James E. Saylor v. State of Indiana

VAIDIK, Chief Judge.

Case Summary

[1] James E. Saylor was convicted of molesting his stepdaughter, pled guilty to being a habitual offender, and was sentenced to 138 years. We affirmed on direct appeal. Saylor then sought post-conviction relief raising numerous issues, including that his trial counsel was ineffective for conceding his guilt to two counts of Class A felony child molesting during closing argument and that his guilty, plea to" the habitual-offender charge was not knowing, voluntary, and intelligent because he did not personally waive his right to a jury trial.

[2] As for Saylor’s…