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ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT Gregory F. Zoeller Attorney General of Indiana David L. Steiner Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE Jason Glenn Reyome Indianapolis, Indiana

______________________________________________________________________________

Indiana Supreme Court
_________________________________ No. 49S02-0807-CR-393 STATE OF INDIANA EX REL. THE INDIANA STATE POLICE,

In the

FILED
of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

May 19 2009, 11:46 am

CLERK

Appellant (Respondent below), v. CHAD ARNOLD, Appellee (Petitioner below). _________________________________ Appeal from the Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division, No. 49G02-93-052910 The Honorable Robert Altice, Jr., Judge _________________________________ On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 49A02-0610-CR-961 _________________________________ May 19, 2009 Sullivan, Justice.

Chad Arnold was arrested in 1993 for robbery but was never charged. In 2006, he filed a petition to expunge the arrest from his record. We affirm the trial courts order granting the expungement, declining to adopt the States interpretation that the applicable expungement statute denies the trial court discretion in this regard.

Background

Chad Arnold filed a Verified Petition for Expungement with the Clerk of the Marion Circuit Court in April, 2006. According to the petition: (1) a Lawrence Police Department officer had arrested Arnold in 1993 for robbery as a Class A felony but charges were never filed; (2) Arnold said that he had not committed the offense and his criminal history record from the Indianapolis Police Department confirmed that no charges were filed pursuant to the arrest; and (3) Arnold requested that the fact of this arrest be removed or "expunged" from his record. (See Appellants App. 9-12.)

The trial court conducted a hearing on the petition and thereafter entered an order granting expungement on May 31, 2006.1 Sometime later, the State of Indiana on the relation of the Indiana State Police Department filed a petition to set aside the trial courts expungement order.2 Its principal argument was that Arnold had a criminal history of sufficient severity that he was not eligible to have this arrest expunged under the applicable Indiana statute. After a hearing on the States petition to set aside the expungement order, the trial court denied the States request. The State appealed the trial courts ruling. Although the Court of Appeals reversed the trial courts expungement order and remanded for a new hearing, State ex rel. Ind. State Police v. Arnold, 881 N.E.2d 1105, 1110 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008), the State disagreed with the appellate courts rationale for doing so and petitioned for transfer. We granted transfer, 2008 Ind. LEXIS 555 (Ind. 2008) (table). Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A).

The language of the trial courts order granting expungement seems to expunge Arnolds entire criminal record, but as his counsel argued in his brief and conceded during oral argument, Arnold seeks to expunge only his 1993 arrest for robbery. We treat the trial courts order as expunging only that arrest.
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The State requested the expungement order be set aside pursuant to Ind. Trial Rule 60(B), specifically T.R. 60(B)(1) and (8). T. R. 60(B)(1) states in relevant part: "the court may relieve a party or his legal representative from a judgment, including a judgment by default, for the following reasons: (1) mistake, surprise, or excusable neglect . . . ." T.R. 60(B)(8) allows a trial court to relieve a party or his legal representative from a judgment for "any reason [other than those listed in T.R. 60(B)(1) -(4)] justifying relief from the operation of the judgment." There is no contention that the T.R. 60(B) procedure was not available here.

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Discussion

I The statute at issue in this case, Ind. Code

Download State of Indiana Ex Rel., The Indiana State Police v. Chad Arnold.pdf

Indiana Law