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Thursday, April 01, 2010

Ind. Courts - "Allen County judges pulling weekend jail shifts"

Rebecca S. Green reports today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Allen County’s criminal court judges now are working weekends.

Weeks after a Fort Wayne woman sued the Allen County sheriff, alleging she had been held in jail too long without appearing before a judge, the procedures at the jail have changed, bringing judges in to review arrests each weekend.

According to Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull, judges and magistrates in the criminal division as well as Allen Circuit Court are now rotating through the jail on weekends, reviewing charging documents on Friday evenings and Saturdays.

LeTasha Myatt was arrested without a warrant and booked into the Allen County Jail about 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18, 2009, a Friday. She had an initial probable cause hearing at 9 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 21, and was released about 10 hours later, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in February.

Because she was not taken before a judge within 48 hours, or released after 48 hours, Myatt alleged the sheriff had violated her constitutional rights.

Federal law requires people who are arrested be presented before a judge or a magistrate within 48 hours for a determination whether there is probable cause for their arrest, according to the lawsuit.

While neither Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries nor Gull could comment specifically on the pending lawsuit, Gull said the recent changes stem from the suit.

Now all arrests made without warrants, often made at the scene of a crime, are reviewed by a judge or a magistrate within 24 to 36 hours. Arrests made Friday afternoon are reviewed Friday evening, arrests overnight Friday and into Saturday morning are reviewed Saturday afternoon, and Saturday arrests are held until Monday morning, Gull said.

The judge or magistrate goes to the jail, reviews the information surrounding the arrest and sets a bond amount, giving the defendant the opportunity to get out of jail over the weekend instead of waiting until Monday, Gull said.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 1, 2010 09:03 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts