The Indiana Court of Appeals offered students a glimpse at the judicial process in Pruis Hall on Tuesday.
More than 200 Ball State University students and faculty gathered to watch a panel of three judges listen to oral arguments for the case of Melissa Christian v. The State of Indiana.
According to the case synopsis released by the court, Christian was charged with public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor, on May 13, 2007.
She had been discovered by Officer David Sieker of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department who was dispatched on the corner of Raymond and Randolph streets in response to a report that someone was trying to break into a pick-up truck. Christian was caught shoving a key belonging to a Honda inside the lock of a Ford truck parked in a gravel parking lot adjacent to a friend's house. She was approached by Sieker, who concluded that she was intoxicated and arrested her.
A bench trial was on Feb. 20. Christian was convicted of public intoxication. Christian pushed her case to the Indiana Court of Appeals, claiming that she was not in a "public place" at the time of her arrest.
Attorney Joe Thoms, speaking on behalf of Christian in Pruis Hall on Tuesday, said Christian was not on public property because the parking area she was arrested in was private and was next to a private residence.
Attorney Arturo Rodriguez, representing the state of Indiana, argued that Christian was on public property at the time of the arrest because the parking lot didn't belong to any particular person and was used by many people wishing to park their vehicles.
The two attorneys delivered their arguments to the panel of three judges: Chief Judge John G. Baker, Judge Paul D. Mathias and Judge Elaine B. Brown. The judges will not give their verdict for another few weeks, Michael Spillman, departmental adviser for the department of telecommunications at Ball State University said. Spillman was one of the faculty members who helped bring the court to Pruis Hall.
After the court hearing adjourned, the judges and attorneys answered questions from students and faculty members. Mathias told the audience about the importance of understanding how the court system works.
"I thought the hearing was very informative," Kaley Cline, sophomore telecommunications major said. "I found the judges to be very interesting."
Spillman said he thought the hearing went well and he would like to have the court come once a year.
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