Indiana News

Indiana High Court Upholds Public Intoxication Law

INDIANAPOLIS (AP): The Indiana Supreme Court says it's OK for police to arrest people who get drunk and annoy others in public settings.
 
The court on Thursday upheld the constitutionality of Indiana's public intoxication statute that makes it a misdemeanor if a person is drunk in a public place and “harasses, annoys or alarms another person.''
 
The Times of Munster reports the court's 5-0 ruling overturns a February state Court of Appeals decision that struck down the “annoys'' portion of the law as impermissibly vague.
 
Justice Steven David wrote in Thursday's ruling that the word “annoys'' is only vague if it stands alone. He says when the word is considered alongside “harasses'' and “alarms,'' as it must be, a reasonable person easily can understand the types of behavior that are prohibited.

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