Court accepts ex-trustee Jennifer Teising's appeal brief

Convicted felon and former Wabash Township Trustee Jennifer Teising's appeal moved forward Wednesday.

The Indiana Court of Appeals published an order Wednesday accepting the brief outlining Teising's arguments against her convictions and sentencing. The brief was due July 8, but was not filed until 2 a.m. July 9.

Teising's appellate brief, however, has one minor error that will need to be fixed.

At the top of the filing, it has the correct Appeals Court case number, the correct trial court and the correct name of the trial court judge.

However, the filing has a Morgan County case number, not the Tippecanoe County case number for Teising's docket.

The Journal & Courier called and emailed Teising's attorney, Karen Celestino-Horseman, on Thursday after noticing the minor error and asked her for comment. She has yet to respond.

After the tardy filing, Teising's attorney, Karen Celestino-Horseman, filed a motion requesting the court accept the brief. The court published its order Wednesday and ordered the Indiana attorney general's office to file its rebuttal brief in 30 days.

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After both sides file their briefs, judges on the Appeals Court will review the arguments and eventually publish its decision.

Teising was convicted on Jan. 5 of 21 felony theft charges for accepting her township pay check while residing outside of the township. State civil law requires trustees to reside in the township or forfeit their office.

Celestino-Horseman's argument is that prosecutors used a civil law to create a criminal offense of theft.

Teising asks the court to overturn her conviction. She asks for new trial with a special prosecutor, claiming that Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington, a Republican, cannot be fair to a Democratic trustee.

Teising, a Democrat who was elected in 2018, sold her West Lafayette house in June 2020. She lived in her travel trailer for most of the year. During that time, the camper was parked at Teising's friend's house at 624 High St., in Anderson, at Tippecanoe County Councilwoman Lisa Dullum's rural Sheffield Township. Starting in late October 2020, Teising resided in an RV park in Panama City Beach, Florida.

At no time during her outings did she tell people where she was staying, and when the Journal & Courier asked her were she was during a Dec. 18, 2020, interview, she said it was "none of your business."

She was in Florida, and a USA Today Network photographer took pictures of her standing outside of her travel trailer in Florida on Dec. 22, 2020. The Journal & Courier then published its investigation that day, including the photos of Teising.

Teising claimed 132 Knox Drive as her residence, but neighbors who spoke to the Journal & Courier in December 2020 said Teising did not live there.

Teising's brief claims that her legal documents — her driver's license, voter registration, vehicle titles — all listed Knox Drive as her residence, regardless of where she might have lived while away from that address.

“Domicile means the place where a person has his true, fixed, permanent home and principal establishment, and to which place he has, whenever he is absent, the intention of returning," Teising's brief states.

It's the same argument that Celestino-Horseman unsuccessfully argued during the bench trial.

But Teising wasn't at her "true, fixed, permanent home" very often.

Testimony during her December bench trial indicated the state police investigation showed Teising stayed at 132 Knox Drive in West Lafayette for 27 days out of the 301 days, based on Teising's phone records.

Greg Michalski, the owner of the Knox Drive home and Teising's former boyfriend, testified that Teising was rarely at the house.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Former West Lafayette trustee's appeal accepted by the courts