Indiana Criminal Defense Lawyer

An article and editorial at NWI.com notes that penalties for OWI (drunk driving) in Indiana can vary depending on the county you are arrested in. In particular, Lake County prosecutors are more agreeable to charge reductions. [read more...]

The Indiana Toxicology Lab, under the direction of Indiana University is getting some bad publicity lately. Amid questions of the labs effectiveness and an announcement of a review, the Chief of the program resigned this week. According to this review from the Indianapolis Star, the lab has received numerous complaints over the last few years. [read more...]

There were 809 arrests made over the last few weeks in a crackdown on impaired Indiana drivers. Local and state officials collaborated to make “Over the Limit, Under Arrest” a busy two week period. [read more...]

What would your first reaction be when driving under the influence and about to get pulled over? Hopefully that will never happen and if it does, hopefully you won’t shove a child in the driver’s seat to fool the cop.

That’s exactly what happened this past week in Muncie when Delaware County Sherriff’s Deputy Bill Curtis pulled over a suspected drunk driver. [read more...]

This past weekend wasn’t a good one for the Sadler family of northern Indiana. According to the IndyStar both father and son were charged with OWI/DUI and met up at the Whitley county jail to share their stories. It just goes to show that everyone makes mistakes and DUI charges are very common.

The son, 19 year old Kosciusko County Deputy Coroner Derrick Sadler was pulled over after speeding, going 73 miles per hour in a 60 mph speed zone. Police found he had a blood alcohol level of .17%. Dad, Coroner John Sadler was contacted to pick up the son’s vehicle but he was found to be intoxicated as well, with a blood alcohol content of .10%.

Both men will face DUI charges now. The legal limit in Ohio is .08% and anything over this is subject to criminal charges. [read more...]

Indiana House Bill 1020 would permit judges discretion in requiring any convicted drunk driving/OWI to install an alcohol-detecting ignition interlock device (IID) in his or her car. Current Indiana law only allows for an ignition interlock requirement after a second offense OWI conviction.

However, the bill may still be changed during the legislative process to require the devices after any 1st offense drunk driving conviction. MADD and other advocacy groups are pushing for an even tougher bill.  Industry groups that represent restaurants believe a mandatory 1st offense IID requirement is far too strict, and unfairly punishes average people who may have made a 1 time mistake and been caught barely over the limit. [read more...]