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Friday, August 08, 2008
Ind. Decisions - "Weapons case appeal 'untimely'"
The Lafayette Journal & Courier has a story this afternoon on what apparently is a ruling of the Court of Appeals, but the ruling does not appear online:
The Carroll County prosecutor waited too long to appeal a judge's decision that evidence against a Cutler man accused of having a stash of guns, ammunition and explosives was inadmissible, Indiana's higher court ruled today.Carroll Circuit Court Judge Don Currie in April ordered that evidence seized at the home of Jessie W. Snider, 29, could not be submitted on grounds of an ineffective police search.
Two months later, Prosecutor Tricia Thompson moved to dismiss charges against Snider, which Currie granted the same day. Snider had been charged in Carroll Circuit Court with nine felonies, including possession of a destructive device, possession of a machine gun and dealing in marijuana.
Thompson on June 25 filed notice that she planned to appeal Currie's earlier ruling. But Currie said that had to be done within 30 days of his April 17 decision - directing the clerk not to assemble the record or transcribe any hearings in the case.
Thompson then petitioned the Indiana Court of Appeals for "writ of aid," asserting that she was allowed to file past the 30-day deadline under Indiana statute and by precedent from a 2000 appeals court ruling.
But the appeals court, in its unanimous ruling filed today, disagreed.
"To allow the state to wait any length of time it chooses to appeal a suppression order ... would be, at the very least, a violative of basic notions of fairness," Chief Judge John Baker wrote.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 8, 2008 02:57 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions