Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
INDIANAPOLIS – Allen Circuit Judge Thomas Felts will keep his driver’s license after an initial hearing Wednesday morning in Marion Superior Court.
His attorney, James Voyles, entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. Felts was not in court.
Prosecutors said Felts’ license should be suspended based on a refusal to take two chemical breath tests.
Voyles told Marion County Judge William J. Nelson that his client took part in two tests that were deemed invalid, arguing that is not the same as refusing to take them.
The judge agreed, saying there was no probable cause that he refused the tests.
<*>Felts was arrested early Friday just off Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis on a charge of public intoxication and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, both misdemeanors.
<*>According to police, an officer with the Capital Police, a division of the Indiana State Police, pulled Felts over for failing to use his turn signal. When the 53-year-old judge went to put the car in park, he inadvertently put it in reverse, backing into the police car.
<*>After Felts failed a field sobriety test, he provided two invalid breath tests and was charged, according to a police report.
<*>Police obtained a search warrant and took a sample of Felts’ blood, which was turned over to the Indiana University Department of Toxicology for analysis.
<*>The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications could still file formal charges with the Clerk of the Supreme Court, as it did last week against Allen Superior Judge Kenneth Scheibenberger. He is accused of cursing at the family of a defendant in another courtroom. Scheibenberger believed the defendant sold his late son drugs.
Instead of filing formal charges, the commission and the judge could reach an agreement for a public admonishment.
