The Indiana Court of Appeals recently rejected appeals in two cases that had wrongful arrests involving the Lake County Sheriff’s Department.
Michael Anthony Jordan
Michael A. Jordan, now 52, sued the Lake County Sheriff’s Department in January 2021 after officers wrongfully arrested him in August 2020 in a murder case.
They were looking for Antonio “Paul” Yanders, who was charged with the April 21, 2008, killing of 17-year-old Andrew McQuay. A second man was wounded.
Investigators said then that McQuay, known to relatives and friends as “Dodo,” and the other man were standing with a group of people in the 2500 block of Connecticut Street when shots were fired about 10:45 p.m. The wounded McQuay ran from the melee to the 2600 block of Massachusetts Street, where he fell in the middle of the street.
After a decade, prosecutors refiled a request for a warrant in June 2018. One of Yanders’ aliases was Michael Anthony Jordan, using the same date of birth.
A sheriff’s deputy pulled Jordan over on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, for a traffic stop on Ridge Road in Gary. After neither man in the car had a valid license, police had the car towed, but later let them go. After the Sheriff’s Department made the alias connection, they arrested Jordan the same day at his house.
Over the weekend, a jail staffer raised concerns that Jordan and Yanders “looked different,” according to filings. They later discovered Yanders was actually nine years younger, with a different height and weight.
Jordan wasn’t released until Aug. 31, 2020, due to several issues.
An assistant jail warden told the staffer that Jordan needed to go “in front of a judge” as soon as possible before the jail could release him. That was delayed since Jordan declined to do a few medical tests, so he was placed in quarantine.
After Judge Natalie Bokota did see him, Black Hawk County, Iowa, had an outstanding warrant. Once police there said they didn’t want to extradite him, he was released.
In a 3-0 opinion on Sept. 30, Appeals Judge Dana Kenworthy wrote that police followed the proper steps when arresting him – even if they nabbed the wrong person. Lawyers for Sheriff Oscar Martinez also argued that he had judicial immunity with arrests.
Kenworthy wrote since she ruled he was lawfully arrested, it wasn’t necessary to rule on the judicial immunity argument. She granted the Sheriff’s Department’s request, ordering Judge Calvin Hawkins to grant summary judgment – effectively dropping the civil lawsuit before it got to trial.
The arresting officers didn’t know the “discrepancies” until the jail figured it out, she noted.
“Jordan’s arrest and detention was obviously unfortunate, but it was not unlawful,” Kenworthy wrote.
Jordan’s lawyers, David Stone and Robert Montgomery, did not respond to detailed questions on his case, including what avenues wrongfully arrested people have to effectively challenge their detentions.
Yanders has not been arrested in the case.
The Post-Tribune asked the Lake County Sheriff’s Office what safeguards they have put in place since to help prevent people from being wrongfully arrested or jailed.
Martinez said through a spokeswoman in both Jordan and Terrance Craig’s cases that he could not comment on pending litigation.
“We cannot comment on security measures taken at the Lake County Jail,” he added.
Jordan can appeal the ruling.
Terrance Craig
The court also rejected an appeal from Terrance Craig.
Craig, 42, of Ford Heights, Illinois, got eight years in February for two counts of arson after he was convicted of starting a small fire on June 5, 2023, in the Lake County Jail lobby.
In his appeal, appellate public defender Kristin A. Mulholland argued the Lake County trial court erred when it did not grant a mistrial – throw out the case – when Lake County Sheriff’s Department Detective Kris Adams talked about a “booking” photo when discussing a police database, violating a motion in limine, i.e. an issue lawyers had agreed not to show the jury.
Craig’s trial lawyer Ben Murphy asked for a mistrial. Judge Salvador Vasquez opted to tell the jury to disregard what he said and move the trial along.
Mulholland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Investigators initially arrested a Merrillville man, then 26, whom the Post-Tribune is not naming, in connection with the fire.
They released him after Craig went to a Hammond Police station and allegedly confessed to starting the fire, using some of the same disjointed statements as the arsonist.
At trial, a woman working behind the glass in the lobby said she didn’t get a clear look at the man and couldn’t identify him.
Murphy argued at trial that the fire wasn’t as extensive as prosecutors made out. There was no one in the lobby. The employees escaped unharmed. The fire lasted around 90 seconds, he said.
It “almost extinguished on its own.”
Adams “never talked” to the original suspect or independently verified where either suspect was at the time of the fire, the lawyer said.
Deputy Prosecutor Gary Murek said it caused $5,000 in damage.
Martinez previously explained in a statement how they arrested the wrong man. Craig was in a booking photo lineup, but no witnesses identified him, per Post-Tribune archives. The picture was dated and he had lost weight in his face, changing his appearance, the sheriff said. New “intelligence” that detectives got a few days after Tinley Park Police arrested the Merrillville man shifted the case toward Craig.
“I believe the process worked as it should in this case, and I am proud of the work of our detectives in establishing Terrance Craig as the new primary suspect,” Martinez said. “They continue to follow up on leads, which is something they do with every case.”
Craig can also appeal. His earliest release date is in June 2029.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
mcolias@post-trib.com
