Appeals court hears local case here
Traveling judges to rule whether search was legal
In a sort of traveling legal road show, the Indiana Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday evening concerning a 2005 Allen County case, in the Allen County Courthouse.
A three-judge panel – Paul D. Mathias, Michael P. Barnes and Terry A. Crone – heard 30-minute presentations from both the state of Indiana, represented by Gary Secrest, chief counsel of the Appeals Division of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, and P. Stephen Miller, a Fort Wayne attorney representing Charles Parham.
Parham was arrested June 13, 2005, for going 58 mph in a 35-mph zone on South Anthony Boulevard.
When police pulled him over, they found him to be intoxicated and as they pulled him from the 2004 Chrysler, they found a loaded .357 Smith and Wesson revolver sticking out of a towel that was shoved under the driver’s seat, according to court documents.
The search occurred after Parham had been arrested, a passenger removed from the car and after the owner of the car came to the scene to claim it, according to court documents.
With prior drug-dealing convictions in Michigan, Parham was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a felony, as well as possession of marijuana and driving while intoxicated, both misdemeanors.
But during the course of court proceedings, Allen Superior Court Judge John Surbeck ruled police did not have probable cause to search the car and would not allow evidence of the gun’s discovery admitted at trial, according to court documents.
In October 2006, prosecutors dismissed the charges.
The state appealed Surbeck’s ruling, and the panel of appellate court judges will rule on whether he properly suppressed evidence of the handgun.
During oral arguments Wednesday, discussion seemed to center on whether vehicles had the same privacy protection as a home and why the officers searched the car in the first place.
Secrest argued, in part, that the police officer searched out of a concern for his own safety and to preserve evidence of whatever crime may have been committed.
But Miller said that because Parham had been arrested for the reason he had been stopped – on suspicion of drunken driving – there was no reason to search the car.
“I think there is no right to rummage through the vehicle once the purpose of the stop was fulfilled,” Miller said.
As in appeals initiated by the defense, the court should overturn the original decision only if the evidence leads the judges in the other direction, he said.
Wednesday night’s hearing was the appeals court’s fourth visit to Allen County and one of nearly 190 visits in the past six years around the state for the purpose of hearing oral arguments.
The court travels to help Indiana residents learn more about the judicial branch and sites for the “traveling oral arguments” include law schools, colleges, high schools and county courthouses.
After the 60-minute hearing, the judges took questions from the small audience in the ornate courtroom.
Mathias, a former Allen Superior Court judge, said the panel should reach a ruling on the case in the 30 to 60 days.
rgreen@jg.net