The Indianapolis Bar Association has learned of recent public statements made by the president of the Fraternal Order of Police #86, Rick Snyder, regarding Marion County’s criminal justice system. These statements include specific references to the criminal history of Carl Roy Webb Boards II, the Defendant charged with the murder of Elwood Police Officer Noah Shahnavaz. Officer Shahnavaz’s death is incredibly tragic and analyzing the root causes of this tragedy is critical in safeguarding our public safety officers. However, Mr. Snyder’s inaccurate hyperbole in this matter attacking the judiciary in this false and unfounded manner is simply counterproductive to that goal. Specifically, with regard to one of the Defendant’s prior Marion County convictions, Mr. Snyder has alleged that the Defendant “was released following a lenient modified sentence from a Marion County judge” in a recent press release. During a television interview, Mr. Snyder further alleged that a Marion County judge “gave that convicted violent offender a modified lenient sentence, and as a result, he was back out on our streets … .”
The clear inference Mr. Snyder wishes the public to make from these statements is that — but for a “Marion County judge” — Officer Shahnavaz would be alive. Unfortunately, those statements are factually incorrect, and the resulting inferences are dangerous. Because Mr. Snyder’s claims regarding the Defendant’s sentence in Marion County are false, it is incumbent upon our organization to correct the record.
The public record in the case Mr. Snyder references reveals that the sentence the Defendant received from the court was neither lenient nor modified. With respect to leniency, the Defendant received an enhanced 25-year sentence following his conviction after his jury trial. The sentence imposed was near the maximum permitted by Indiana law, and the Defendant did not receive a modified sentence. In fact, the court specifically informed the Defendant that it would not grant his repeated request for a sentencing modification. These facts stand in direct contrast to the irresponsible statements of Mr. Snyder. Either Mr. Snyder reviewed the record and is aware of these facts (and consciously disregarded them), or he chose not to review the record and has recklessly made false allegations in a matter of serious public import. Either alternative is beneath the expected standards for our community’s conversation and discourse about public safety.
In the Defendant’s matter, in April of 2019, consistent with the policies of the Indiana Department of Correction for offenders nearing the completion of sentences of incarceration, the Defendant was screened by both the Indiana Department of Correction and Marion County Community Corrections for the Indiana Community Transition Program (“CTP”). CTP is a reentry program that is operated by the Indiana Department of Correction and various county level Community Corrections agencies that is, per the Indiana Department of Correction, designed “to facilitate the successful reintegration of offenders returning to the community.” In the Defendant’s case, Community Corrections recommended that he be accepted into the CTP, and the court approved that request based on such recommendation.
Despite the inference of Mr. Snyder’s statements, placement in CTP did not shorten the Defendant’s sentence. It simply permitted him to finish the required sentence on home detention, and not as an inmate of the Department of Correction. To be clear, even absent placement in CTP, the Defendant still would have been free from supervision in July of 2022, because he would have served his entire sentence by that point. To reiterate this point, the following are a few key dates pulled from the record on the proceedings of the Defendant’s case: (i) the Defendant entered CTP in May of 2019; (ii) the Defendant’s original scheduled release date under the…
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