The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard HB 1240 on criminal law issues authored by Rep. Steuerwald. The bill makes numerous changes to criminal law, including:
- changing references from “county prosecuting attorney” to “prosecuting attorney” of the appropriate judicial district;
- specifying the membership of county school safety commissions;
- removing and replacing the organized theft statute and increasing the penalty to a Level 4 felony if the loss was at least $100,000, the pecuniary loss is at least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and the victim is an endangered adult (as defined in Ind. Code § 12-10-3-2(a)); or less than eighteen (18) years of age; or the victim was a financial institution.
- increases the penalty for battery to a Level 5 felony when the defendant has a previous conviction for strangulation against the same victim .
- defines “abusive head trauma” and permits it to be used as an aggravating circumstance.
The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council testified in support of the bill. The bill passed 10-0.
Read the bill at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2024/bills/house/1240