Barnes v. State: Time for Attorney General Greg Zoeller to Stand Up for Citizens of Indiana and Their Right to Resist Unlawful Police Entries

Indiana Attorney General
Greg Zoeller

With the exception of some law enforcement officials, virtually everyone else in the state is unhappy with the Barnes v. State in which the Indiana Supreme Court held that "In sum, we hold ... that the right to reasonably resist an unlawful police entry into a home is no longer recognized under Indiana law."  While I haven't seen the briefs, it seems possible that the Court went beyond what the Attorney General's Office  requesting.  One would hope that Attorney General Greg Zoeller's office wasn't asking that this historic right that citizens have be tossed aside.  

Apparently when asked about the case, Attorney General Greg Zoeller has refused to comment.  It is time for Attorney General Greg Zoeller to step forward and tell the public whether he believes that citizens should have the right to defend themselves and their homes from unlawful police entries.  After all, Zoeller could opt to join with the Defendant and ask for a rehearing and that the case on much narrower grounds.  My bet is that Zoeller will not. Whenever Greg Zoeller has been given the chance to reign in law enforcement absues, he has chosen instead to look the other way.  In the case of civil forfeiture, he even went so far as to write an obviously erroneous legal opinion to justify the law breaking by law enforcement officials, an opinion which contains reasoning that no one, including the Supreme Court, buys.

The public should be demanding that Attorney General Greg Zoeller answer the question whether he believes citizens have the right to defend themselves and their homes from unlawful police entries.   Attorney General Zoeller should not be permitted to say "no comment" to the public while having his attorneys, funded by our tax dollars, fighting to take rights away from the public.