Challenge coming for Indiana police ruling

An Indiana attorney will ask the state’s Supreme Court to reconsider a controversial decision that involves police entry into homes. The original case started with the arrest of Richard Barnes in Evansville, a city in the far southwestern corner of the state.

In late 2007 Evansville police tried to enter Barnes’ home after being called to quell a domestic disturbance between Barnes and his wife. According to court records, Barnes told officers that they were not needed. Barnes and his wife tried heading back to their apartment. Police followed and then asked to be allowed inside. Barnes refused and shoved an officer. The officer entered anyway and subdued Barnes. Police eventually charged Barnes and a court convicted him on a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.

Barnes attorney Erin Berger challenged the conviction on the grounds that police didn’t have a warrant. The Indiana Appeals Court agreed. But after a ruling last week, the Indiana Supreme Court says Hoosiers cannot resist police entry into their home, even if that entry is illegal.

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David wrote, “the right to reasonably resist an unlawful police entry into a home is no longer recognized under Indiana law.”

David added that a resident’s refusal to allow an officer entry could lead to further violence. The court says a resident can challenge the entry in court at a later time. But Justice Richard Rucker, a Gary native, dissented.

“A citizen‘s right to resist unlawful entry into her home rests on a very different ground, namely, the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Rucker wrote. “In my view the majority sweeps with far too broad a brush by essentially telling Indiana citizens that government agents may now enter their homes illegally – that is, without the necessity of a warrant, consent, or exigent circumstances.”

Berger’s taking the usual step in asking the court to reconsider its ruling.

“The breath of the decision would absolutely allow a police officer to enter a home for no reason, whether there’s a warrant or not, whether there’s extenuating circumstances or not,” Berger told WBEZ Wednesday. “Citizens no longer have the right to even tell the officer ‘No,’ and close the door against the officer’s hand.”

Following the ruling, threats have been made against the judges of the Indiana Supreme Court, and protesters have planned a march in Indianapolis for next week.

Indiana lawmakers are also considering amending the law so police within the state follow protections laid out in the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.