Tales from the Brown Desk - Episode 11 - Series: A Walk Through the Criminal Justice System in Indiana - Criminal Investigations & Florida Man

Weekly Criminal Law Podcast, Tales from the Brown Desk, brought to you by Rigney Law LLC. Tales from the Brown Desk is a free flowing conversation involving two foul-mouthed attorneys. It may include graphic descriptions of sexual activity, violence, and traffic law. It may not be suitable for children. Listener discretion advised. 

Episode 11 starts a series. In this series, criminal defense attorneys Jake and Kassi Rigney will walk us laypeople through the criminal justice system in Indiana. From a criminal investigation that leads to an arrest, to conviction and sentencing, then on to appealing a convection and expunging a criminal record, Jake & Kassi will guide us as we navigate a system that is suppose to bring justice to all those involved. This episode focuses on the first step in to the criminal justice system, the criminal investigation. Criminal defense lawyers Jake & Kassi Rigney also answer an listener question: Can you be charged with a crime for flipping off an police officer? And of course, Florida Man who has been accused of a bizarre crime spree that led to 19 criminal charges that were all racked up in less than an hour. 

Transcript

Jacob Rigney – It’s Friday afternoon. Now we used to lock the door. Then we stopped locking the door, because the landlord’s locked the building. But now we’re locking the door again, because my wife Karen’ed so hard, on our landlord, that they had to re-unlock the doors, and also because it’s time for another edition of our weekly podcast Tales from the Brown Desk. I’m Jake Rigney of Rigney Law LLC. With me as usual is my law partner, wife, and the cutest yell-talker I ever met, Kassi Rigney. Our host is Teri Ulm. Friendly reminder, Tales from the Brown Desk is a free-flowing conversation involving two foul-mouthed attorneys. It may include graphic descriptions of sexual activity, violence, and the implosion of the American dream. It may not be suitable for children, children of children, speed-trap towns, iodine states, vampires, and the last of my kind. Seriously. No one understands these references. That’s okay. You’re not supposed too. It’s an inside joke between me and me, and I’m sorry. Listener discretion is advised. Here’s Teri.

Teri Ulm – Hello everyone! Hi Jake. How are you today?

Jacob Rigney – Oh… I’ve been in kind of a bad mood lately. How are you, Teri?

Teri Ulm – I’ve been pretty good. You hide that bad mood pretty good. I don’t notice that you’re in a bad mood.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. I suffer silently. That tends to be how I get down.

Teri Ulm – Hi Kassi. How are you?

Kassi Rigney – I’m good. How are you?

Teri Ulm – Good. Thanks. So today we are going to start a series, and in this series criminal defense attorneys Jake and Kassi Rigney will walk us laypeople through the criminal justice system in Indiana. From a criminal investigation that leads to an arrest, to conviction and sentencing, then on to appealing a conviction and expunging a criminal record, Jake and Kassi will guide us as we navigate a system that is supposed to bring justice to all those involved. But, before we embark on our journey we have a listener question.

Jacob Rigney – Ohhh.

Teri Ulm – Yeah. This listener lives in Indianapolis, and he says he goes by Chad.

Jacob Rigney – Good job, Chad. That’s great work.

Can you be charged with a crime for flipping off a police officer?

Teri Ulm – He wants to know if he can be charged with a crime if he flips off a police officer from afar?

Jacob Rigney – Like most legal questions, the answer is maybe. I think just that act itself of flipping off a police officer is not a crime. That is, it doesn’t fit disorderly conduct because you’re not fighting, and you’re not making unreasonable noise. Assuming you do it quietly. Unless he knows how to flip somebody off so hard that it actually makes a loud noise, which doesn’t seem likely. And it’s not any other crime that I can think of off the top of my head. Plus, even if it was, it would likely be protected by the First Amendment. So, that’s probably not a crime. Now doing that, while you are, for example, drunk in public, might turn the situation into where you’re going to get arrested when you otherwise wouldn’t have. Because public intoxication is a crime in Indiana. But because of a weird interplay between the Court of Appeals and legislature, the rule now is if you are drunk, you’re in public, and you are harassing annoying or alarming someone, they can arrest you for public intoxication. But if you aren’t doing that last part, the harassing, annoying, or alarming someone, they can’t arrest you for it. So, if you’re just walking down the street drunk, minding your own business, you haven’t harassed anyone, you haven’t alarmed anyone, you haven’t annoyed anyone. They can’t arrest you. But, if you’re walking down the street drunk, and flipping off police officers, well now the police officers are annoyed. And you’ve satisfied that last element that they needed you to do in order to arrest them. And in that case, they can arrest you for public intoxication. So, on its own, no. With other conduct, that isn’t a good idea? Yeah. Maybe.

Kassi Rigney – This is where you think about the things like just because you can maybe doesn’t mean you should. Because the thing is often time, you know, this isn’t right. And even at the end of the day, if you win your case, don’t forget all the pain, time, energy, effort that you put into defending it. Even if you win at the end of the day, you’ve lost something by way of probably money and time at least.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. Look. Believe me. I love it when people show up at my office and hire me and pay me lots of money to do that. They don’t pay me that much money. But they pay me money to do it. I appreciate it. My daughter appreciates the new shoes and the gourmet food we serve her every day. I’m just kidding. We don’t do that either. But everyone who comes in here to pay me money to represent them would certainly rather have not had to pay me that money. And sort of the key to that is not getting arrested in the first place. Not committing crimes and not attempting faith… It’s such a rude thing to do; to flip off a police officer. You know. Why? What’s… What did you get out of it? Is it gonna be worth it? Probably not.

The first step into the criminal justice system in Indiana – About criminal investigations

Teri Ulm – Now let’s take the first step into the criminal justice system. What is the first step? Is it a criminal investigation or is it a reporting of a crime being committed? What is that first step?

Kassi Rigney – Well, I guess the first thing that the officials or, you know, the people that do this is an investigation. But to get an investigation started there’s either gonna be an allegation or evidence of a crime to start that investigation.

Teri Ulm – And who is doing the investigation?

Kassi Rigney – Is it the police officers or is there a special? It’s the role of the police officers.  There’s, I mean, there may be times where a prosecutor’s office may have some investigators of their own. But it’s traditionally the role of the police to investigate crimes.

What happens during a criminal investigation?

Teri Ulm – And what happens during the investigation phase?

Jacob Rigney – Well, during the investigation phase, a lot of different things can happen. And it varies quite a bit depending on what kind of investigation it is. But typically, the sort of standard process is the police gather evidence in whatever form they can think of, that would tend to prove a person is guilty of a crime. Sometimes the fact that a crime was committed is relatively clear, and so it’s mostly just a question, for example, of who did it. Other times, that’s not quite so clear, and what you need to know is actually what happened. Right? Sometimes, who did it is really clear. And the question is whether or not what they did is a crime. And depending on what type of case you have, that investigation can come in a lot of different ways. Sometimes it’s simply talking to the people who saw it, the witnesses. And finding out what they have to say. To try to figure out what happened. Typically but not always involves questioning your suspect. But sometimes they don’t question their suspect. Sometimes it involves taking pictures. Sometimes it involves collecting biological samples to compare for DNA analysis. Sometimes it involves collecting physical evidence, like firearms or cartridge cases, to determine whether they were fired and what gun they were fired from. Collecting fingerprints is another example of a thing that they commonly do in investigations. But, depending on the type of investigation, there can be a lot of different ways they do it. And it’s so different from case to case that you can’t really categorize one type of thing or another and say this is the way to do it. Basically, they’re looking for whatever evidence they can find, in whatever way they can gather it, in a fashion that is admissible at trial later on. So depending on what type of evidence we’re talking about, I can answer sort of more specific questions, but that’s generally what they’re doing. They’re looking for whatever kind of evidence they could find, in whatever way they can collect it.

If someone is under investigation, would they know?

Teri Ulm – If someone was being investigated would they know?

Kassi Rigney – Not necessarily. If you do something in public, and the police are encountered at the time, you may know that the police have been involved at the time of the incident. But otherwise, you know, something could happen and someone could report something to police, and you wouldn’t know until the investigator called to maybe interview you. Worst case scenario, you don’t know until the warrant for your arrest is served on you. So, I mean, it’s one of those things you don’t get a courtesy call. Or you should not count on getting a courtesy call to be notified that you’re under investigation for a crime.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. But sometimes, they do. Sometimes they contact you to try to get you to come in and give a statement or something like that. But yeah. It’s different from case to case. And you don’t always know. You don’t have a right to know that you’re under investigation.

If under I’m under investigation, would I know and do I need an attorney?

Teri Ulm – So, let’s say someone is under investigation, and authorities have contacted them to question them, is now the time to get an attorney or do you wait until charges are filed against you?

Kassi Rigney – If the police are requesting to interview you as part of an investigation, it’s my recommendation you speak to an attorney before you speak to them. My starting point is always, do not talk to them. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t change that opinion down the road, but until you’ve consulted with an attorney, you need to remain silent and talk to someone to protect yourself.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. I’m gonna score a lot of points here by saying my wife is absolutely right. Yes. Nailed it. The police can contact you, and then you might find out that you aren’t a suspect. That you’re merely a witness or that they just have questions about something and you didn’t even know as a crime. But the police might also contact you and want to talk to you because you’re their suspect. And they won’t always necessarily let you know that ahead of time. Or at least not before you get at the table sitting there with them. The best clue that you’re in a situation where you need to talk to a lawyer, is if they read you your rights. If you are in a discussion with the police and they read you your rights, that almost always means they expect you to say something that will incriminate you. And they want to be able to use it later. So, if they read you your rights, and you haven’t already consulted with an attorney, it’s almost always a good idea to consult with one. Now, I’ll tell you, I go into those type of consultations with an open mind. I don’t have any of those going on right this second, but… So, I always meet with my clients. Listen to them. Listen to what they have to say. Stress the importance of telling me the truth about what’s going on, and then we decide together whether we think it’s a good idea or a bad idea to go talk to the police. And sometimes, I decide that it’s okay to go talk to the police. I know there are… I think there are some defense attorneys out there who will always just say, don’t ever talk to the police. Just don’t talk to them. I think there’s actually a couple of really funny guys on… it’s either Facebook or it’s on Facebook or the internet. It’s somewhere. And they just say like: “shut the fuck up”. Over and over and over again on their Facebook page. It’s just like the police want to talk to you, shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up. Like just over and over and over. And it’s funny the way they do it because they’re almost like mafia types with like sunglasses. But one of them is real short. The other ones real tall. It’s like a Laurel and Hardy thing. I don’t take that extreme of an approach to it. Let’s find out what you have to say. Let’s find out whether the police are confused, mistaken. Or, if we find out that, in fact, my client is probably guilty of a crime, then you know, we just don’t go talk to them. But it depends. It depends on your situation.

Kassi Rigney – And that’s why you have to talk to an attorney. Because it depends. Sometimes, you may be able… An attorney may be able to turn you from a suspect into a cooperating witness before you’ve ever faced charges. It’s a delicate situation. And a lot of people assume TV has enlightened them in a way that it has not in fact enlightened them. So, consulting with an attorney.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. That’s one of the things about actually talking with the police, is that, I think, when when people go and talk to the police, they steel themselves for it. Right. They feel like okay… They’re gonna put me in this smokey little room with a big mirror, and I know the police are over there on the other side of the mirror, and they’ll be secretly recording me through the thermostat or something. And this detective will have his tie undone. And he’ll be sitting there smoking. And it’ll… and he’ll threaten to beat me up, or he’ll slam my head off the table a couple of times during the middle of a conversation. And it’s almost never like that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like that. And I’ve seen hundreds of police interrogations. In fact, the vast majority of them use a very specific method that is taught to them in detective school. I don’t remember the name of it off the top… I think it’s called the… I think it’s called the Ross method or something like that. I can’t remember the name off the top of my head. But the method is pretty straightforward. And what they do is, they start by talking to you about things they don’t have anything to do with the crime. Something that they have in common with you. Whether it’s an appreciation of rap music or neoclassical literature or… They ask you questions till they find something that they can talk to you about. And then they talk to you about it for a little bit. And suddenly you realize this guy’s not gonna bounce my head off a table. Spoiler alert. He’s not allowed to bounce your head off a table. This isn’t the 1930s anymore. And so suspects, when that happens, they kind of let their guard down. They’re like okay. There’s no smoke in this room. They told me that I can have water anytime I want. They’re not threatening to beat me up. Yeah. These guys seem okay, I think. I’ll just admit to all these crimes. And that happens. It works. They let their guard down, and then they start saying things that incriminate them without realizing it or without… maybe thinking they’re just not gonna get in trouble for it. I I don’t know. But it happens and it works.

Kassi Rigney – Well and if you want a really good interrogator/detective can get you to consent to search where you know that there are drugs. People are like why would someone consent? They knew it was right there. And it’s probably because the the officer is that good. And working with the police as a prosecutor, there were a couple of them. It was amazing to see them befriend someone and get them to talk. Because there’s like: “Oh well. We’re buddies. And you help me out. I’ll help you out. And they don’t have your interests as their priority. No matter what they say.

Jacob Rigney – Right. They have a tendency when they use this method, to give you the impression they’re on your side or that they’re at least willing to consider your point of view. And that they really just want some help. You know what I mean? They sort of appeal to your concepts or your belief in the necessity of truth and things like that. They make you feel like what you’re doing is in your best interest. Right. You know, this is your chance to really help yourself here. To really sort of get the truth out so we all kind of understand what’s really going on. You’re not gonna have another chance to do this. That’s kind of the vibe they put off. And its really disarming for folks even when they go in steely-eyed. Planning to just shake their fist at the world. You go in. They start talking to you. You realize they’re human. They’re not just there to beat you up. And yeah. You start talking. And it can it can go badly. Which is why when my clients do go give statements to the police, I go with them. Because another thing the police like to do sometimes is, they’ll ask your questions and if they don’t like your answer, they’ll say they don’t like your answer. And then they’ll leave this just long dead pause.

Teri Ulm – laughter…

Jacob Rigney – See. look you’re already trying I fill it.

Teri Ulm – Yeah. I feel like I gotta fill it.

Jacob Rigney – You feel like you have to fill the pause, don’t you? So, they’ll say like, “Yeah. Well I got a completely different story from Julie, Chad. Julie didn’t say any of this at all. So…

Teri Ulm – Then I spill my beans.

Jacob Rigney – And you feel the need to say more and to keep talking. And if you don’t recognize that that’s what they’re doing, and usually it’s hard to separate yourself from what’s going on while it’s going on, it can it can cause you to say things that you wouldn’t or shouldn’t have said. And the other thing is when you go in to sit down and talk to the police, you don’t know, typically, what they do know and what they don’t know. Right? They will not tell you everything that they’ve learned in their investigation up to that point. They’ll just start asking you questions about whatever they want to ask you questions about. So, it’s really hard to lie because you don’t know what they can prove and what they can’t prove. And the flip side of that danger is, is that it’s also very dangerous to tell them some truth. For example, you can say you know that say, if you look at like a like public intoxication, you can say: Well, I mean… Yeah. I was drunk all Saturday night, but I wasn’t in public. I was at home all Saturday. I mean, I was drunk. But I was at home all Saturday. I wasn’t in a public. Well now, they have an admission that you were drunk. Right? Maybe that was the only thing they needed. Maybe they already had surveillance video if you walk it around outside the bar. You know what I mean? And all they really needed was evidence that you were drunk, and they had a little. Now, they’ve got a bunch cuz you admitted it. So, that’s the other sort of the flip side negative aspect to going down to talk to the police. So a lot of times it’s not a good idea. I’m not gonna say it’s never a good idea. Because sometimes my clients and I do go. But you have to sit down, talk to an attorney, try to figure out what actually makes sense and what the best option for you is. And it’s really hard to do that if you aren’t an attorney and you don’t understand how  investigations work. Because you won’t know the things that you ought to know to make an informed decision.

Who conducts criminal investigations?

Teri Ulm – What kind of entities do these investigations? I can think of maybe three: the police department. So you have police. Maybe a private investigator and then the FBI?

Kassi Rigney – Yeah. The one thing… But the private investigator does an investigation, but they don’t work on behalf of the state. There is no private… He can do an investigation but he doesn’t have the power to charge anybody. Only the state does.

Teri Ulm – And what would make the FBI be involved in an investigation and not just the police?

Jacob Rigney – They feel like it.

Teri Ulm – That’s it?

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. No… There’s no like requirement that it be interstate or that it’d be over a specific dollar amount. They have regulations, I think, for what they generally will and won’t investigate. But they’re allowed to investigate I think any crime they want whether it’s a federal crime a state crime. They can file cases in state court. They can file cases in federal court. So, it’s basically any crime they want to investigate, they can look into it.

Anytime you are in the presence of the police, you should assume that you’re under investigation.

Teri Ulm – Is there anything else about this investigation phase that we haven’t touched on that might be important for our listeners to know?

Kassi Rigney – Just not assuming that there’s some kind of official thing that you may actually recognize as. I mean, it’s kind of anything from a traffic infraction. You know. If you’re being stopped by the police, and you’re interacting with them, they’re assessing you. Whether it turns into anything or not you know that’s to be told. But they’re there constantly, I would consider it constantly, under an investigation. Because they may think you were just speeding. But they walk up and they find a drunk. Well then that goes. So, the whole thing. They’re always assessing, and watching, and collecting, and noting in their head to put it together if they need to later.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. I think that’s accurate. Anytime you are in the presence of the police, you should assume that you’re under investigation. And the easy way to think, I think we all know this if you think about it, but if you get pulled over in a traffic stop, and when the officer walks up to your car knocks in the window you roll it down and you say: “I just killed my wife”. They’ll take you to jail. And then try to figure it… Well, they’ll take you to a room and interrogate you about your admission. And then take you to jail, if they can figure out that you did in fact kill someone. So if you think about it, you are always under investigation. I will say that sometimes the police will explicitly tell you that they don’t care about a particular type of crime. The most common instance I see that in is in homicide investigations. Sometimes if marijuana is involved or drugs are involved, the homicide detectives will say things like I’m not the drug police. I don’t care. I don’t care about your drugs. Just tell me whatever. Tell me about him that’s fine. Just tell me the truth. I don’t care. And generally, my experience has been, that’s true.

Teri Ulm – Really?

Jacob Rigney – Generally they don’t. But there’s no guarantee of that. Especially if they don’t like what you’re hear… what you’re saying. So, you have to be careful about that. But the police are not always lying. And I don’t mean to suggest that they they ever are always lying. Sometimes when they say that they mean it. Judging when that is and isn’t the case is pretty difficult. But I’ve seen people pull it off.

Kassi Rigney – I guess what I would say is that no, they’re not lying. The thing is, they are not beholden to you. And no matter what impression they give you, they are not beholden to whatever promises they made. They won’t. If it suits their purposes, they’ll tell you what they need to tell you to meet their goals. And then they’ll go back on whatever promises they made if that’s what they need to do to reach their goals. And people just think, oh well he told me… and people, you know, they’re a police officer. And that’s just not the reality. I think they just get surprised by that.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah they are not always lying to you, but they do not have to tell you the truth either. Except in very limited circumstances.

Florida Man goes on a bizarre crime spree that led to 19 criminal charges that were racked up in less than one hour.

Teri Ulm – That’s good to know. So we haven’t gotten very far on the journey through the criminal justice system, but I have to interrupt this episode to bring you the latest Florida Man news. Oh boy. Yeah. So, Click Orlando reports that Florida Man has been accused of a bizarre crime spree that led to 19 criminal charges that were racked up in less than an hour. Yeah. The spree started while Florida Man was visiting a flea market diner. Which to me sounds questionable.

Jacob Rigney – Hey. Wait. No.

Teri Ulm – Yeah. A diner in a flea market.

Jacob Rigney – It’s a diner inside a flea market or is it a flea market inside of a diner?

Teri Ulm – Not sure.

Jacob Rigney – Which is more gross?

Kassi Rigney – They’re both gross.

Jacob Rigney – They’re both gross.

Kassi Rigney – Well diners are good. Flea markets are gross.

Jacob Rigney – Right. But which, if you have one inside the other, which is worse?

Teri Ulm – I’m not sure.

Kassi Rigney – If a diner is associated with the flea market, as far as I’m concerned it’s out. That’s the way that goes.

Jacob Rigney – Either way. Kassi is not eating those French fries. That gravy is not suitable for public consumption.

Teri Ulm – No. So, at the flea market diner, Florida Man jumped on a coin machine while kicking and punching it. He exposed himself and started screaming: “All cops… No. Call the cops. The dead are rising.”

Jacob Rigney – Wait. What did that coin machine do to him?

Teri Ulm – That’s a good question. They did not report exactly what the coin machine did except exist. So, from there he jumped on… No. When I said that he exposed himself, he completely got naked. Like he exposed all of the skin on his body.

Jacob Rigney – But until I know what the coin machine did to provoke all this, I really feel like this is an incomplete investigation.

Teri Ulm – Yeah. Well, from there he jumped on a customer’s shoulders and attacked a worker from behind the counter, grabbing her and punching her while she pushed him away. Florida Man was chased out of this flea market diner and he went to the parking lot. Still naked. And he stole someone’s car. Chevrolet Sonic.

Jacob Rigney – There’s a lot of nudity in the Florida Man stories. Do you notice that?

Teri Ulm – I do.

Jacob Rigney – Do you think it’s in their genes or is it in the weather? I think it’s the weather.

Teri Ulm – Yeah the weather.

Jacob Rigney – It’s got to be the weather. It’s just so hot. Especially in the summer. Yeah. It’s got to be so hot down there. You’re just like constantly on the verge of just losing it and yanking all your clothes off.

Kassi Rigney – You get high, you get hot, those clothes are coming off. That’s it.

Teri Ulm – So, along with his clothes Florida left…

Jacob Rigney – Oh listen. The police are going by our building. They’re playing our song, Dear.

Kassi Rigney – Ohhh.

Teri Ulm – Now, along with his clothes Florida Man also left behind a bag containing a pistol. But his spree did not stop there.

Jacob Rigney – Why would it?

Teri Ulm – It wouldn’t. I mean, he’s naked and in full like spree mode.

Jacob Rigney – So once you take off all your clothes and you hump the coin machine and then jump on some dudes back and steal a car like… At that point you’re pretty… You’re all-in, right?

Teri Ulm – Oh, he’s in.

Jacob Rigney – I mean, why would you? You’re not gonna see reason at that point. Oh… I’ve reconsidered this terrible course of action. No. You’re just gonna be like: “We are making the news tonight, baby!”

Teri Ulm – Yea. So a short while after he left the diner, in the stolen car, a call came from an elderly woman who was a few blocks away from the diner. She said Florida Man approached her in the stolen car grabbed her hair and tried to kiss her. And when she pushed him away, he picked up a piece of concrete and threatened to kill her. He didn’t stop.

Jacob Rigney – That’s not cool.

Teri Ulm – No. He didn’t stop. Florida Man then broke into an RV. He ended up throwing a brick at the at the owner of the RV during the confrontation.

Jacob Rigney – If this ends with a family of raccoons, I’m gonna be…

Teri Ulm – And then… So Florida Man runs away from the RV, and the authorities right arrived on the scene. They find him in the back of a pickup truck. Florida Man left his backpack in the RV which included a throwing star, a handgun, ammunition, and a bag of synthetic marijuana. Which i think is like the key to this spree.

Kassi Rigney – Okay. I thought… Okay. I just had a picture of my head. Clothed man with his back pack approaches the coin machine. Offense ensues. I just picture him leaving his bag and his clothes at the coin machine. Where he attacks the employees, and then goes in the car. Gets in the car. Attacks a lady. But, he was carrying around the bag with him?

Teri Ulm – Yeah. He had a bag.

Kassi Rigney – Was it a fanny pack? Maybe he took everything else out and was just running around with a fanny pack.

Jacob Rigney – I love how you’re like a offense ensues. Like this is old-timey England. Like he bumps into it and he’s like: Excuse me, Sir. You bumped into me. I said excuse me, I take offense. And then he pulls out a glove and slaps the coin machine. We will have fisticuffs now, Sir, unless you apologize immediately. And then takes all his clothes off. Florida Man humping a coin machine…

Teri Ulm – Oh, but he wasn’t done. So after the police arrested him, a third call came in. And this Florida Man, as he was in custody, the residents reported that he ripped a mailbox from the ground, broke into a home, and broke a TV. While he did this, he was wearing a green housecoat at the time. I’m not sure where he got that from.

Jacob Rigney – Probably from the old lady.

Teri Ulm – So he was charged… arrested and charged with 19 charges. I don’t think I need to read all of them, but one of them caught my eye because I’m curious if there’s anything like this in Indiana. Battery on a person 65 years or older.

Jacob Rigney – Yeah. Yeah. That’s a special crime sometimes. Yep. That’s.. not everyone knows that, but there are crimes sometimes for battering people who are of a particular age. Whether that’s really young or really old. I think it’s under 16. And in Indiana I don’t think there’s an enhancement for a battering an elderly person. But it is an aggravating factor at their sentencing. So, if they are over 65 the judge can justify that to give you a stricter sentence than they would otherwise.

Teri Ulm – Now that’s all the time we have for today.

Jacob Rigney – Oh man. Florida Man was a doozy today. Great job. Great job. Thanks for listening to part one of our 72 part series on how the criminal justice system works. Stay tuned next week for more of the same. Please remember while we may discuss legal issues and provide information regarding the law to our listeners, we do not intend to create an attorney-client relationship with any listener. Our advice may not be applicable to some legal issues. Please consult with anattorney, you’ve hired, to review your legal situation before you attempt to apply the things we’ve said to your case. If you’d like to send us an email and have your question read on our next podcast, please email Teri at teri@rigneylawindy.com. Feel free to use the pseudonym Chad or Chadinna or Chadette, or anything else you like. The attorneys at Rigney Law do not comment on their pending cases. Nothing we’ve said in this podcast is a comment on a case we are currently working on; even if your name is Chad or if you are a man from Florida. Thanks everyone. Take care.