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Fox59 has learned there will be an even longer delay in a Carmel sex abuse case.
A grand jury has been convened to review one of two Carmel High School hazing cases that could lead to criminal charges. The Hamilton County proceeding will be conducted in secret.
While there are two cases, the case involving alleged hazing in the High School's locker room is reportedly the one being reviewed by the grand jury.
"Six persons are selected at random and those six persons will hear the evidence of witnesses and make a decision and have to vote on an indictment," said attorney Jack Crawford, familiar with grand jury proceedings.
While police reports released to the public have been largely redacted the grand jury will actually hear from the victim as well as any other witnesses to the alleged locker room hazing case that took place January 8th. The school bus incident from January 22nd is still under review in Hendrick county since that's where the alleged sexual hazing took place on a school bus on the way home from a Terre Haute basketball game.
During the grand jury proceedings jurors will issue what's called a target subpoena that's for the person they think committed the crime. In this case it would be the Carmel High School student or student athletes involved in the alleged locker room hazing of another student. Grand Juries are used a screening tool to judge the strength of a case.
"If a jury decides to come back with a recommended indictment of the individual then that gives the prosecutor some comfort level that the case is pretty strong," said Steve Key, general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association.
"A grand jury investigation can take some time," said attorney Jack Crawford. "the public is left in the dark during this time period."
Now it could be an even longer wait on whether charges will be filed. It's a decision Hamilton County prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp originally said would be made by the end of April. That dateline has now been moved to mid May. Leerkamp could not comment due to strict rules surrounding grand jury proceedings.