Many people who receive traffic infractions or ordinance violations find that they don’t have much of an opportunity to actually contest them. Most of the time, the cost of an attorney is significantly higher than just paying a ticket, so drivers will pay the ticket and move on, even if they don’t agree with the ticket. In traffic cases, you have a short window within which to pay the ticket or face a license suspension….
In the world we all live in, we live and die by the internet — no doubt. When we need to buy things, where do we turn? Inevitably, the internet. Be it Amazon, Walmart, or Google, we are turning to things we see online for answers. The days of shopping in person are slowing dying like tape cassettes, CD’s, and telephones with chords. Part and parcel to this consumer process, often we are looking for…
On March 21, 2022, Governor Holcomb signed into law House Bill 1296, which allows individuals to carry a handgun in public without a permit in Indiana. This law will take effect on July 1, 2022. Prior to this law, individuals in Indiana were prohibited from carrying a handgun on their person or in their vehicle without having a valid handgun license. The amended statute governing the carrying of a firearm in Indiana is found under…
Whenever someone is sentenced in a criminal case in Indiana, the Court takes great concern to appropriately and accurately apply any credit time the defendant is afforded when carrying out the formal sentencing. No one should ever serve more time for any offense beyond what the level of offense requires minus the time they have already served while awaiting trial— otherwise, a defendant can serve a longer sentence than is necessary and constitutionally allowed. So…
The term DUI is actually a bit of a misnomer in Indiana. In Indiana, we call it Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, or “OVWI”. State governments take OVWI very seriously and therefore implemented a penalty structure that increases the minimum punishment for picking up multiple OVWIs in one’s lifetime. While some aspects of the penalty are aimed at rehabilitation of any underlying drinking habits, others are aimed at protecting society from the dangers of drunk…
Most people realize that when you are serving a suspended sentence on probation that if you violate the terms of that probation, the State of Indiana can go after you for some (or all) of that suspended time. However, most people don’t realize the nuances of when the petition to revokes can be filed and what the possible outcomes are if a violation is proven. This blog will discuss both in detail. According to IC…
Entrapment is an affirmative (or complete) defense to criminal charges. While the state must always prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the evidentiary burden is on the defense to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he/she was entrapped by the government into committing a criminal act. In Indiana, the defense of entrapment is defined by IC. 35-41-3-9. It reads: It is a defense that: The prohibited conduct of the person was the…
When someone dies and it’s at the hands of another person, unless the killing was justified, the person committing the killing will normally be charged with a crime. Frequently in the news we hear someone being charged with first degree murder or murder in the third degree. In short to answer the question posed in this blog, no, Indiana does not have “degrees” of murder, but it does have a few different crimes someone can…
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.