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Friday, February 06, 2009

Ind. Courts - Marion County reportedly suspends bench warrants for delinquent parents

This ILB had this entry Tuesday, Feb. 3rd, thanks to a WTHR Ch. 13 story. Today Jon Murray of the Indianapolis Star has this front-page story, headed "Marion County judges revise policy on use of bench warrants." Some quotes:

More deadbeat parents could get away with skipping child support payments under a new policy limiting judges' ability to issue arrest warrants, the Marion County prosecutor says.

Marion Superior Court has purged more than 4,100 noncriminal arrest warrants issued by judges directly from the bench. The warrants often targeted parents who shirked child support and witnesses who ignored subpoenas to testify in court. Until now, all faced the risk that a traffic stop could be enough to land them in jail.

Court officials said their research has caused them to question whether Indiana law even permits bench warrants, which also are coming under scrutiny elsewhere in Indiana.

Their decision still allows an alternative type of warrant, typically used in contempt proceedings. But critics say that option lacks teeth.

"This order essentially creates a situation where all we can merely do is invite a person to come to court," said Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, whose lawyers file thousands of civil actions each year to force fathers and mothers to catch up on child support.

Supporters say the change recognizes the goal of getting absent witnesses and others in front of a judge without violating their right to due process.

When people have an outstanding bench warrant against them, a traffic stop for running a red light or speeding is likely to alert an officer to the warrant, resulting in an arrest on the spot.

Until now, few had questioned the entrenched use of bench warrants in some courts for such noncriminal situations. This week, Brizzi asked Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller for an advisory opinion on whether state law allows judges to issue them. Brizzi hadn't received an answer Thursday, and Zoeller's spokeswoman declined to comment.

Presiding Judge Robert Altice said he also wants the attorney general to look into the issue. He leads the four-judge executive committee that made the policy change last month.

"I think the whole system's naked without that tool," Altice said. "But it's something we want to make sure we do right."

More from the story:
[J]uvenile court Judge Marilyn Moores, said she understood prosecutors' frustration and said the legislature may need to craft a remedy. She found that judges across the state use a hodgepodge of bench warrants and the alternative now being urged, called a writ of body attachment.

In Marion County, some judges already use body attachments, but the court handling the bulk of contested child-support cases has relied heavily on bench warrants. * * *

The new policy doesn't affect arrest warrants issued when someone is charged with a crime or when a defendant out on bail fails to show up for hearings.

Judge Robyn Moberly, whose civil court handles some cases involving child support, said she has long relied on body attachments instead of warrants. She said the targeted person usually shows up.

"My sense is that it is essentially effective, without the danger of throwing somebody into jail," she said.

Murray also has this side-bar on "Warrants vs. Attachments":
When a Marion Superior Court judge issued a bench warrant -- a dozen or more times a day -- the sheriff's Civil Office received it. Deputies then could serve the warrant in person, but more often they simply entered it into a computer system accessible to police across the state when they conduct traffic stops.

The Civil Office handles the alternatives the court has turned to -- called body attachments -- differently, Capt. Norman Buckner said. It first mails a notice with a date for people to turn themselves in, or surrender. When recipients report in, officers escort them to court.

But if a recipient ignores the notice or the address is incorrect, Buckner said, there's no backup like the computer system for warrants. He said officers could try to find such people and detain them briefly, but only on a token basis.

Judges can issue a body attachment immediately in cases where the person ignores a subpoena, but sometimes the process is more cumbersome. State law requires that when people fail to show up or ignore a court order such as payment of child support, they must be given a second chance to attend and explain themselves.

The judge then could hold them in contempt and sentence them to jail.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 6, 2009 07:20 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts