—specifying that “any violation” of probation “will result in
[its] revocation”—is insufficient because the agreement is not, in the
Court’s words, “self-enforcing”. Ante, at 11. True, the agreement is not
self-enforcing. But that just means the consequences of violating probation
do not occur automatically. They require the State to take the additional,
affirmative step of filing a petition advising Ewing of the charges giving
rise to his probation violation. The State, through the community-correc-
tions case manager, did just that. Its petition notified him of how he vio-
lated probation. And his plea agreement, along with the governing stat-
ute, notified him of the implications. Together, these things fulfilled all
that due process requires.

To be sure, the better practice would have been for the State’s petition
to specify the entirety of relief it was seeking against Ewing, including
probation. Alternatively, as the Court notes, the State could have filed a
second petition alongside the case manager’s petition. Ante, at 13. But due
process, as the Court’s own authorities show, does not require the State to
integrate all notice into one or more petitions to revoke. Until today, nei-
ther did our precedent.

I respectfully dissent.

Massa, J., joins.

Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-CR-43 | February 12, 2026 Page 3 of 3