Mathias, J.
In emergencies, law enforcement officers are often called upon to make split second judgments as they do the dangerous work of protecting us all, judgments that we in a civil society endeavor to support as much as possible. But when, without any exigent circumstances, and after being denied consensual entry, a law enforcement officer lies to gain entry into someone’s home, is that officer “. . . lawfully engaged in the execution of the officer’s duties . . .” so as to justify the arrest of the owner or renter of the home and to charge her with the crime of resisting law enforcement? We answer this question in the negative and reverse Robin Harper’s Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement conviction.
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The officers returned to Harper’s residence intending to arrest her for domestic battery. After Officers Gillespie and Hartman returned to Harper’s residence, they “attempted to make contact with Miss Harper[.]” Tr. p. 10. According to Officer Gillespie
[s]he was reluctant to come to the door, but she did come to the door, spoke to us through the door and then opened it so that the screen door was still there and closed. We asked if she could step outside to talk to us. She said that she did not want to go outside due to the fact that it was cold. At that point in time we asked if we could step inside to speak with her and she said that we didn’t need to come inside. . . . [I]n order to get a hold of Miss Harper, I then asked her if she would sign a document for a protective order, to start some kind of protective order paperwork. At which time she opened the screen door and we stepped in to affect [sic] an arrest.
So, even though Harper expressly told the officers that they could not enter her home and had no reason to be inside her house, when Harper took Officer Gillespie’s clipboard, the two officers entered the home. After Harper returned the clipboard to the officers, Officer Gillespie immediately placed her in handcuffs, with her hands behind her back.
Harper was not wearing any shoes at the time of her arrest, so Officer Hartman accompanied her to her kitchen to retrieve them. While standing behind Harper and without any warning to Harper concerning what he was about to do, Officer Hartman attempted to remove Harper’s wedding ring from her finger. In response, Harper immediately and “violently thrusted her shoulders forward . . . [p]ulling away from [Officer Hartman] causing [him] to lose the grip [he] had on her.” Tr. p. 46; see also Tr. p. 49 (stating “she kind of took a half step forward, rotating her shoulders in a violently quick action movement”). She then “took a stance toward Officer Hartman.” Tr. p. 29.
Officer Gillespie saw Harper pull away from Officer Hartman, and went into the kitchen to assist him. [Footnote omitted.] The officers placed their hands on Harper’s shoulders, forcibly sat her down in a kitchen chair and proceeded to remove Harper’s ring. Officer Hartman did so because “anything that could be taken off the body has to be taken off” before transporting the individual to the Adult Processing Center at the jail in Marion County. Tr. p. 51. Neither officer explained this policy to Harper prior to attempting to remove her wedding ring.
As a result of this series of events, Harper was subsequently charged only with Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement; she was not charged with domestic battery. . . . .
. . . .
In the case before us, Harper never abandoned the privacy interest in her home. She simply opened her front, prime door to answer Officer Gillespie’s knock, and after she did so, she stood behind the closed screen door to speak with him. Harper never crossed the threshold of her residence onto her stoop or porch. In addition, Harper expressly denied the officers entry to her home, and rather than obtain a standard warrant for her arrest, Officer Gillespie chose to use fraud to enter the residence to arrest her.
For all of these reasons, we conclude that Officers Gillespie and Hartman unlawfully entered Harper’s residence, and therefore, the officers were not engaged in the lawful execution of their duties at the time they arrested Harper and then attempted to remove her wedding ring in preparation for booking. Accordingly, the evidence is insufficient to support Harper’s conviction for Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement, and we reverse that conviction. [Footnote omitted.]
BRADFORD, J., and PYLE, J., concur.