A Look at Indiana’s Aggravating & Mitigating Factors When It Comes to Sentencing Many people know that a judge generally has considerable leeway in imposing a sentence after a person is convicted of a crime. For example, a sentence for a Level 5 felony can range from 1 to 6 years. So how do judges come to a sentencing decision in any given case? Indiana law contains certain aggravating and mitigating circumstances that a…
Understanding How Extradition Works in Indiana Extradition is a word that is often tossed around by the general public, but all too often, many don’t truly understand what it means, how it works, and how it’s enforced in the criminal defense world. In this blog the Indianapolis Criminal Defense Attorneys at Banks & Brower will address how extradition works and how it plays out in a typical criminal case. Extradition, in its most simplistic form,…
UNDERSTANDING INDIANA’S CRIMINAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES Below is a chart showing the classes of felony crimes in Indiana and the associated sentencing ranges. Also included is the advisory sentence for each category of felony. SENTENCING RANGES CHART Felony Level Sentence Range (min. – adv. – max.) Murder 45 – 55 – 65 Level 1 20 – 30 – 40 Level 2 10 – 17.5 – 30 Level 3 3 – 9 – 16 Level 4 2…
Understanding How a Juvenile Get’s Waived to Adult Court in Indiana: – Most people assume, and rightfully so, that so long as you or a loved one isn’t an adult at the time a criminal offense is committed, you can’t be tried as an adult. While in principal that sounds right, and in practice that is mostly right, you might be surprised to hear that isn’t always the case. Most often it depends on the level…
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…
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.