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Two years after he found himself mistakenly arrested on charges of child molesting, the victim of a typographical error, James V. Lemmon’s case against local law enforcement is over.
With the Indiana Court of Appeals upholding the dismissal of his lawsuit last month, Lemmon said he will not pursue it to a higher court and he remains appalled and disgusted by what happened to him.
In April 2005, officers from the Allen County Sheriff’s Department, along with a few federal marshals pounded on Lemmon’s front door. When he undid the deadbolt, police stormed inside, guns drawn and presented him with a warrant for his arrest on three charges of child molesting.
After a terrifying six hours in jail, Lemmon was released. Allen County prosecutors realized they made a mistake – issuing the warrant for a James V. Lemmon, as opposed to James Edward Lemmon. Along with the different middle initials, the men had different addresses, different ages and different physical descriptions.
Two employees at the prosecutor’s office were suspended without pay as a result of an internal investigation. James Edward Lemmon was arrested, convicted of one count of child molesting and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence.
In January 2006, James V. Lemmon sued Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards, then-Allen County Sheriff James Herman, officers and other “unknown employees” in the prosecutor’s office.
Last April, Wells Circuit Judge David L. Hanselman, Sr. dismissed Lemmon’s claims, finding both the prosecutor’s office and the sheriff’s department were immune from a lawsuit.
In a unanimous decision, three Indiana appellate court judges upheld Hanselman’s ruling, although they strongly admonished those involved in drawing up arrest warrants, according to court documents.
Regarding the prosecutor’s office, Indiana law immunizes prosecutors and their employees from civil liability for wrongful acts committed during the initiation of a criminal proceeding, according to court documents.
And in the case of the sheriff’s department and its employees, they are immune because they were executing a warrant that appeared to be valid, according to court documents.
For Lemmon, pursuing the case to the higher courts, such as the Indiana Supreme Court, is financially prohibitive, and the case would not likely be heard.
But it is not a decision he is happy about.
“I’m absolutely appalled,” he said. “I thought we were protected by our laws as law-abiding citizens. What this is telling me is that the police force can come into your house whether you’ve done anything or not.”
Since he was arrested, released and his record expunged, Lemmon said he reached a point where he had to come to terms with what happened to him and forgive those involved.
His anger caused him to become less than the husband and father he wanted to be and was eating up precious time. That had to change.
But Lemmon said he felt he had to take legal action in the beginning.
“I had to pursue it. It wasn’t about money at any time,” he said, noting he turned down an initial settlement offer.
A year ago, Lemmon said he wanted to see immunity laws changed so people can feel secure.
“It’s America. How can they say it’s OK,” he said. “It’s like we’re in a Communist state.”
Richards declined to comment on the recent appellate ruling because the deadline for an appeal to be filed with a higher court has not passed.
rgreen@jg.net
