Justices uphold IMPD arrest powers
A ruling was issued today in the case which questioned whether officers retained their sworn status and arresting powers when IPD & the Marion County Sheriff’s Department merged.
The Indiana Supreme Court’s Opinion can be found here.
The Indiana Supreme Court today overturned a Marion County judge’s dismissal of a woman’s drunken-driving case because the arresting officer had not been not sworn in after last year’s police merger.
The 5-0 decision says officers of the Indianapolis Police Department and Marion County Sheriff’s Department retained their sworn status and arrest powers when the two agencies were consolidated on Jan. 1, 2007.
Marion Superior Court Judge Reuben Hill had taken the defendant’s side in an Aug. 7 ruling, invalidating the arrest of Cheryl Oddi-Smith by the new Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and putting at risk thousands of other criminal cases. The Supreme Court took the Indiana attorney general’s appeal on an expedited basis, hearing arguments Nov. 14 in Indianapolis.
“We think it sufficient grounds to say that the arresting officer was recruited, trained, and sworn as an IPD officer and that he took all that with him to the IMPD,” concludes the 5-0 decision, written by Chief Justice Randall Shepard.
Source: IndyStar
January 10th, 2008 at 2:26 am
The IN Supreme Court justices exercised common sense, something that defense attorney Voyles argued against in this case. The local judge erred and his decision was rightfully overturned. If only all judges used a little more common sense in interpreting the law, our city/state would be much better off!
January 10th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
No Voyles-represented case I ever heard of had anything to do with common sense.