INDIANAPOLIS -- Center Township Constable Denise Paul Hatch remains jailed at the Adult Detention Center now that a Marion Superior judge has revoked her bond on two previous felony cases following her arrest this past weekend on a charge of Official Misconduct.
Judge William Nelson has set an 8:30 a.m. Friday Initial Hearing for Hatch to face a new felony count and misdemeanor charges of unlawful carry of a handgun and violation of a protective order after she was arrested with a gun on her hip while driving away from a private event center where she had been providing security on Lafayette Road Saturday night.
Under a February felony filing and as a condition of her pre-trial release, Hatch was instructed to not carry a firearm despite her elected position as a township constable.
During a hearing before Magistrate Travis Shields this morning, Hatch repeatedly told the court, “I don’t understand what’s going on,” and, “I don’t know why I am here,” and, “I do not understand the charges.”
Hatch is being held on a greater than standard $25,000 cash bond for this latest arrest as it resulted in a violation of a previous court order.
Prosecutors told the court that they would seek revocation of Hatch’s existing bonds to assure her attendance at the Friday morning hearing and to protect witnesses in the previous cases.
The magistrate then advised Hatch that even if she could raise the cash bond, chances were she would not be freed pending revocation of the existing bonds which Judge Nelson ordered several hours later.
Faced with the challenge of raising the all-cash bond, Hatch at one point asked the court how she could avail herself of, “a free attorney,” and when advised of the financial examination that would precede the naming of court-appointed counsel, the constable backed off and said she would hire a private lawyer to defend her.
Hatch referred to her prior attorney who represented her during the original charges last winter, but to hear supporters tell it, that lawyer is responsible for the constable languishing in jail this week.
”Denise was given wrong information from her attorney whether he will admit it or not. We have several witnesses who can attest to that affect,” said Bob Kern, a longtime participant in fringe democrat politics in Marion County who claims Hatch was unaware of the judge’s order that she could not carry a gun. “She was under the impression that they lifted it because her attorney had given wrong information so you can only go by what your attorney tells you and what the court said.”
Typically, defendants are advised verbally in court that as a condition of pre-trial release, they are not to carry or possess firearms, advised again as they sign their pre-trial release documents and can confirm such restrictions in the State’s Mycase system which tracks their proceedings.
”That attorney left Denise in the dark,” said Kern, who referred to Hatch as his friend and landlord. "She’s a victim of her attorney. She’s a kind person. You just don’t wanna get her riled but she abides by the law. That’s why she is where she is today.”
Hatch told the court that she had not spoken with her family or made a single phone call since her most recent incarceration, a claim verified by her son Vincent Hatch who attended the hearing.
”Obviously there are a lot of injustices that my mom is going through right now," said Vincent. "I feel like it's totally egregious that her bond has been set to $25,000 when there’s plenty of dangerous criminals who don’t have a bond set as half as much.”
Hatch already faces various felony and misdemeanor charges of theft and two counts of official misconduct plus other charges for allegedly attempting to interfere in the IMPD arrest of one of her deputy constables suspected of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and reportedly stealing a package of broccoli from a grocery store.
As she was being led from the holding tank adjacent to the courtroom following Tuesday morning’s hearing, Hatch raised her handcuffed wrists above her head and chanted, “Free Denise! Free Denise!” to her son in the front row of the gallery before she was admonished by Magistrate Shields.
”She just did a little wave at the end because I think she was excited to see her family,” said her son.