Special judge to hear case against Monroe County councilman

BLOOMINGTON - A special judge has been appointed to hear drunken driving and police battery charges against a Monroe County councilman who maintains his arrest was politically motivated.\nOwen Circuit Court Judge Frank Nardi was appointed to hear the charges against Councilman Scott Wells.\nA special prosecutor filed charges of battery of a police officer resulting in bodily injury, driving while intoxicated, public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting law enforcement against Wells in November.\nWells was arrested Sept. 27 after a state trooper pulled him over for a seat-belt violation.\nState police said the trooper was dispatched after a caller phoned off-duty Trooper J.D. Maxwell at home and reported someone driving erratically.\nWells, a Democrat, maintains the arrest was politically motivated because Maxwell was the Republican candidate for sheriff. Maxwell has not said whether the caller identified the erratic driver as Wells.\nPolice said Wells was arrested after he refused to cooperate with a blood-alcohol test and then resisted arrest. He later tested .075, just below the legal limit for intoxication.\nMonroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann excluded himself from the case because of a potential appearance of impropriety.\nWells requested a judge from another county be appointed because he votes on the court system's budgets. Monroe Circuit Judge Elizabeth Mann granted the request and asked a Greene County judge to make the appointment.\nA trial is scheduled for Feb. 25. If convicted on the felony battery charge, Wells would have to resign from his council seat.\nIndiana law prohibits convicted felons from serving in any elected office.