Uliana
A Bargersville-based defense attorney is a finalist for a soon-to-be vacant seat on the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Criminal defense attorney Stacy Uliana is one of three nominees that was selected by the seven-member Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission Monday to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals. Morgan County Superior Court Judge Peter Foley and Owen County Circuit Judge Kelsey Hanlon were also selected to fill the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of Judge Edward W. Najam Jr.
The open seat is in the court’s First District, which hears cases from Southern Indiana, including Johnson County.
Uliana is a life-long Indiana resident, and received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University — Bloomington in 1994 and later received a law degree from the IU McKinney School of Law in 1997. Since then, she has been a criminal defense attorney.
She is the sole practitioner at Uliana Law, located in downtown Bargersville, which she has managed since 2005. Her practice focuses on representing criminal defendants around the state and in federal courts at the trial, appellate and post-conviction levels. Her legal work includes both criminal jury and bench trials, helping draft new court rules and contributing to legal journals and publications, according to her application.
Uliana notably worked to help free David Camm, a former Indiana State Police trooper who was accused of murdering his wife and two children in 2000. Camm had said he was innocent but was convicted in two jury trials on the charges. However, both convictions were later reversed 13 years later.
While she was not the attorney for his first trial, Uliana was one of the attorneys who represented Camm in two of his other jury trials, along with four appeals and several hearings. During his last trial in 2013, he was acquitted of the charges, both her application and court records say.
The actual killer of Camm’s family, Charles Boney, was found using DNA evidence and was convicted in 2006, according to her application and news reports.
Uliana is also an adjunct professor at the IU McKinney School of Law, where she has co-taught trial practice with seven other attorneys and an Indiana Court of Appeals Judge since 2017. Beginning this fall, she is also contracted to teach a course at IU Bloomington focusing on the interaction of mental health and the criminal justice system.
She also previously worked for the Indiana Public Defender Council and Liell & McNeil, a Bloomington law firm. She was also a clerk for Indiana Federal Community Defenders and Wilson, Kehoe Winingham in Indianapolis, and interned for a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana while in law school, her application says.
Uliana feels privileged and honored to be selected as one of the nominees for the vacancy, she said Wednesday afternoon.
“It would be wonderful to be able to serve the citizens of Indiana as a Court of Appeals judge,” Uliana said.
Now that the finalists have been selected, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush will submit a report on behalf of the commission to Gov. Eric Holcomb in the coming days. After receiving the list of nominees, Holcomb has 60 days to make his selection for the vacancy, according to an Indiana Judicial Branch news release.
Commission members conducted interviews with nine applicants, including Uliana, on Monday. After deliberating in an executive session, the commission publicly voted to send the three nominees to Holcomb, the news release said.
Members considered applicants’ legal education, writings, reputation in the practice of law, and other pertinent information when making their decision, court officials said.
