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Saturday, May 26, 2007

Ind. Courts - More on: Confiscating a student's cellphone results in appointment of special prosecutor

Last Sunday, May 20th, the ILB posted this entry where a Purdue student whose phone was confiscated by his professor during class (because he continued to use it after due warning) called the campus police after the professor told him he could pick up the phone the next morning from the dean's office.

The professor was Tippecanoe County Superior Court Judge Les Meade. The campus police told Judge Meade to return the phone to the student immediately or be charged with theft. Last week's story reported: "Richard Cosier, dean of the Krannert School of Management, then arrived * * * took the cell phone and returned it to the student, and admonished the student about rules against cell phone use during class."

Purdue officials forwarded the police report to the prosecutor.

The prosecutor appointed a special prosecutor "to avoid the appearance of impropriety" since the party was a county judge. Yesterday the special prosecutor ruled no criminal charges were warranted.

Today Joe Gerrety of the Lafayette Cournal & Courier reports:

Six weeks ago, Meade was teaching a business law class at Purdue when a student's cell phone began ringing. Meade took away the student's phone when he said the student failed to turn it off promptly.

Meade said he intended to turn it in to the dean's office the next morning. But the student, in a hurry to get his phone back, called Purdue police. Police officers told Meade if he failed to return the phone to the student, that refusal would constitute theft.

While Meade was discussing the matter with officers, Richard Cosier, dean of the School of Management, arrived, took possession of the phone and returned it to its owner after lecturing the student about rules against using cell phones during class.

Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said police reports on the incident were forwarded to the prosecutor's office as a matter of procedure without any expectation of further action. Prosecutor Pat Harrington said he sought the appointment of a special prosecutor to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

"Because the instructor involved (Meade) either was authorized to act as he did in the classroom, or reasonably believed he had such authority, no criminal charges are warranted," Ives wrote in a one-page report that he filed Friday.

Another phone incident punctuated the story yesterday, according to Gerrety's story today:
Special prosecutor Rob Ives had just delivered a report saying he would not be filing charges in connection with allegations of theft against Judge Les Meade when Ives' own cell phone began ringing in the middle of Meade's crowded courtroom.

"It was the perfect ending to this little annoyance," Meade said, laughing and noting that Ives' ringtone was the song "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won)." * * *

Ives had just dropped off a courtesy copy of the report to Meade in his courtroom Friday morning when he suffered his own cell phone faux pas. Ives quickly left the courtroom and turned off his phone while other attorneys nervously waited to see Meade's reaction.

A sign on the door of Meade's courtroom, Tippecanoe Superior Court 5, instructs those entering to turn off their cell phones.

Ives said another attorney at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse was trying to locate him for a scheduled hearing in another court, and Ives said he hadn't planned on being in a courtroom at the time.

As for being cleared of the theft allegation, Meade said it was what he expected.

"I always had complete confidence that the justice system would work properly," Meade said, "and it has."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 26, 2007 06:56 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts