FORT WAYNE – Indiana State Police have identified a trooper who shot and killed a man in Fort Wayne early Friday.Trooper Seth W.INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a new rule requiring electronic audio-video recordings of suspect interrogations before statements from the interviews can be entered into evidence in felony court proceedings.
The surprising move came on a 3-2 vote of the court.
"Electronically recorded interrogations are a potent law enforcement tool," the court order on the new rule said. "Confessions provide strong evidence of guilt, but often suspects make incriminating statements but later claim that police failed to give them required warnings or otherwise engaged in unlawful behavior."
But Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard dissented, saying that Indiana has not had problems with bad conduct by police and prosecutors.
"My assessment of the honesty and professionalism of Indiana's public safety officers leads me to conclude that today's action is not warranted," he said.
The court reviewed more than 300 comments submitted on the rule and included several exceptions to address some of the concerns.
The new rule applies only to statements made starting in 2011 – a delay given due to a request by Marion County law enforcement to buy equipment, train officers and implement new policies.
See for yourself
The court on Tuesday morning issued a statement about the ruling, including exceptions. To read the entire statement, verbatim, please click here.
