No charges in Cantrell case
CANTRELL CASE: Prosecutor finds insufficient evidence for obstruction charges
NWI Times
Aug 25, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/no-charges-in-cantrell-case/article_0413fbfd-459a-5775-8317-ae3bf911abed.html
Special Prosecuting Attorney Jud Barce will not file charges against East Chicago political operative Robert Cantrell and his son, Hammond attorney John Cantrell, in connection with last November's arrest of another family member.
The three-page report, filed Thursday in Lake Superior Court, says Barce found there to be insufficient evidence to proceed with felony obstruction charges against the Cantrells.
"We never did anything," Robert Cantrell said Thursday. "My son's an attorney and was just concerned with helping his sister."
Cantrell said the investigation was handled thoroughly and he had no problem with the naming of a special prosecutor.
"Let an unbiased party investigate," he said. "Chief Miller just overreacted."
With Jennifer Cantrell charged in City Court with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, Police Chief Brian Miller had asked state police to investigate the actions by Robert and John Cantrell at the time of her arrest.
The men were alleged to have interfered with the drunken driving arrest of Jennifer Cantrell, Robert's daughter and John's sister.
According to the special prosecutor's report, the investigation shows Hammond police Cpl. Dan Kender responded to a traffic accident at 1:10 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2005. He encountered Jennifer Cantrell, one of the two drivers involved in the accident. and suspected Cantrell had been drinking.
Robert Cantrell arrived at the scene and observed the sobriety tests, according to the investigation. Arriving after his father, John Cantrell also observed the tests, objecting periodically and requesting a second portable breath test with a new mouthpiece. John Cantrell, however, then told police his sister would not submit to the second portable breath test.
Based on the failed sobriety tests, Jennifer Cantrell was taken to the Hammond Police Department for a certified breath test at 2:30 a.m. At the station, Robert Cantrell was not permitted to see his daughter, but asked the booking officer if she could see her attorney.
Barce's report says the booking officer was unsure whether that was permitted and decided to allow it, permitting John and Jennifer Cantrell to talk for about one hour and 15 minutes, resulting in the test not being administered until three hours and two minutes after Kender's arrival at the scene of the accident.
"It is not clear how much time these family interruptions caused during the three-hour presumption period, and how much delay was caused by other circumstances," Barce wrote.
Barce also noted three of the five videocassette recorders that were to be recording the events failed due to operator error so there is no record of the conversations between the Cantrells or the officers. In addition, there is no clear time record of the interactions at the station.
"As a result, I am unable to determine whether either Robert J. Cantrell or John Robert Cantrell removed a 'thing' such as blood alcohol evidence with the intent to prevent it from being produced or used in an official proceeding, as required by (state law)," Barce wrote.
Neither did Barce find evidence to suggest either man committed any "forceful" act which interfered with the officers or that either man "knowingly or intentionally" resisted law enforcement as required by the code.
Indiana State Police Detective Rick Bonesteel, who investigated the actions of both the Cantrells and the Hammond police officers, said Thursday the police actions contributed to the delay by affording John Cantrell the opportunity to talk to his client at length, but he found they had erred on the side of caution, not out of any conspiracy.
