Published: June 27, 2009 07:43 pm      

Ex-Rep. Oxley’s drunken driving charge on hold in Indiana

Prosecutor was hoping to resolve case next week, but must now wait as police investigate Friday incident

INDIANAPOLIS — A February drunken driving charge against Indiana’s 2008 Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor is on hold amid new questions of whether he misrepresented himself as a legislator this week to avoid possible arrest for public intoxication.

Barry Brown, a special prosecutor in Bloomington, said Saturday he had hoped to resolve the drunken driving charge against former Rep. Dennie Oxley II at a hearing next week. Brown said that’s on hold as investigators look into a separate incident involving Oxley in Indianapolis on Friday.

“We were going to try to work out a resolution. Obviously, this little incident is going to make that more difficult,” Brown said.

Police say Oxley, 38, and a 21-year-old woman were found drunk at a gas station early Friday and that he claimed immunity from arrest because the Legislature is in session. Authorities later found out Oxley was no longer a lawmaker, and Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said he would meet with officers Monday before he decides whether to file charges.

Oxley was released to the custody of a friend Friday. A telephone message seeking comment was left at his home in the Southern Indiana town of English.

He was arrested for drunken driving in February after he crashed into a parked car in the town of Taswell, which is near English.

“Unfortunately for Mr. Oxley, in a few days it would have been resolved. That’s not going to happen now,” Brown said. “We have a hearing Wednesday, so I will be at that hearing, but it’s not going to be a resolution of the case. ... We will treat it as an interim hearing.”

On Friday, Sgt. Matthew Mount said police were called to the service station in downtown Indianapolis by an employee who reported a woman lying face-down and barefoot in the station’s parking lot after she and a man arrived in a taxi. When officers responded, they found the man carrying the woman’s shoes and walking away from the station toward an alley.

“He’s approached by one of the officers. He’s kind of belligerent, doesn’t want to cooperate. He doesn’t know where he is, how he got there, drunker than snot,” Mount said. “The officer tries to lock him up for public intox, the guy says, ‘You can’t lock me up. I’m Dennie Oxley, the Legislature, we’re in session, I have immunity.”’

Mount said the officer then called his supervisor, and the supervisor called the prosecutor’s office, which advised them to release Oxley if he had transportation home and to “deal with the immunity thing later.”

Oxley, a businessman and former assistant school superintendent, was first elected to the Legislature in 1998, and was the majority whip for House Democrats before becoming gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson’s running mate last year. The Democratic ticket lost to incumbent Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman in November.