Charged With a Misdemeanor in Indiana? Here’s What Actually Happens Next
Most people who call us about a misdemeanor say some version of the same thing. It was one bad night. One argument that got loud. One traffic stop that went sideways. And now there’s a court date, a case number, and a knot in their stomach that hasn’t gone away since the arrest.
Here’s the thing. You’ve probably already been told by someone, maybe a coworker, maybe a friend who went through something similar, that a misdemeanor isn’t a big deal. That you’ll pay a fine, maybe do a class, and move on with your life.
Sometimes that’s how it goes. But not always, and not automatically. What actually determines how this ends has a lot less to do with the charge itself and a lot more to do with what happens in the weeks right after the arrest, when most people are still deciding whether they even need an attorney.
We’re Razumich & Associates, and we’ve been defending people against criminal charges across Indiana since 2006. We’ve handled misdemeanor cases in Marion County and the surrounding counties for close to twenty years, which means we’ve watched what happens to people who fought their charge and what happens to people who took the quickest way out. Those are two very different stories, and the difference usually shows up years later, when someone applies for a job or a lease or a professional license.
So before you decide this is something you can handle on your own, it’s worth understanding what an Indiana misdemeanor conviction really does to your record, and what your options actually are right now.
Key Takeaways
- Indiana divides misdemeanors into three classes, with Class A carrying up to one year in jail and a fine up to $5,000 under Indiana Code 35-50-3-2.
- Avoiding jail is not the same as winning. A conviction stays on your record and shows up on background checks long after the case closes.
- Under Indiana Code 35-38-9-2, most misdemeanor convictions cannot even be petitioned for expungement until five years have passed.
- The strongest defense decisions usually happen early, before evidence disappears and before you’ve said something on the record you can’t take back.
- Diversion, dismissal, and reduced charges are real possibilities in many Marion County cases, but they generally have to be negotiated, not requested.
What Counts as a Misdemeanor in Indiana
A misdemeanor is a criminal offense that carries a maximum sentence of up to one year in a county jail. That’s the legal line separating misdemeanors from felonies in Indiana, where felony sentences are served in the Department of Correction and run considerably longer.
Indiana sorts misdemeanors into three classes, and the class determines your maximum exposure. Understanding which class you’re facing is the first step in understanding how serious your situation actually is.
Class A Misdemeanors
This is the most serious misdemeanor level in Indiana. Under Indiana Code 35-50-3-2, a Class A misdemeanor carries up to 365 days in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. Charges that commonly land here include operating a vehicle while intoxicated with endangerment, domestic battery, theft of property under $750, and possession of marijuana in certain circumstances.
Class A is also where the collateral damage gets serious. A domestic battery conviction at this level can trigger a federal firearm prohibition that has nothing to do with your Indiana sentence. That surprises almost everyone who walks into our office on a domestic case, and by the time it comes up, the plea has often already been entered.
Class B Misdemeanors
Under Indiana Code 35-50-3-3, a Class B misdemeanor carries up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. This is where you’ll typically find disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and certain first-time offenses that could have been charged higher.
Clients often relax when they hear “Class B.” We’d encourage you not to. A Class B conviction produces the exact same background check result as a Class A: a criminal conviction. The employer running your name does not see the class. They see the word.
Class C Misdemeanors
The lowest misdemeanor level in Indiana carries up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500 under Indiana Code 35-50-3-4. Offenses like failure to respond to a summons and certain minor traffic-related criminal charges fall in this category.
A Class C charge is often the result of a negotiated reduction from something more serious, which is worth knowing. If you’re currently facing a Class A charge, a Class C outcome is not fantasy. It’s a common goal, and it’s one of the reasons the negotiation phase matters more than most people realize.
What Happens in Court After a Misdemeanor Arrest
The question we hear most often in first phone calls is not about penalties. It’s simpler than that. What happens next week?
Your case starts with an initial hearing, where the court formally advises you of the charge, your rights, and the potential penalties. In Marion County this typically happens quickly after arrest. You’ll enter a plea, and if you plead not guilty, which is the standard starting position, the court sets your case for pretrial conference and issues conditions of release.
Those conditions matter more than people expect. Violating a pretrial release condition can put you back in custody on a case where jail was never realistically on the table. No-contact orders in particular catch people off guard, especially when the other party is the one initiating contact.
Between the initial hearing and any trial setting, the real work happens. Discovery gets exchanged, meaning we get to see the police reports, the body camera footage, the chemical test results, the witness statements. This is where cases actually get won or lost. We’ve had charges dismissed because the video contradicted the report. We’ve had evidence suppressed because the stop lacked reasonable suspicion. None of that happens if nobody looks.
Most misdemeanor cases in Indiana resolve without a trial, either through dismissal, diversion, or a negotiated plea. That’s not a failure of the system. It’s the system working the way it’s built to work. But the terms you get in that resolution depend almost entirely on how much leverage your side has developed.
The Guilty Plea Trap Nobody Warns You About
Let’s be direct about the single most expensive mistake we see.
Someone gets charged with a Class B misdemeanor. They show up to the initial hearing without an attorney. The prosecutor offers time served, or a small fine, or unsupervised probation. It sounds like a way out. They take it, walk out of the courthouse feeling relieved, and think the whole thing is behind them.
It isn’t. That plea was a conviction. It went on their criminal history the same day.
Three years later they apply for a nursing position, or a commercial driver’s license, or an apartment in a building that runs background checks, and there it is. Now they’re explaining a criminal conviction to a stranger who has fifty other applicants and no reason to be curious about the context.
Honestly, this is why we’re skeptical of the “it’s just a misdemeanor” attitude. The sentence ends. The record doesn’t. And in a job market where background screening is nearly universal, the record is usually the part that costs the most.
What makes this especially frustrating is that many of those quick pleas were unnecessary. In a meaningful number of cases the evidence has problems, the charge is overcharged relative to the facts, or the client qualifies for a diversion program that ends in dismissal. But none of those doors open for someone who has already pleaded guilty.
Can a Misdemeanor Be Removed From Your Record in Indiana?
Yes, in many cases. But the timeline surprises people, which is exactly why it belongs in this conversation now rather than five years from now.
Indiana Code 35-38-9-2 allows a person convicted of a misdemeanor to petition for expungement no earlier than five years after the date of conviction, unless the prosecuting attorney agrees in writing to an earlier date. The petition is filed in the county where the conviction happened. You also have to have paid all fines, fees, court costs, and restitution, and you cannot have criminal charges pending when you file.
Five years is a long time to carry something that could have been avoided. That’s the whole point. Fighting the charge now is almost always faster, cheaper, and more certain than trying to clean up a conviction later. If the case is dismissed or you’re found not guilty, you’re in a very different position under Indiana Code 35-38-9-1, which addresses records that never resulted in a conviction.
We handle criminal record expungement in Indiana for people who are past that point, and we’re glad to. But we’d rather help you avoid needing it.
Mistakes We See People Make in the First Two Weeks
There’s a window right after an arrest where a case is unusually easy to damage. Here’s what we watch for.
Talking to police after the arrest. People believe explaining themselves will clear things up. It rarely does. Officers are gathering statements, and helpful explanations have a way of becoming admissions in a report. If you’re charged with resisting arrest alongside another offense, this is doubly true, because the officer’s account of your behavior is the case.
Contacting the alleged victim. In battery and domestic cases, a no-contact order is often in place before you fully understand it exists. A single text message, even an apologetic one, can generate a new charge and destroy your credibility with the court.
Posting about it. Social media is discoverable. Prosecutors look. So do investigators.
Waiting. Video evidence gets overwritten. Witnesses forget details or become unreachable. Diversion slots and favorable negotiating positions have timing components. The longer you wait, the fewer options remain on the table, and that’s not a scare tactic, it’s just how evidence and calendars work.
How Our Firm Approaches Misdemeanor Defense
We start by reading everything. The probable cause affidavit, the reports, the video, the test results, the charging information. Not skimming. Reading.
Then we look for the pressure points. Was the stop lawful? Did the officer have reasonable suspicion? Were field sobriety procedures followed correctly? Was the chemical test administered and maintained the way Indiana requires? Do the witness accounts match the physical evidence, or does someone’s story shift between the first report and the second?
From there, we build toward the outcome that actually fits your situation. Sometimes that’s a motion to suppress. Sometimes it’s a diversion agreement that ends with the charge dismissed. Sometimes it’s a negotiated reduction to a lower class. And sometimes it’s a trial, because the state’s case doesn’t hold up and we’re prepared to say so in front of a judge or a jury.
What we won’t do is treat your case as small just because the state labeled it that way. We’ve been in Indiana courtrooms since 2006, and we know the prosecutors, the judges, and the local practices in Marion County and beyond. That familiarity is not a small thing. It’s often the difference between an offer that helps you and an offer that just closes a file.
We also stay reachable. If you have a question at nine at night because you can’t sleep, we’d rather you ask us than guess.
Misdemeanor Charges Connected to Other Practice Areas
A lot of misdemeanor charges do not arrive alone. An Indianapolis OWI arrest can bring an operating while intoxicated count plus a separate charge for what happened during the stop. A fight outside a bar can generate both battery charges and disorderly conduct.
Charge stacking matters because it changes leverage. Multiple counts give the state room to negotiate, and they give us room to work as well, since a weak count can often be traded against a stronger one.
Some charges also sit right on the misdemeanor and felony line. Theft in Indiana is a Class A misdemeanor at lower property values and a felony above the statutory threshold or with prior convictions. Similarly, marijuana possession can be charged at different levels depending on quantity and criminal history. Where your case falls on that line is not always obvious from the charging document, and it’s worth having someone check.
If you’re already on probation from a prior case, a new misdemeanor arrest creates a second problem. A probation violation proceeding runs on a lower standard of proof than the criminal case itself, which means you can beat the new charge and still face consequences on the old one. Those two matters have to be handled together, not separately.
Where We Handle Misdemeanor Cases
We appear regularly in courts throughout central Indiana. Most of our misdemeanor work runs through Marion County criminal courts, but practices differ meaningfully from one county to the next.
Charging decisions, diversion availability, and plea policies are not uniform across Indiana. What a prosecutor routinely offers in Hamilton County may look different from what’s available in Hendricks County or Johnson County. Knowing those differences ahead of time shapes how we approach negotiation, and it’s a real advantage of working with a firm that appears in these courts regularly rather than occasionally.
Frequently Asked Questions About Indiana Misdemeanor Charges
Q. Do I really need a lawyer for a misdemeanor?
A. Legally, no. Practically, it depends on what you’re willing to live with. A misdemeanor conviction follows you through background checks for years and cannot be petitioned for expungement until five years after conviction under Indiana law. Talking to an attorney before your first court date costs you nothing and often changes what’s possible.
Q. Will I go to jail for a Class A misdemeanor in Indiana?
A. Jail is legally possible up to 365 days, but it is not automatic, especially for first-time offenses. Judges consider your history, the facts of the case, and whether restitution or treatment is involved. That said, we would not recommend counting on leniency as a strategy, because the factors that produce a favorable sentence usually have to be presented, not assumed.
Q. Can a misdemeanor charge be reduced or dismissed?
A. Yes, and this happens more often than people expect. Charges get dismissed when evidence has problems, when a suppression motion succeeds, or when the state cannot meet its burden. Charges get reduced through negotiation, particularly when there is mitigating context the prosecutor has not seen yet.
Q. What is diversion and do I qualify?
A. Diversion is an agreement where you complete certain requirements, often classes, community service, and a period without new offenses, and the charge is dismissed at the end. Eligibility depends on the offense, your criminal history, and county practice. It is generally reserved for first-time offenders, and it is negotiated rather than granted automatically.
Q. How long does a misdemeanor case take in Indiana?
A. Many resolve within a few months, though cases that go to trial or involve extensive discovery can run longer. Speed is not always your friend. A case that resolves quickly on bad terms serves you worse than one that takes an extra sixty days and ends in a dismissal.
Q. Will a misdemeanor conviction show up on a background check?
A. Yes. Indiana criminal court records are publicly accessible, and standard employment and housing screenings will find a conviction. This is the consequence people underestimate most, because it arrives long after the court case is closed and the fines are paid.
Q. Can I be deported for a misdemeanor conviction?
A. Immigration consequences are possible for certain misdemeanor convictions, including some drug offenses and offenses classified as crimes involving moral turpitude. If you are not a United States citizen, tell your attorney immediately, because a plea that looks favorable under Indiana law can carry immigration effects that a criminal court will not address.
Q. What happens if I miss my court date?
A. The court can issue a warrant for your arrest, and a failure to appear can generate a separate charge. If you have already missed a date, do not wait for the warrant to find you. There are ways to address this proactively, and doing so voluntarily reflects considerably better than being picked up.
Q. Can I get a misdemeanor expunged in Indiana?
A. In most cases yes, but not for at least five years after the conviction date under Indiana Code 35-38-9-2, unless the prosecutor consents in writing to an earlier filing. You must also have paid all fines, fees, costs, and restitution, and have no pending charges. Records from arrests that never resulted in conviction follow a shorter timeline.
Let’s Talk About Where You Actually Stand
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably somewhere between worried and exhausted. That’s normal. A criminal charge takes up space in your head that nothing else can dislodge, and the uncertainty is often harder than the charge itself.
Here’s what we can tell you. Most of the people who sit down with us leave that first conversation feeling substantially better, not because we promise them anything, but because they finally understand what they’re dealing with. Uncertainty is the worst part. Information helps.
When you contact us, we’ll ask what happened, look at your charging documents, and give you a straight assessment. If your case has real problems for the state, we’ll tell you. If the evidence is strong and your best path is negotiating hard for the least damaging outcome, we’ll tell you that too. We’d rather give you an honest read than a comfortable one, because decisions made on bad information tend to cost people years.
Our firm has defended people accused of crimes throughout Indiana since 2006. We handle misdemeanor cases with the same preparation we bring to felonies, because the consequences of a conviction, the record, the job applications, the license questions, are genuinely serious even when the sentence is not.
The consultation is free and confidential, and there is no obligation attached to it. You can reach us using the phone number listed on this website, or by sending your information through the contact form on our site. We’re available around the clock, including weekends and holidays, because arrests do not keep business hours and neither do the questions that follow them.
You do not have to figure this out alone, and you do not have to decide anything today except whether to have the conversation.
