Zachary A.R. Pontius v. State of Indiana

── Zachary A.R. Pontius v. State of Indiana ── Court: Indiana Court of Appeals Date: May 20, 2026 Author: Paul Felix Category: General IN THE Court of Appeals of Indiana FILED Zachary A.R. Pontius, May 20 2026, 9:16 am Appellant-Defendant CLERK Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals and Tax Court v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff May 20, 2026 Court of Appeals Case No. 25A-CR-216 Appeal from the Elkhart Superior Court The Honorable Michael W. Reed, Special Judge Trial Court Cause No. 20D03-2101-F1-2 Opinion by Judge May Judge Mathias concurs Judge Felix concurs in result without opinion Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-216 | May 20, 2026 Page 1 of 12  May, Judge. [1] Zachary A.R. Pontius was convicted of three counts of Level 1 felony child molesting 1 and adjudicated a repeat sexual offender. 2 He then filed a motion to correct error that alleged the charges against him should have been dismissed pursuant to Indiana Criminal Rule 4(C), and the trial court denied his motion. Pontius presents one issue for our review: whether Indiana Criminal Rule 4(C) required dismissal of the charges against him. We affirm. Facts and Procedural History [2] On January 28, 2021, the State charged Pontius with three counts of Level 1 felony child molesting. The charging information alleged that between September 8, 2019, and May 14, 2020, Pontius, who was over twenty-one years old at the time, had on three occasions used his fingers to penetrate the vagina of a child who was under fourteen years old. The State later amended the charging information to allege Pontius was eligible for a repeat sexual offender sentence enhancement because of a prior conviction of Class D felony sexual battery. 3 Pontius was arrested on February 5, 2021, and he was released on bond a few days later. The trial court held Pontius’s initial hearing on March 11, 2021, and set Pontius’s trial to begin on June 14, 2021. 1 Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3(a)(1) (2015). 2 Ind. Code § 35-50-2-14 (2009). 3 Ind. Code § 35-42-4-8(a) (1998). Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-216 | May 20, 2026 Page 2 of 12 [3] During a pretrial conference on May 6, 2021, Pontius moved to continue his trial. The trial court granted the motion, vacated the June 14 trial date, and ruled the resulting delay was attributable to Pontius for the purpose of Criminal Rule 4. On July 1, 2021, the trial court reset Pontius’s jury trial to begin on September 27, 2021. On September 20, 2021, the trial court entered an order vacating Pontius’s trial due to court congestion, and the trial court rescheduled Pontius’s jury trial to begin on February 14, 2022. [4] On December 13, 2021, the trial court entered an order noting that a conflict required the presiding judge, the Honorable Teresa L. Cataldo, to recuse herself. The order referred the case to the Honorable Michael A. Christofeno to serve as special judge and ordered “[a]ll future hearings are hereby vacat