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Friday, December 01, 2006

Ind. Courts - "Appeals court has session in Jeff"

"Appeals court has session in Jeff: Panel hears arguments on legality of arrest in Marion County" is the headline to a story by Harold J. Adams in today's Louisville Courier Journal. Some quotes:

A case argued before the Indiana Court of Appeals -- "on the road" in Jeffersonville yesterday -- might define limits on when police officers can stop and search people.

A three-judge panel from the Indianapolis-based court heard arguments at Kye's at Water Tower Square.

he appeal is of a case in Marion Superior Court. But Chief Judge James Kirsch, Judge John Baker and Judge Melissa May heard arguments in Jeffersonville as part of an effort to teach more people about the court by hearing cases around the state.

Kirsch said it's important to let people see how the court operates.

The Sherman Minton Inn of Court, a group of local attorneys, was the session's host.

"People don't understand the law because they don't have contact with it," said Floyd Superior Court Judge Susan Orth, president of the group.

The case argued yesterday stems from a drug arrest made by an Indianapolis police officer in 2004. Defendant Bobby Greeno claims the officer had no reason to stop him and thus no reason to search him.

Officer Mark Spears was sent to a business called Contractors Plus after an anonymous caller told police that a man there named John Gregory was using the drug OxyContin. When Spears drove into the parking lot, Greeno was sitting outside on a roll of carpet, according to a case synopsis.

Greeno stood up and walked quickly toward the building when he saw the police car, and he ignored Spears' command to stop.

While Spears was delayed at the door by a dog, he could see Greeno, with his back to him and dressed in bib overalls and a leather jacket, "manipulating something" inside his jacket.

When the officer reached Greeno, he immediately patted him down and felt what he thought might be a knife.

He pulled the object out of Greeno's pocket, and it turned out to be a bottle containing several pills and a white substance. Greeno was charged with possession of methamphetamine and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.

Greeno, claiming the search was illegal, asked Marion Superior Court to throw out the drug find. When Judge Israel Cruz denied the motion, Greeno turned to the Court of Appeals.

Joseph Cleary, Greeno's appeals attorney, argued that Spears had no legal justification to search his client. "It has to be something more than a hunch" that something illegal is happening, Cleary said.

And even if the search had been legal, once the officer determined there was no knife, he had no right to open the pill bottle.

J.T. Whitehead, a deputy attorney general, countered that the anonymous call, along with Greeno's failure to stop, the motion of his hands inside his jacket and his "nervous comportment," provided justification for the officer to search him to ensure his own safety.

And once he found what he thought was an illegal drug, he was justified in seizing and opening the bottle, Whitehead said.

The appeals panel seemed skeptical, judging from their questions to Whitehead.

"In my practical experience I have never mistaken a pill bottle for a knife," Kirsch said. "How reasonable is that testimony?"

The appeals court frequently holds its on-the-road sessions at high schools around the state. The invited guests at yesterday's arguments included five students from New Albany High.

In a question-and-answer session after the arguments, student Alicia Reising asked, "What made you decide to become a judge?"

May answered, "I was a music major in college to start out. … When I found out I couldn't be a concert pianist, I said I have to figure out something to do."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 1, 2006 08:37 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions