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Bill To Retaliate Against Marion County Prosecutor Dies In Senate

Lauren Chapman
/
IPB News

Legislation aimed at Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears’s decision not to prosecute simple marijuana possession won’t advance this session.

The bill didn’t make it past the Senate floor.

The legislation said if a local prosecutor makes a policy decision not to prosecute certain crimes, the Indiana Attorney General could appoint a special prosecutor to do so and charge the county to pay for it. It garnered almost no support from those who testified on it, though the committee passed it.

READ MORE: Marion County Prosecutor Explains Marijuana Possession Policy

There were other versions proposed on the Senate floor. One would allow the governor to appoint that special prosecutor. Another would’ve withheld state funds from the county. And Sen. Mike Young (R-Indianapolis) says the differing ideas doomed the bill this year.

“We had about six or seven different ways we could go and we couldn’t coalesce around one way,” Young says.

Young says he wants the legislature to study the issue further this summer and plans to revive it next year.

Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.