Indiana law allows lethal force against police unlawfully entering home

Good day all. As the headline states, Indiana has just put into effect a new law that grants homeowners, under certain conditions, to use lethal force if police try to enter in an unlawful manner.

Now my normal writing style would be somewhat snarky about this, but I’m going to try and just write about the facts and what I know about the reasons for this law.

It all goes back to an Indiana Supreme Court decision that basically tossed the entire 4^th Amendment out the window. The 3-2 decision, published May 12^th 2011, basically states that if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer’s entry. Read the entire decision here. (.PDF file)

This decision flies in the face of the Constitution, specifically the 4^th amendment what states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ((Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution))

Reaction from law enforcement can be summed up as “WAHOO! Now we can do whatever we want!” The reactions from everyone else was stunned disbelief and the incredible lack of judgment from the three members of the court who voted in favor of this decision.

Well, Indiana decided to do something about it. The state legislature passed and Governor Daniels signed into law AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning criminal law and procedure. Basically the law describes the ability to use force to “protect the person or a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force.” ((NRA-Backed Law Spells Out When Indianans May Open Fire on Police))

Law Enforcement agencies are rather upset about this. If they follow the law, they needn’t be. The reason this law was passed was the blindingly bad decision by the court. I think the militarization of the police and the massive expansion of SWAT units and no knock raids was also in the minds of the legislators when they wrote the bill. A large number of totally innocent people have had their homes raided, dogs shot and family members cuffed and threatened. In way to many cases, people are startled out of a sound sleep in them middle of the night and think they are being robbed. They grab a gun, and seeing shadows with guns, start shooting.

Both police and citizens have been wounded and killed because of these raids. In almost all instances, basic police work was NOT carried out. Police were acting on tips from informants, most of whom would say the Pope was running drugs. Rather than actually verify the information, law enforcement would get a no knock warrant ((No-knock warrant)) and crash someone’s door with no warnings. Criminals, deep down, expect this sort of thing to happen. Innocent people don’t and they react in a far different manner when people break into their homes with automatic weapons.

I suspect this law was passed to make police think before acting. It was also a shot across the bow of judges who, for all intents and purposes, rubber stamp warrant applications with no real oversight.

Now I don’t want to see police officers shot anymore than I want to see innocent people shot defending their homes. To many people in law enforcement and the judicial branch have forgotten the constitution. This law is simply a reaction to a number of bad decisions.

As to the three justices who voted for this decision? Personally, they should be removed from the bench for obvious incompetence and for willfully violating their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution. However that is a matter for the State of Indiana. I have no knowledge of how their system for selecting and retaining judges works. Hopefully there’s a few Hoosiers out there who can speak to this and who can start the process to impeach or otherwise lawfully remove these people.

That is all

~The Angry Webmaster~

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