Legal Question in Criminal Law in Indiana

Hi! I was taken into custody in the state of Indiana in July after being caught shoplifting. I sat at the lock up facility for about twelve hours, never saw a judge and then was released after being told that it was a "no file" case. They told me that that was the end of it and it would never show up on a back ground check. I thought that I was in the clear legally but still knew that I had an issue to address in my personal life and underwent counseling with an addiction specialist on my own to fix the problem so that I wouldn't have any problems again in my life. Five months passed and now my life is on the right track where I am not making those decisions anymore and still going to counseling, now along with my husband to continue my counseling while working to repair our marriage, when suddenly, a couple days ago I was served with a summons to appear in court for a criminal conversion charge. I have a few weeks yet until my court date so I am trying to get this all squared away. Do I need a lawyer? Will I be facing jail time? I do have a prior conviction on my record for OWI which was over five years ago and I completed all requirements of that. What is the least expensive way for me to do this?


Asked on 12/07/09, 11:35 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jorge GEORGE Rodriguez Law Offices of Jorge "George" Rodriguez

You need a lawyer. How expensive this will be depends on too many things to put an exact dollar amount on the matter. It also depends on many things that you should only discuss privately with an attorney and not in an open forum like this. Based on your description, your OVWI is a criminal misdemeanor, but any criminal history can result in you receiving a harsher sentence than someone with no criminal history. Also don�t make the mistake of verbally or non-verbally letting the Judge see that you don�t consider the OVWI to be a �real� offense. While it is the most common criminal offense most of the population can easily get caught up in, it is a criminal offense and treating it as anything else especially in a courtroom can have bad consequences. In Indiana criminal conversion is a class A misdemeanor and carries a minimum of zero days in jail up to a maximum of 365 days in jail. Only a local attorney familiar with all the details of you, your case and where you are scheduled for court can give you an idea of the likely outcome.

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Answered on 12/12/09, 12:22 pm


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