At a previous hearing, the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 9 on victim impact statements at sentencing sponsored by Rep. King and Rep. Morris and authored by Sen. Brown. The bill requires a defendant to be present in the courtroom while a victim makes a statement concerning the crime and the sentence unless the defendant presents a safety risk, causes a significant … [Read more...] about Victim impact statements at sentencing
Criminal
Public safety
At a previous hearing, the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 140 on public safety sponsored by Rep. Zimmerman and Rep. Bascom and authored by Sen. Freeman and Sen. Becker. The bill provides that: On February 11, 2026, the Committee heard the bill for amend and vote. The Committee amended the bill by consent to: The Anti-Defamation League previously … [Read more...] about Public safety
Public safety
The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 160 on public safety sponsored by Rep. Lopez and authored by Sen. Deery and Sen. Clark. The bill makes wearing a mask during the commission of a criminal offense a sentencing aggravator. The bill also makes it malicious littering, a Class A misdemeanor, for a person to place refuse on the property of another person with the … [Read more...] about Public safety
OWI penalties
The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 251 on OWI penalties sponsored by Rep. Jeter and Rep. Olthoff and authored by Sen. Freeman and Sen. Carrasco. The bill: The Committee amended the bill by consent to provide a court discretion on whether to suspend a driver’s license pretrial. The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Indiana Public Defender Council, Mot … [Read more...] about OWI penalties
County policies
At a prior hearing, the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard HB 1025 on county policies sponsored by Sen. Glick and Sen. Pol and authored by Rep. Zimmerman. The bill provides that a public defender and an employee of a public defender agency may not be subject to a county residency requirement, unless the residency requirement includes all counties contiguous to the … [Read more...] about County policies