Kristine Guerra

kristine.guerra@indystar.com

Documents in an Indiana Court of Appeals case reek of an "unpleasant odor."

So says a footnote in an opinion written last week by Judge Edward Najam Jr.

The judge's footnote says the odor is "consistent with that of cigarette or pipe smoke that is apparent, offensive, and consistent. We kindly remind all those who handle the record on appeal to avoid such contamination."

An earlier opinion written by Najam in 2012 used a similarly worded objection. And the two cases have another thing in common. They were both handled by the same deputy attorney general.

The attorney general's office is housed in a smoke-free government building. Indiana's statewide smoking ban, which took effect July 1, 2012, requires nearly all public places, restaurants and workplaces to be smoke-free. Smoking also is not allowed within eight feet of a public entrance to a public place or place of employment.

Attorney general spokesman Bryan Corbin said the agency won't speculate on how the documents became smelly or "whether files incidentally come into contact with secondhand tobacco smoke when being handled by the many individuals and offices involved in an appeal."

Corbin said the agency takes precautions against outside contact with smoke. He added that the agency does not recall any other complaints and that "two footnotes in two years is indeed a rarity," considering the office handles about 1,300 new criminal appeals each year.

He said what's more important is that in both cases, the appellate court upheld the convictions "and the condition of some paper in the appeal has no bearing on that fact."

Najam's dislike for smoky documents was first reported by the Indiana Law Blog.

Contact Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @kristine_guerra.