We don’t normally step into issues of criminal procedure or substantive law, but a decision from the Indiana Supreme Court today is worth noting. In Barnes v. State of Indiana, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind. 2011), Cause No. 82S05-1007-CR-343, the Court held that there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.
In this case, a couple was arguing and the wife called 911. She reported that he was throwing things, but had not struck her. The 911 dispatch went out as a “domestic violence in progress.” Police arrived on the scene and observed that he husband was agitated and yelling. However, no one invited the officers into the couple’s apartment. An officer attempted to enter the apartment, and the husband shoved him against the wall. A struggle ensued, the husband was tasered, arrested, and charged with battery on a police officer, resisting law enforcement, and other charges.
At trial, the husband asked for an instruction on the right of a citizen to reasonably resist unlawful entry into the citizen’s home. The trial court refused to give the instruction and the husband was convicted. The Court of Appeals found that the trial court’s refusal to give the instruction was error.
On transfer, the Indiana Supreme Court held that there is no right to resist a police officer’s unlawful entry into your home. While recognizing that there was an English common-law right to resist, that right existed no longer.
I do not have sufficient experience in this area of law to offer any opinion on the correctness of the Court’s decision. However, I can say that I am surprised.
Lesson:
- Indiana does not recognize the right to reasonably resist an unlawful police entry into a home.
Price Waicukauski & Riley, LLC
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