Can prosecutors be impeached? This Indiana lawmaker wants to try to change the law

Indianapolis Star

3 days ago

The scrutiny over the Marion County Prosecutor's Office continues in response to a recent spate of gun violence in Indianapolis: this time with a Republican state representative proposing giving legislators impeachment power over the locally elected office.
It's not the first hint of state intervention into this locally elected office, but it's certainly the most specific ― and would require a lengthy process of amending the state constitution.
After two July weekends of back-to-back violence with multiple people killed, including teenagers, the city's police union president Rick Snyder called on state leaders to "step in," with no further details. Then Gov. Mike Braun said he'd be open to some kind of intervention ― without saying of what sort ― if Indianapolis leaders don't "make a change," specifically pointing the finger at the prosecutor's office, led by Democrat Ryan Mears.
"We need to see a significant crackdown," Braun said last week. "Indianapolis' own justice system is not doing the job."
Now, Indianapolis state Rep. Andrew Ireland has an idea: allow state lawmakers to impeach Mears, a power the state constitution currently vests in the Indiana Supreme Court.
His key claim is that Mears doesn't do enough to keep repeat violent defenders off the streets, citing two recent examples: the case of the alleged IndyGo bus arsonist, Demarcus McCloud, who has a long rap sheet prior to the arson; and Zachary Arnold, who was charged with killing his daughter this year and previously had a violent criminal history.
"I just want somebody who will hold the violent offenders accountable, and if Ryan Mears isn't up to that task, then we have to have tools to replace him," Ireland told WIBC's Tony Katz on July 23.
A spokesperson for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office responded to Ireland's criticisms with data: In 2024, the office prosecuted nearly a quarter of all criminal trials in the state while maintaining trial conviction rates of 94% for murders, 84% for sex crimes, 83% for attempted murder cases, and 88% for gun cases.
Of cases that go to trial, the top five most common offenses were for murder, battery, domestic battery, child molesting and possession of a firearm by serious violent felon, Michael Leffler said.
"It's clear that this office is a statewide leader in taking crimes of violence, especially our most serious offenses to trial," he said.
What the law says
State lawmakers can impeach mayors and other state and local officers for "misdemeanors" while in office. But case law has held that prosecutors are constitutional, judicial officers who are not in the same category as state, county and township executive-branch officers, such as mayors.
The constitution further outlines "crime, incapacity, or negligence" as reasons that the General Assembly could impeach a state officer.
In the case of prosecutors, however, the state constitution says that the state Supreme Court may remove them, and only if they have been "convicted of corruption or other high crime."
IU law professor Joel Schumm points to a Supreme Court opinion from 1914 that states the legislature doesn't have the power to name some other cause, such as "negligence," as a premise for impeachment.
Where the legislature could have wiggle room, that opinion states, is in enacting changes to the procedure by which accusations against judges and prosecutors are tried. Those rules would have to be applicable to all judges and prosecutors and provide for a day in court, the court has opined.
In short, Schumm said, broadening the basis for removing a prosecutor would require an amendment to the state constitution.
That process requires two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly to pass identical language, which would then have to be approved by voters via ballot referendum in the following election.
The constitution also enshrines the prosecutor's position as an elected one whose term lasts four years.
"If people aren't happy with the work of a prosecutor, they can vote against that person in an election," Schumm said.
Braun mulls special prosecutor concept
Meanwhile, the governor's office is not tamping down talk of a different not-yet-allowed method of overriding Mears: Braun's appointing a special prosecutor.
State law currently says the governor can recommend the state inspector general be named a special prosecutor over a particular case that the county prosecutor declines to take up, but even then, the ultimate decision lies with an appeals court judge. Judges have further powers to appoint special prosecutors in the events that there is evidence of the prosecutor having committed a crime, or to avoid an appearance of impropriety, or if the prosecutor requests one.
Braun acknowledged Thursday that state lawmakers would have to pass legislation to grant him the ability to appoint a special prosecutor unilaterally. He reiterated that his preference would be that Marion County leaders "solve their own problems," but said if they don't, the state "can't just stand by doing nothing."
"If (state lawmakers) choose to do it, that's fine, because that would have to be done before I have that authority to do so," he said. "I don't think we're there. I think there's going to be enough proactiveness, I'm hoping, but when the need is there before going to that, we're going to be interacting."