INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana senator said some Indiana prosecutors may need a lesson in basic civics.
Republican Sen. Aaron Freeman, whose district covers part of Marion County, has proposed a law that would allow a special prosecutor to step in on a case, if a county prosecutor isn’t bringing charges in a situation where someone has allegedly broken the law.
Senate Bill 284 passed in the Senate earlier this session.
The House’s Courts and Criminal Code Committee looked at the bill Wednesday.
“It’s time we go back and watch School House Rock and understand what the three branches of government do,” Freeman told the committee.
Freeman hopes his bill will refresh the memories of Indiana prosecutors.
“The legislature makes the laws, and the executive carries out those laws,” Freeman said.
Senate Bill 284 would create a three-member board of prosecutors to investigate claims that another prosecutor was not enforcing the law.
Only two members of the board could be from the same political party.
Board members would be from different areas of the state and have at least 12 years of experience.
“It’s non-partisan. It’s seasoned prosecutors,” Freeman explained. He claims he didn’t have in mind any specific Indiana prosecutor.
“This issue to me is not about one person. This issue, I think, is a nationwide problem and something that’s coming to an Indiana county near you,” he said.
When the Senate debated the bill earlier this session, Marion County came up in the discussion.
In 2019, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced his office would no longer prosecute people for possessing under 30 grams of marijuana.
Earlier this month, Mears spoke to 13 News about the proposed law that could result in questions about that stance.
“I think the reality is the protections you see with three prosecutors serving on a panel and going before a judge is designed to protect the good ole boy network to try and make sure the status quo is maintained,” Mears said, explaining at the time, that his office had 150 pending cases involving marijuana possession, but said it wasn’t the main priority.
“We need to be putting our best prosecutors and putting a ton of effort into our homicide cases, into our sex crime cases, and that’s where those resources are going,” Mears said earlier this month.
Other critics of 284 have questioned whether the law would create strife amongst Indiana’s prosecutors.
“You’re going to have a few prosecutors from counties that have different viewpoints on criminal justice and the best way to approach reducing crime, and you’re going to have people who may have more of a zero-tolerance approach,” said Democratic Rep. Matt Pierce. “I could see you ending up with one set of prosecutors with one approach, deciding they’re going to impose that on other prosecutors in other counties."
Freeman doesn’t see it that way.
“When you have a prosecutor who’s just unwilling to do his or her job, it’s time. Somebody’s going to step up and do that job,” Freeman said.
Senate Bill 284 passed out of the House’s Courts and Criminal Code committee Wednesday by a vote of 9 to 4. It now heads to the House Floor.