State of Indiana v. Raymond P. Coleman, 971 N.E.2d 209

In October 2008, the State charged Coleman with multiple offenses involving Tanya Pender.
The State subpoenaed Pender for a deposition on November 4, 2010; Pender did not appear and the deposition was rescheduled after locating her.
Before the May 17, 2011 trial, the State subpoenaed Pender to appear at trial; no deposition was scheduled; Coleman moved for a continuance for deposition, which the court granted and reset for August 9, 2011.
On August 9–10, 2011, Pender failed to appear; the State sought to have her declared unavailable to admit the deposition, but the trial court declined.
After denying the motion to reconsider, the State moved to dismiss; the court granted the dismissal and the State appealed, arguing statutory authorization to appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the State has statutory authorization to appeal the evidentiary ruling	Coleman lacks authorization; the State may appeal under IC 35-38-4-2(5).	There is no statutory right to appeal the ruling; the State cannot appeal this order.	The State lacks statutory authorization; the appeal is dismissed.

State v. Brunner, 947 N.E.2d 411 (Ind. 2011) (state’s right to appeal criminal matters is statutory and narrowly construed)
State v. Pease, 531 N.E.2d 1207 (Ind. Ct. App. 1988) (statutory right to appeal strictly construed against the State)
State v. Hobbs, 933 N.E.2d 1281 (Ind. 2010) (distinguishable suppression context; not controlling for the present evidentiary ruling)