Criminal Law

In today’s blog, we look at what qualifies a building to be a “dwelling” for purposes of the Indiana burglary statute.  There is a huge difference.  If a person burglarizes a building that isn’t a dwelling then it is a Level 5 Felony and the potential is for 1 to 6 years in prison, however, if the building qualifies as a dwelling, then the crime is a Level 4 Felony and the penalty jumps all…

Failure to Appear — The Consequences Both Criminally and Civilly – When it comes to any criminal or civil matter before a court, without question, one of the biggest mistakes a defendant or party to a civil matter can do is fail to appear for court. Any failure to appear (or “FTA,” as many refer to it) has consequences that may have significant ramifications on your case moving forward. A failure to appear is just…

In this week’s blog, we examine how the Indiana Criminal Code categorizes different controlled substance and what are the differences which cause substances to fall under different substance schedules. First and foremost, Indiana law, similarly to federal law, has adopted a classification system which is based on different schedules. These schedules are based upon various factors, such as: the abuse potential, acceptance for medical treatment, and physical or psychological dependence. Moreover, it is important to…

It is probably the most well known of evidentiary objections.  Trial counsel asks the witness “what happened after the driver left the scene” and the witness says, “the lady across the street yelled out…” Objection! hearsay.  Counsel commonly jump to the exceptions to hearsay to determine how or why they should get the out of court statement in, however, many times one need to look no further than to the definition of hearsay itself. The…

Offense Related to Controlled Substances In this blog, we take a look at some of the offense involving controlled substances. The most common criminal acts related to controlled substances involve dealing, possessing, or manufacturing the controlled substance. The level of severity varies with both the specific act and the type of controlled substance involved. Dealing and manufacturing come with the highest criminal penalties to deter people from bringing these drugs to the market in the…

With the announcement of our new satellite office located in Fishers, Indiana, today’s blog looks at what will happen if you are arrested in Hamilton County, Indiana, whether it be Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Cicero, Atlanta or any other part of the county. There are a variety of arrests that are common in these communities.  Due to having Klipsch Music Center (formerly known as Verizon Wireless and Deer Creek) a number of the arrests are alcohol…

We’ve all seen it on TV, two parties yelling at each other before a judge like Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, or Judge Mathis. And, inevitably, the judge yells back, makes both parties feel stupid, and then arbitrarily picks a side to believe. Then, most enjoyably, there is a post-proceeding interview with an awkward engagement between the parties….priceless. Though the small claims process is glorified for TV ratings in those shows, the formalities aren’t much…

The term “white collar crime” is just what it suggests. It’s a phrase used to describe criminal acts that are done in and around a corporate/government setting by those directly or indirectly involved in the operation of that business and/or government agency (more often than not). Typically, we hear the term “white collar crime” when used in association with non-hourly jobs or non-manual labor related jobs, but the truth is, if the crime revolves around…