Specialized Driving Privileges: Indiana’s New Hardship License -. Have you been patiently (or impatiently!!!) sitting by the sidelines unable to drive for what seems like forever? Or, have you been driving when you aren’t supposed to, constantly checking your rear-view mirror for police officers? Well it appears there may be good news on the horizon. In fact, you may finally be able to get your license back — not only if you thought you would never…
A Quick Look at Indiana’s Statutes on Intimidation, Harassment, and Stalking Before you post that nasty comment about someone on Facebook, or before cyber stalk…you might want to think about whether that communication or internet spying might cross the line. In this blog the Indianapolis Criminal Defense Attorneys of Banks & Brower will focus on two of the most common communication-based criminal charges: intimidation and harassment,both of which seem to be filed more and more often, especially with the advent…
Sentence Modifications after the 2014 Indiana Criminal Code Overhaul – In this blog the Indianapolis Criminal Defense Attorneys at Banks & Brower look at sentence modifications. A sentence modification is a mechanism by which a person convicted of a crime can seek to have the length or placement of the sentence changed after some portion of his or her sentence has been completed. For example, a person may seek to have a few years trimmed…
As many of you are aware, our General Assembly this year passed a comprehensive overhaul of our criminal code. Some of the changes have been highlighted in previous blogs, and this week’s post takes a look at the habitual offender enhancement in its current form. What is a habitual offender? Habitual offender enhancements are used to increase the penalty for a given crime based on an individual’s criminal history. The habitual offender enhancement must be…
I’ve Been Charged with Theft – Now What? Recently we highlighted for you the significant changes that have taken place with respect to felony offenses in Indiana. One change in particular merits special attention as much for its significance to many criminal defendants (and practitioners) as for its effect of making the punishment more proportional to the crime. Prior to the change in the law effective July 1, 2014, the theft statute read as follows:…
Jail Phone Calls — Is Someone Really Listening? YES! One of the biggest temptations for any defendant once they get behind bars is to call loved ones. Obviously, anyone in that situation would feel the need to reach out to their support group for help, advice, and/or direction. However, and almost without fail, we see instance after instance of inmates talking about the facts of their case to loved ones. And, in almost every single…
One of the most common phone calls we get in our criminal defense office is from random defendants asking questions about an open warrant for their arrest. Obviously, and understandably, they are scared and want to know all the options. Typically what they think they know and what they learn after talking to us couldn’t be farther apart. Thus, having received hundreds, if not thousands, of calls from defendants on their outstanding criminal warrants, we’ve…
You have seen it a number of times on TV, or if you’re real unlucky, maybe you have even seen it in person. They are the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests. They consist of the “eye test,” the walk and turn and the one leg stand. The “eye test” is actually the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test. Sounds like a funny name for a test that just sees if you can follow the tip of a…
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.