Criminal Law
April 5, 2012 | Category: Criminal
Self defense
Effective March 20, 2012
Amends IC 35-41-3-2 to provide that a person is justified in using reasonable force against a public servant if the person reasonably believes the force is necessary to: (1) protect the person or a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force; (2) prevent or terminate the public servant’s unlawful entry of or attack on the person’s dwelling, curtilage, or occupied motor vehicle; or (3) prevent or terminate the public servant’s unlawful trespass on or criminal interference with property lawfully in the person’s possession, lawfully in possession of a member of the person’s immediate family, or belonging to a person whose property the person has authority to protect.
Amends IC 35-41-3-2 to provide that a person is not justified in using force against a public servant if: (1) the person is committing or is escaping after the commission of a crime; (2) the person provokes action by the public servant with intent to cause bodily injury to the public servant; (3) the person has entered into combat with the public servant or is the initial aggressor, unless the person withdraws from the encounter and communicates to the public servant the intent to do so and the public servant nevertheless continues or threatens to continue unlawful action; or (4) the person reasonably believes the public servant is: (A) acting lawfully; or (B) engaged in the lawful execution of the public servant’s official duties. Amends IC 35-41-3-2 to provide that a person is not justified in using deadly force against a public servant whom the person knows or reasonably should know is a public servant unless (1) the person reasonably believes that the public servant is (A) acting unlawfully or (B) not engaged in the execution of the public servant’s official duties, and (2) the force is reasonably necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to the person or a third person.
Human trafficking
Effective January 30, 2012
Amends the promotion of human trafficking offense, IC 35-42-3.5-1(a), to add the element that perpetrator’s promotion be by “force, threat of force, or fraud” and adds “participating in sexual conduct” as one of the activities the victim is coerced to do. Enacts a new “promotion of human trafficking of a minor” B felony codified as IC 35-42-3.5-1(b) for a person who “recruits, harbors, or transports” a child under sixteen with the intent to engage the child in forced labor or involuntary servitude or intent to induce or cause the child to engage in prostitution or sexual conduct. Amends the A felony sexual trafficking of a minor offense, codified at IC 35-42-3.5-1(c) to expand its application from parents or custodians to include anyone eighteen or older and reduces the age of the child sold or transferred from eighteen to less than sixteen; expands purpose of the prohibited sale or transfer to include not just the purpose of prostitution by the child but also the purpose of having the child engage in sexual conduct.
Public intoxication
Effective July 1, 2012
Amends the public intoxication statutes IC 7.1-5-1-3 and 4 to provide that a person may not be convicted of certain offenses relating to public intoxication unless the person: (1) endangers the person’s life; (2) endangers the life of another person; (3) breaches the peace or is in imminent danger of breaching the peace; or (4) harasses, annoys, or alarms another person. Prohibits a person from initiating or maintaining an action against a law enforcement officer based on the officer’s failure to enforce certain laws concerning public intoxication offenses.
Operating a motor boat while intoxicated
Effective July 1, 2012
Transfers all provisions relating to the offense of operating a motor boat while intoxicated from Title 7 to a new penal code chapter at IC 35-46-9.
Lab technician testimony in criminal cases
Effective July 1, 2012
Enacts a new penal code chapter, IC 35-36-11. Requires a prosecuting attorney who intends to introduce a laboratory report into evidence at a criminal trial to file a notice of intent at least 20 days before the trial, and requires a defendant who wishes to cross-examine the technician who prepared the laboratory report to file a pretrial demand for cross-examination not later than ten days after receiving the notice from the prosecutor. Prohibits a prosecuting attorney who fails to comply with the notice requirement from introducing a laboratory report into evidence without the testimony of the person who prepares the report, and provides that a defendant who does not comply with the demand requirement waives the right to confront and cross-examine the person who prepared the laboratory report.
Immunity for certain alcohol offenses
Effective July 1, 2012
Prohibits a law enforcement officer from taking a person into custody for a crime of public intoxication or minor possession, consumption, or transportation of an alcoholic beverage if the officer, after making a reasonable determination and considering the facts and surrounding circumstances, reasonably believes that: (1) the officer has contact with the person because the person requested emergency medical assistance, or acted in concert with another person who requested emergency medical assistance, for an individual who reasonably appeared in need of medical assistance due to alcohol consumption; and (2) the person meets other requirements. Specifies that a person may not bring an action against a law enforcement officer based on the officer’s compliance with or failure to comply with this prohibition. Provides that a person meeting these conditions is immune from criminal prosecution for public intoxication or minor possession, consumption, or transportation of an alcoholic beverage.
Criminal history and sentencing – converting D Felony to A Misdemeanor
Effective July 1, 2012
Amends IC 35-50-2-7 to authorize a court to convert a Class D felony conviction to Class A misdemeanor conviction if: (1) the person is not a sex or violent offender; (2) the offense was a non-violent offense; (3) the person has not been convicted of perjury or official misconduct; (4) at least three years have passed since the person completed the sentence; (5) the person has not been convicted of a new felony; and (6) no criminal charges are pending against the person. Provides that if a person whose Class D felony conviction has been converted to a Class A misdemeanor conviction is convicted of a felony within five years after the conversion, a prosecuting attorney may petition a court to convert the person’s Class A misdemeanor conviction back to a Class D felony conviction.
Sexual offenders
Effective July 1, 2012
Amends IC 11-8-8-4.5 to provide that a person is a sex offender if the person commits sexual misconduct by a service provider with a child who is subject to lawful detention. Creates a defense to the offense of recruiting, harboring, or transporting a child less than 16 years of age with the intent of inducing the child to participate in sexual conduct if: (1) the child is 14 or 15 years old and the person is less than 18 years old; or (2) the person is within four years of the child’s age, the person was in a dating relationship with the child, and certain other conditions apply. Amends IC 35-42-4-8 to make it a Class D felony sexual battery for a person to, with intent to arouse or satisfy the person’s own sexual desires or the sexual desires of another person, touch another person’s genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast when that other person is unaware that the touching is occurring.
Synthetic drugs
Effective March 15, 2012
Amends IC 35-48-4-10 (dealing marijuana) and IC 35-48-4-11 (possession of marijuana) to change the term “synthetic cannabinoid” to “synthetic drug.” Amends controlled substance statutes to add additional chemical compounds (including some compounds sold as “bath salts”) to the definition of synthetic drugs and expands the definition of synthetic drugs to include certain chemical compounds that are structurally related to synthetic drugs. Amends IC 25-26-13-4.1 to authorize the board of pharmacy to adopt an emergency rule to declare that a substance is a synthetic drug, and provides that the definition of synthetic drug includes a compound determined to be a synthetic drug by a rule adopted by the board.
Various corrections matters
Effective July 1, 2012
Requires a sentencing court to inform the Department of Correction (“DOC”) if the person sentenced is a credit restricted felon. Requires a court that determines that a person is a credit restricted felon to state in the sentencing order and the abstract of judgment that the person is a credit restricted felon. Provides that if a court imposes a felony sentence that involves a commitment to DOC, the court shall state certain information in the sentencing order and abstract of judgment. Requires that the abstract of judgment be completed in an electronic format approved by DOC and the Division of State Court Administration. Requires the Judicial Conference to adopt rules concerning swift and certain sanctions that a probation officer may use in supervising persons on probation. Provides procedures for a person on probation to be sanctioned by a probation officer. Requires that credit time earned by certain offenders shall be reduced to the extent that application of the credit time would result in post-conviction release or a community transition program assignment in less than 45 days after the person earns the credit time. Provides that if a court orders probation for a person, the person, or in the case of a child, the child’s parents, are responsible for certain costs.
Various estate administration matters – “Racketeering Activity”
Effective March 19, 2012 (§§11, 13-16); July 1, 2012 (§§1-10, 12, 17-19)
Adds practice of law by a person who is not an attorney to the definition of “racketeering activity” in IC 35-45-6-1.
Other bill of interest:
Title 35 definitions
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The Legislative Update is a weekly update of the activities of the Indiana General Assembly and a publication of the Indiana Judicial Center.
