Judge orders Boards to be housed in single cell
Jun. 14—ANDERSON — Despite objections by the state, Judge Andrew Hopper ordered that Carl Roy Webb Boards II be housed in a single cell.
Boards, 44, is charged in the 2022 shooting death of Elwood police officer Noah Shahnavaz.
During a Friday hearing, defense attorney Lemuel Stigler asked the court to authorize technology so that Boards can have access to court documents and electronic conferences with his defense team.
Stigler said that Boards should be housed in a cell by himself so that other inmates couldn't have access to the documents or the conferences with his attorneys.
He said that during lockdowns at the Miami Valley Correctional Facility, Boards was unable to meet or communicate with his lawyers.
Attorney Stephanie Davis, with the Indiana Attorney General's Office, said Boards has opportunities to have conferences with his attorney.
"There has always been an office area with 24-hour notice," she said. "The option was available and they didn't take advantage of it."
Davis said there isn't space at the facility to house Boards in a separate cell.
"That is not a feasible option," she said.
Davis declined comment when asked if the state would appeal the ruling by Madison Circuit Court Division 3 Judge Andrew Hopper.
Hopper took under advisement the request for the additional technology, wanting more information on the service provided by a New York based company.
Hopper ruled that there would be additional evaluations of Boards' competency to stand trial.
At a previous hearing, three doctors all testified that Boards was capable of understanding the court proceedings and capable of assisting in his defense.
When asked by Andrew Hanna, chief deputy in the Madison County Prosecutor's office, if Hopper was going to rule on the request for a change of venue in the case, Hopper said the ruling wouldn't be made until after the competency hearing.
Boards' attorneys want the trial moved out of Madison County and the central Indiana area. The state believes jurors could be selected in another county and the trial can take place in Madison County.
Boards is accused of fatally shooting Shahnavaz, 24, through the windshield of his police cruiser early on July 31, 2022, in Elwood during a traffic stop.
Just after 2 a.m. Shahnavaz stopped a 2012 Buick LaCrosse near the intersection of Indiana 37 and County Road 1100 North. Police have not provided a reason for the traffic stop.
Hamilton County officers located the Buick and attempted a traffic stop. The Buick continued southbound on Indiana 37. Hamilton County sheriff's deputies pursued the Buick and deployed a tire-deflation device near the area of Indiana 37 and 146th Street.
Boards is scheduled to go on trial on charges of murder, two counts of resisting law enforcement, unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, firearm enhancement, habitual offender, life without parole and the death penalty.
The trial is scheduled for January 2025.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
