Oscar Martinez Jr., the sheriff of Lake County, may soon stand trial, with his freedom and his elected position on the line, after the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to throw out the active criminal charge against him on Thursday. By a vote of 3 to 0, the appellate court ruled that there was no justification to overturn the Lake County grand jury’s official charges against Martinez on January 6, 2022, for misdemeanor reckless driving and Level 6 felony resisting law enforcement.
By court documents, Martinez was being pursued by two Crown Point police officers on Main Street in Crown Point and Taft Street and U.S. 30 in Merrillville on September 18, 2021, when he failed to stop while doing 96 mph in a 45 mph zone while operating an unmarked county-owned Jeep TrackHawk.
Records show that even though there were no emergency calls for the Lake County Sheriff’s Department at the time, the officers ended their pursuit when Martinez allegedly flashed the red-and-blue law enforcement light bar at the back of his car to indicate that the vehicle was in use for law enforcement purposes. Around midnight, Merrillville police discovered the vehicle in a handicapped parking space at Karma Cigar and connected it to Martinez.
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Following evidence from Indiana State Police Commander Kevin Smith, who was asked to look into the event by the owners of the sheriff’s car, the Lake County Board of Commissioners, the grand jury indicted Martinez on the advice of Special Prosecutor Stanley Levco. Martinez claimed in his appeal that Smith’s incorrect legal advice presented as testimony violated his due-process right to an impartial and unbiased environment during the grand jury procedures and that the indictment should be overturned.
The court’s review of Smith’s grand jury testimony revealed that he appropriately limited his remarks to his personal experience as a police officer and his interpretation, given the circumstances of this case, as to whether he would have charged Martinez, according to Judge Margret Robb, writing for the unanimous panel. Smith added that he has never worked in an Indiana county where a driver who exceeded the speed limit by 51 mph was not immediately arrested for reckless driving.
In addition, Smith claimed that in his experience, Martinez would have known police were pursuing him and that he should have pulled over when video showed two police cars were directly behind Martinez’s car at the intersection of U.S. 30 and Taft Street, with their lights flashing and sirens sounding. According to the Indiana Code, “this does not qualify as ‘legal counsel,'” Robb declared. It is simply his job as a police witness who testifies.
Martinez further asserted that Smith usurped the grand jury’s function in deciding whether to indict by giving testimony that “as to both offenses, their elements and how they fit the facts provided, are judgments as to the ultimate question.” The Court of Appeals disagreed once more. According to Robb, Smith testified about the incidents and possible charges in light of the case’s circumstances based on his experience as a police officer and even responded to grand jury inquiries.
Robb says, “His opinion testimony was aimed to help the grand jury reach a judgment and did not impair or undermine the grand jury’s power to be the exclusive judge of the facts.” “We conclude that Commander Smith’s testimony did not violate Martinez’s right to a fair trial. Therefore, by rejecting Martinez’s request to dismiss, the trial court did not misuse its discretion.”
He can still request that the Indiana Supreme Court consider his case. If not, a trial will probably be scheduled in the Lake Superior Court this year. The allegations against the Democratic sheriff entail a maximum sentence of 212 years in prison, and the defendant has previously entered a plea of not guilty. Martinez would also immediately forfeit his elected position as sheriff if being found guilty of a crime. Martinez is already ineligible to carry a weapon in public under Indiana law because of the felony charge.
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