Reactions have been mixed to the recent announcement that the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will no longer prosecute cases of simple possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced the new policy Sept. 30.
Read MoreThe Indiana Court of Appeals on Friday asked the Indiana General Assembly for guidance as it sharply divided over whether minor felonies reduced to misdemeanor convictions should trigger new five-year waiting periods for people seeking to expunge their criminal records. The majority ruled they should, a result the dissenting judge called “unjust and ill-advised.”
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday evening hosted its first Second Chance Workshop, a free event dedicated to assisting community members in expunging criminal records and restoring suspended driver’s licenses.
An appellate panel has determined that individuals adjudicated as not responsible by reason of insanity may not have that finding expunged from their records pursuant to Indiana Code section 35-38-9- 1. It thus rejected a man’s request to have his murder charge removed from his record.
Illinois is likely to become the 11th state to allow small amounts of marijuana for recreational use after the Democratic-controlled House on Friday sent a legalization plan to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The move further isolates Indiana’s criminalization of marijuana nationally and among its neighboring states.
A new partnership has formed between Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Indiana Legal Services and New Leaf New Life to launch an Expungement Help Desk in Bloomington this fall.
Expungement petitioners do not have the right to cross-examine the victims of their crimes who submit victim impact statements, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in a Tuesday decision upholding the denial of a Marion County expungement petition.
The Indiana Supreme Court has issued new guidance on how long courts are required to maintain files related to tax sales and expungements in their offices. The court also updated Indiana's Administrative Rules to reflect the abolishment of two town courts.
A Jasper County man who argued the trial court erred in denying his request to expunge a school suspension from his record and in not holding a jury trial has lost both arguments on appeal, with an appellate panel specifically holding that expungement issues are not entitled to a jury trial.
An attorney in northeastern Indiana has been suspended from the practice of law after she was criminally charged. The lawyer has been accused of signing a judge’s name to a phony order in a divorce case and sending emails to an expungement client’s widow posing as a deputy prosecutor.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has overturned the denial of a man’s request for expungement of his post-conviction relief proceedings after determining the Allen Superior Court erred in finding PCR records are not covered by Indiana’s expungement statutes.
Gov. Eric Holcomb issued six pardons on Nov. 20 — twice the absolutions granted by his predecessor, now-Vice President Mike Pence, during his four years as governor.
The Indiana Supreme Court has ordered a former attorney who illegally represented a client after he was disbarred more than 20 years ago to pay back the funds he received or he’ll be going to jail.
A woman who twice petitioned to have a federal theft of bank funds conviction expunged lost in her second bid, and the judge denying the motion said district courts lack such authority.
The wife of an Indiana Court of Appeals judge is no longer facing criminal charges for allegedly making threats against the judge that she told police were made by their son-in-law.
An Indiana judge has expunged the armed robbery conviction of a Chicago man recently pardoned after spending more than eight years in prison for a wrongful conviction.
A Chicago man who spent more than eight years in an Indiana prison for a wrongful conviction and was recently pardoned now wants his record expunged.
After the four participating justices who heard arguments in an expungement case Thursday became deadlocked over the case’s proper disposition, the Indiana Supreme Court reinstated the Court of Appeals order granting a juvenile expungement petition.
Indiana Supreme Court justices focused on the phrase “upon receipt” in analyzing whether an expungement must be granted to a qualified petitioner. But they also puzzled over whether the Legislature would have intended the second-chance statute to extend to people who have subsequent run-ins with the law.
In what is believed to be a first, Indiana Legal Services Inc., Indianapolis Legal Aid Society and the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic are hoping to collaborate on a single project that they say will help people overcome hurdles to employment and give communities an economic boost.
The number of petitions filed around the state remains high, but clerks and attorneys say they have adjusted to the workload.