The Indiana legislature has dramatically (and arguably for the worse) changed the range of penalties for those receiving a felony sentence.

Under Indiana’s new criminal code, starting July 1, 2014, the 4 existing classes of felonies will be changed to a new scale with 6 levels of felonies.

To put it in perspective, under the old law, the range of penalties were:

• Murder 45-65 years
• Class A 20-50 years
• Class B 6-20 years
• Class C 2-8 years
• Class D 0.5-3 years

Under the new law, the range of penalties will be:

• Murder 45-65 years
• Level 1 20-40 years
• Level 2 10-30 years
• Level 3 3-16 years
• Level 4 2-12 years
• Level 5 1-6 years
• Level 6 0.5-2 years

For Murder and Level 1 felonies, the court may only suspend whatever part of the sentence is in excess of the minimum sentence. For Level 2 and 3 felonies (save for Level 2 and 3 controlled substance felonies), the court may only suspend the part of a sentence in excess of the minimum sentence if the person has a prior unrelated felony conviction. For all other felonies, the court will be able to suspend the entire sentence.

The penalties for crimes are dramatically changing. Make sure to consult with experienced criminal defense lawyers like Vonderheide & Knecht to understand and mitigate the possible penalties for a criminal offense.