Hamilton County Prosecutor Lets Jimmy "The Pill Popper" Irsay Skate On Felony Drug Charges, Will Only Face Misdemeanor Charges

Things haven't changed in Hamilton County. Once again, a prominent resident is given preferential treatment by the legal system in Hamilton County. When Carmel police officers arrested Irsay in March, he was charged with felony counts of possession of controlled substances and driving while intoxicated. The police report found that Irsay had hundreds of powerful prescription pain medications, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs in pill form, including drugs like Xanax, Darvocet, Valium, Ativan and Ambien in unmarked prescription bottles and more than $29,000 in cash on him at the time of his arrest. More than two months later, the Hamilton Co. Prosecutor's Office got around to formally charging Irsay and we learn, to no surprise, that he will only face misdemeanor charges. Irsay has only been charged with misdemeanor counts for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in his body. From the Indianapolis Star:

Minutes before the court closed for Memorial Day weekend, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was charged with two misdemeanor counts of impaired driving in connection with his March arrest in Carmel.

Formal charges were filed against Irsay in Hamilton Superior Court. Following his arrest, police had filed four preliminary charges of felony drug possession, but they were not included in the prosecutor's formal charges today.

Irsay is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in the body. Prosecutors allege he had "oxycodone and/or hydrocodone" in his system when a Carmel police officer pulled him over at 11:40 p.m. on March 16.

An initial hearing is scheduled for June 19. A news release from the Hamilton County prosecutor said the office wouldn't comment on the case until it's resolved.

More than a decade ago, local law enforcement officials allowed Irsay to skate on felony charges where there was evidence of significant abuse of painkillers and illegal prescription-writing of controlled substances. Irsay had been hospitalized at least three times for drug overdoses. Officials then swept the charges completely under the rug out of fear that charging Irsay could lead the NFL to bar him from the league, putting future ownership of the team in doubt. Flash forward to this March when a close friend of Irsay, for whom a Colts-related trust had purchased at least three homes, died of a drug overdose in one of those homes only two weeks prior to Irsay's own arrest. Hey, who cares if someone died? As long as Irsay is free and clear. The charging information indicates that blood tests revealed the presence of hydrocodone and oxycodone. Does anyone believe that a license medical professional in his right mind would prescribe powerful pain medications to Irsay given his known, past drug addiction problems to painkillers? If they were prescribed to him, let's see criminal charges against the doctor who prescribed them. Catch this explanation Fox59 News received from a source as to why there were no felony drug possession charges:

A source indicates that investigators have spent the last two months analyzing the pills found in Irsay’s possession to determine their identity, quantity and origin.  Some of the dosages are inconsistent with a typical patient’s therapeutic need or Irsay’s prescriptions, according to the source. The seized medications were in quantities that, while perhaps excessive for personal use, did not rise to the level of dealing status.

Year, right. Any ordinary guy on the street arrested with $29,000 cash on him and all of those pills would have been charged with felony drug charges and would have faced forfeiture of the seized cash. Per typical operating procedure, the Hamilton County Prosecutor waited until the start of a long Memorial Day weekend to announce the formal charges in hopes of burying the news in the busy holiday weekend of activities, including the annual running of the Indianapolis 500 and tomorrow's 500 Festival Parade. It also comes just days after the NFL decided not to award Indianapolis a Super Bowl bid for 2018 and just four days after the Indianapolis Star fed us a BS story to assure us that the delay in announcing charging decisions had nothing to do with the Super Bowl bid. Irsay's attorney, Jim Voyles, thanked the prosecutor for not filing felony charges. There is no such thing as equal treatment under the law in this country. There are two sets of laws in the country: one for us plebes; and a special set of laws that apply only to the elite scumbags who have money and power to influence those with criminal charging authority. The latter's laws are ever-evolving to meet the special circumstances necessary to free the privileged from serious criminal prosecution in contrast to the black and white laws enforced against the rest of us without exception.