Senate Bill Would Let Special Prosecutors Pursue Charges When Elected Prosecutor Won’t

(INDIANAPOLIS) — Indiana’s attorney general could gain the right to override local prosecutors,

under a bill headed for the Senate floor next week.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears has said he’ll no longer file marijuana possession cases. A

Senate committee narrowly voted to allow the attorney general to answer blanket policies against

certain charges by seeking a special prosecutor.

Indianapolis Republican Mike Young insists he’s not looking at Mears, but at similar policies in

Boston, Chicago, St. Louis and other cities. In Boston, the Suffolk County district attorney

announced in 2019 a list of 15 nonviolent crimes, from marijuana possession to shoplifting, where

prosecutors either wouldn’t pursue charges, or would do so only against repeat offenders or with

specific approval of an exception.

Mears became prosecutor six months later after the resignation of Terry Curry for health reasons,

and immediately instituted the marijuana policy.

Young argues prosecutors shouldn’t be allowed to simply disregard laws the legislature has

passed, any more than citizens should be able to pick and choose which ones they’ll obey. If

prosecutors disagree with a law, he says they should lobby legislators to change it.

The bill drew rare agreement between public defenders and prosecutors: both say it’s a bad idea to

chip away at prosecutors’ discretion over what charges to file. David Powell with the Indiana

Prosecuting Attorneys Council says especially in Indiana’s urban counties, prosecutors have limited resources and may need to downplay less-serious crimes to be able to pursue the serious ones.

The Senate’s deadline to pass bills is next Tuesday.