As I discussed in this January 2014 post, Indiana used to have one of the most restrictive expungement statutes in the country, creating an unfair and unnecessary roadblock to individuals who had long since paid their debt to society after youthful mistakes and were simply trying to move forward with their lives like everybody else.

Earlier this year, as reported in the Indianapolis Star, a man walked into the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and confessed to committing a rape in 2005. He was prepared to be arrested then and there and face the consequences of his admitted crime, but he walked away a free man who will never be charged […]

Some people will say that being charged with a sex offense is worse than being charged with murder, and not without reason. While murder carries harsher sentencing penalties and longer prison time, the long-term effects of being convicted of a sex crime can last a lifetime and prevent you from being able to move on […]

Recently, I was in court on a matter when I noticed a young man sitting in the courtroom waiting for his case to be called. He was on the verge of falling asleep right then and there, and wearing a t-shirt which was emblazoned with the admonition: “Keep Calm, I’m Just Drunk.”

Indiana Self-Defense Laws If you were to find yourself combing through the pages of the Indiana Code for some reason, you would see that most provisions simply set forth the nuts and bolts of the law without getting into the reasons behind the law or expounding upon the public policy that the law supposedly advances. […]

It is the common refrain from many criminal defendants who have found themselves caught up in a police sting or undercover operation: “I was set up!!” Last year’s Academy Award-nominated movie “American Hustle” was all about being “set up’; it was a take on the FBI’s “Abscam” operation in the late-1970s, where undercover agents and […]