Court rules eavesdropping doesn't bar officers' testimony
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Supreme Court has decided that some testimony from Michigan City police officers might be allowed against a murder suspect even though they wrongly eavesdropped on the man and his defense attorney.
A LaPorte County judge had barred all trial testimony against 22-year-old Brian Taylor from those officers after they invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the eavesdropping.
The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling released Wednesday found that the judge's decision was too broad but that prosecutors will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers' testimony isn't tainted. The officers and a deputy prosecutor listened to an audio feed from the interview room where Taylor and his attorney were talking the day of his arrest in his girlfriend's March 2014 shooting death.
Defense attorney David Payne argued before the court in October that the officers shouldn't be allowed to testify because they wrongly heard discussions about the defense's strategy.
The Supreme Court said the officers could possibly give untainted testimony about evidence such as fingerprints, bullet fragments collected at the scene, spent shell casings and publicly viewable content from Taylor's Facebook page.
The police and prosecutors violated Taylor's constitutional rights and betrayed the public trust with the eavesdropping, Chief Justice Loretta Rush wrote for the court.
"Having stolen Taylor's strategic 'playbook,' these witnesses can potentially shade their testimony to undercut his defense," the decision said.
Prosecution of the murder case against Taylor has been on hold since June 2014 as courts have considered the impact of the eavesdropping. Taylor was released from jail in the murder case, but has been jailed since October on charges in a different LaPorte County shooting.
Payne didn't immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press seeking comment Thursday.
County Prosecutor John Espar, who wasn't in office when the eavesdropping occurred, has requested a special prosecutor to handle the case, but one hasn't yet been appointed.
A Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission case is pending against the deputy prosecutor, who listened with the officers after Taylor's arrest in the death of 24-year-old Simone Bush.
The court said prosecutors will have to convince the judge hearing the murder case that testimony from the officers won't infringe Taylor's right to a fair trial.
"And if it cannot, perhaps the same law-enforcement personnel whose bold misconduct sabotaged the prosecution will likewise be bold enough to personally deliver that news to Simone Bush's family," the decision said.