What Happens At a Sentencing Hearing in Indiana? There are many situations where someone can be facing a sentencing hearing. Sentencing hearings typically happen after a trial or plea when a person has already been determined guilty, or after a violation of probation has been determined and the next step is to argue the potential sentence a person must serve. A sentencing hearing is one of the most important stages of any criminal proceeding as…
A Look at the Charge of Reckless Homicide in Indiana When watching the news, it’s impossible to make it through an entire hour of local or national stories without hearing the word “homicide” at least once. Heck, in Chicago alone, over 750 people were killed in 2015…that’s right, over 750 people….close to 2 people a day. Almost everyone when they hear the word “homicide” automatically thinks of someone acting deliberately to kill or harm another…
Arrests for drunk driving (AKA operating a vehicle while intoxicated or driving under influence) is one of the most common arrests in Indiana. According to the most recent statistics from MADD, Indiana had over 14,000 drunk driving arrests in 2014. In order to combat drunk driving, police actively patrol for drunk drivers every day. Once a police officer has stopped a suspected drunk driver they will do a number of field sobriety tests to determine…
How to Go About Changing Your Name as an Adult Pick a name, any name. You can refer to yourself as anything you choose. The ridiculousness level of a chosen name does not matter. However, all government and legal documents must reference your legal name. In Indiana, your name can be changed by life-changing events such as adoption, marriage or divorce. It is also possible to change a name pursuant to Indiana Code 34-28-2. With…
A Quick Look at How Grand Juries Work in Indiana: In previous blogs, we’ve discussed some of the various ways that criminal proceedings may be initiated against a person. Most often a person is facing charges after a charging information, which is signed by the prosecuting attorney, is filed with the court. The other way formal criminal proceedings begin is by an indictment, which is the initiation of charges following a grand jury proceeding. A…
A Look at Pirtle Warnings – What Officers Must Say Before Searching Your Car or Home Most people today are well aware of the Miranda rights that are typically read by a police officer right before they are arrested and put into custody. The Miranda rights can be used to protect an individual from saying anything that may incriminate them. These rights are invoked when a person in any way indicates that they wish to…
Most people assume that in order for a criminal case to be brought against you, you must be arrested first. What most people don’t realize is that a criminal case can be brought against you one of three different ways. This blog will discuss each option. In a nutshell, regardless of how you end up in court under the three options below, once you are in court, criminal cases all follow the same procedure —…
Dividing Up the Marital Pot: Debts & Assets Determining how to divide assets and debts is an important and necessary part of the divorce process. The marital residence is part of the “marital pot” to be divided. Sometimes it is an asset while other times there is debt associated with the home that should be divided. See our blog What Makes Up a Marital Pot? for more on how Indiana views the division of assets….
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by Founding Partner, Brad Banks who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a criminal defense attorney.