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SHELBY COUNTY PROSECUTOR�S
OFFICE
2005 YEAR-END REPORT
During 2005 the Criminal/Juvenile Division of my
office handled over 6,700 cases. That number does
not include Child Support cases. Included in that
caseload are 162 Major Felony prosecutions (Murder,
Class A, B & C felonies); 438 Class D felony
prosecutions; 1,488 Misdemeanors; and 3,818 Infractions.
In addition to those cases we also prosecuted 151
Juvenile matters, and filed 293 Search Warrants and
Miscellaneous Criminal Cases. An additional 354
criminal cases and investigations were processed by the
Prosecutor�s Office that did not result in formal
criminal charges.
These numbers reflect some significant changes from
last year. Overall, we saw a 12% reduction in the
number of major felony (Class A, B, C and Murder) cases
filed last year. Interestingly, our most serious cases,
Class A felonies, were down 38%! Class B
felonies were also down by 30%.
We attribute this decline directly to the reduction
in the number of clandestine methamphetamine labs
discovered last year. Prosecutors across the State of
Indiana worked very hard with the legislature and the
Governor�s Office to adopt a pseudoephedrine control
statute. Those new restrictions went into effect on
July 1, 2005. We have seen substantially fewer
traditional meth labs since.
I would also have to say that that our stepped up
enforcement activities against meth makers and meth
dealers really began to pay off last year. When you see
drug dealers getting sentences of ten, twenty, thirty
and in one case forty years, that sends a message to
others that �this is not a business I want to get
involved in�. Also, as a practical matter, once you
send this many people off to prison doing these kinds of
sentences, they are simply no longer around to continue
to commit further crimes against our city and county.
Last year Class D felonies were down overall
by about 1% and Misdemeanors were down by 119
cases, or 7.4%, over the prior year. Juvenile cases
remained statistically unchanged.
The most interesting figure in this category is the
rise in the number of D.U.I. felony cases
(persons having at least one prior D.U.I. conviction)
filed. D.U.I. felony prosecutions were up by
34%. We are inclined to attribute this rise to ramped
up enforcement and training on the part of local police
and sheriff�s deputies. We have added several officers
in the county who are specifically trained to recognize
and test for drug-impaired drivers (in addition to the
more common and easily identifiable alcohol-impaired
drivers). The Prosecutor�s Office also instituted, a
couple of years ago, a mandatory policy requiring that a
search warrant for a blood sample be obtained on anyone
suspected of driving under the influence who refuses a
breath test. Our experience had been that those who had
been through the system before were most likely to
refuse the implied consent breath test. As a result we
would have no scientific evidence of intoxication in the
cases generally involving the worst class of offenders.
2005 was a good year for local law enforcement. I
think we met a spike in meth-related crime head-on and
managed to make a serious impact. I can�t thank my
staff enough. Their dedication and hard work is
unmatched anywhere that I know of. They genuinely
believe in what they are doing and it shows.
� R. Kent Apsley
Our 2004 Year End Report is available by
clicking here |
