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Business Leader, Former GOP Leader Arrested for Indiana DUI
James Kittle stopped for drunk driving in Hamilton County Indiana
The former leader of the Indiana Republican Party was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving. James Louis Kittle was stopped in Hamilton County Tuesday evening on a traffic violation. After he failed a field sobriety test and registered 0.10% on a portable breath tester, Kittle was charged with driving under the influence in Indiana. He was booked at the Hamilton County Jail and his bond was set at $2,500.
Kittle, 67, was head of the state GOP between 2002 and 2006, and long recognized as a political kingmaker. The Kittle family is well known for a group of regional furniture stores started by James' grandfather in 1932.
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Former Police Officer Arraigned for Indiana DUI in Indianapolis
Detective crashed two department issued vehicles and didn’t appear at first court hearing.
George Leon Benjamin, a former detective with the Indianapolis Metro Police Department, was arraigned Thursday on charges of driving under the influence in Indiana.
Benjamin was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday but he sent a message stating that he had entered an in-patient alcohol rehabilitation program. The judge ordered Benjamin to appear in court at 9:00 the next day. Benjamin, 46, has been charged with two incidents of drunk driving in Indianapolis after crashing a Ford Crown Victoria into an apartment maintenance building and then, just last Sunday, hitting a fence with a Ford Taurus. Both were department issued vehicles. In total, Benjamin faces one felony charge and five misdemeanors.
Benjamin told the court that he was working on hiring an Indianapolis DUI defense attorney. A plea of not guilty was entered and his driver’s license was suspended. Benjamin was ordered to not consume alcohol or operate a motor vehicle, and to comply with conditions of his alcohol abuse treatment. Benjamin was then booked and released.
Though Benjamin retired from the Metro police force on Tuesday, an internal investigation is being conducted.
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Judge Tries to Avoid Indiana DUI
Judge attempts to alter outcome of breath test in case of drunk driving in Indianapolis.
Circuit Court Judge Thomas J. Felts is suspected of deliberately trying to alter the result of a breath test by not performing the test correctly. Felts was stopped by the Indiana State Capitol Police around 2:30 am for excessive speeding and failure to signal. They suspected drunk driving in Indiana after observing Felt’s glassy eyes, poor dexterity and slurred speech and detecting alcohol on his breath. Felts was unable to stand without holding onto his black Lincoln, and when asked if he had been drinking he replied, “Oh yeah.” He failed a field sobriety test and, though he appeared to provide a weak breath sample, a mobile breath test registered a blood alcohol content of .14%.
Under Indiana DWI laws, portable breath test results are not permissible in court, so police took Felts into custody after he agreed to submit to a certified chemical test. Once at the booking station however, Felts provided two incomplete tests. He refused to maintain a constant flow of air when providing a breath sample and then he tried to make himself burp, which would affect the test result and require a time delay before another test could be administered. A Marion County prosecutor said that, because of his position on the bench, Felts “knows what causes a machine to malfunction.” Refusal to submit to a breath test invokes an automatic one year suspension of driver’s license in Indiana, so police confiscated Felts’ license and charged him with driving while intoxicated in Indianapolis.
Felts’ Indiana DUI defense attorney claims that the officers did not administer the tests correctly and that his client did not refuse to take the tests, so his license should not have been suspended.
Felts is back on the bench, where the majority of his caseload is felony criminal cases involving alcohol. This week however, he will be handling domestic relations cases as part of a previously scheduled case swap. Felts could be jailed for up to one year if convicted of Indiana DWI. In addition the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications could conduct hearings on the incident. Felts, a Republican, is the current president of the Indiana Judges Association.
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Indiana DUI Offender Ordered to Keep Wrecked Car in Yard
Judge uses vehicle as reminder of effects of drinking and driving in Indiana.
Stephanie Pochron, of Wanatah, is set to complete a six-month jail sentence for drunk driving in Porter County, Indiana. After her release however, she will have a constant reminder of the injury accident she caused last summer.
A Porter County Superior Court Judge has ordered the wrecked vehicle Pochron was driving at the time of the accident placed in her front yard. And it must remain there until Pocheron completes a three year probation term.
Pocheron, 30, caused a crash while driving under the influence in Indiana. She struck one vehicle and collided with another, seriously injuring a man from Ohio. It was her third Indiana DUI offense, and because there was an alcohol related accident with injury she was charged with felony drunk driving and sentenced to jail. Upon her release, Pocheron must take the anti-alcohol drug Antabuse, attend Alcohol Anonymous meetings and enroll in a substance abuse program.
Pocheron, a former bartender, told the court that she remains sober and is “never going to drink again.”
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Indiana Court Rules for Police in DUI Case
Defendant had challenged arrest because cop had not taken police department oath.
The Indiana Supreme Court ruled on an issue involving a challenge to a DUI arrest that could have had far reaching implications.
Cheryl Oddi-Smith was charged with drunk driving after being involved in a three-car fender bender on January 15, 2007. Her DUI defense attorneys discovered that the arresting officer had not taken an oath to the new Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, which had been formed in January. A lower court judge in Marion County, Indiana threw out the driving under the influence charge leading prosecutors to appeal the decision to the high court.
During the lower court hearing the defense attorneys argued that police officer status, and thus their authority, did not transfer to the newly formed IMPD, which consolidated the city and county law enforcement agencies. Officers from both departments had taken part in a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony following the merger, but attendance was optional. The legal challenge was based on merger guidelines outlined in both an ordinance passed by the City-County Council and the newly written IMPD policy book. While admitting that his ruling probably would not stand but was based on the case at hand, a Marion Superior Court judge agreed and granted suppression of evidence due to an illegal arrest.
In the 5-0 vote, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that officers who had formerly pledged an oath to either the Indianapolis Police Department or the Marion County Sheriff's Department retained their law enforcement status when the agencies merged. The justices found the intent for a seamless transition in the merger, and said that the oath requirement applied to new officers only.
The decision not only reinstates the case against Oddi-Smith, it clarifies the status of potentially thousands of other arrests that took place after the creation of the IMPD.
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Doctor Charged with Indiana DUI
Blood alcohol level was 6 times the legal limit
Dr. Richard Lundeen slammed into the rear of a vehicle slowed by a previous accident. Lt. Mike Nielson with the Indianapolis Police said the doctor was very impaired, but the extent astounded everyone.
A sample of Lundeen's blood, taken at a hospital two hours after the accident, indicated a blood-alcohol content of 0.46. That is nearly six times the legal BAC limit.
That much alcohol in the bloodstream can be lethal, and it certainly refuted Lundgeen’s claim that he had consumed just one beer. Officer Nielson reflected, “I would not be conscious.”
Lundeen’s blood alcohol content was so elevated that he remained hospitalized until the next morning. Even then, 12 hours after the accident, his BAC was 0.24, or three times the legal limit.
Dr. Lundeen faces an Indiana DUI charge that will carry a more severe penalty for having a BAC above 0.15.
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