The Attorneys at Dixon & Moseley, P.C.
Strong, Trial-Ready Advocates Protecting Your Rights
Probation is often a tool used by trial courts and is normally within their discretion to order in most cases. It is obviously a desirous outcome for judges, the community, and defendant. Most of the time it keeps the defendant out of jail, at home and work, and the taxpayers from paying for criminal incarceration. However, violations of the terms…
Several years ago, the Legislature passed an expungement statutory scheme to “expungement” or remove old felonies and other arrest and misdemeanor convictions occurring in Indiana from a person’s criminal history. Expunged crimes were basically removed from a person’s criminal history, with the exception of certain uses by law enforcement or in the case of subsequent crimes. These expungement statutes recognized…
Almost everyone knows someone who has been, is or will be going through a “terrible” custody battle. The best of parents—acting under the stress of a separation or divorce—experiences a range of emotions from loss to rage. In some cases, the perceptions of the parents are magnified by underlying psychological issues, substance abuse or both and lead to the truly…
In Indiana, there are thousands of DCS’ investigations each year. Many result in filing a petition to open a CHINS’ action against the parents. In the initial investigation from the DCS to and through the hearing, if a CHINS petition is filed, parents have the constitutional right to counsel. The question this blog post focuses on is, “Should parents have…
For the last several years, “Black Friday” gun sales have hit all-time highs, according to statistics from the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System (“NICS”) checks. This means licensed retailers are selling a lot of firearms. Well, this year was no different. The trend continued and the FBI hit an all-time high record of 203,000 NICS checks. Anecdotally, this must…
We all make New Year’s wishes, right? For thousands of Hoosiers, their wish is to have a clean criminal record without an old misdemeanor or felony conviction holding them back from job opportunities or having a firearm and license to carry. In the last several years, the Legislature has added several laws to allow you new ways to “remove” old…
In today’s digital world with global work and play, people from different cultures, backgrounds, and ages marry. In many cases, there are significant differences in net worth, age, and business ownership. For this reason, some couples choose to enter into pre-marital agreements under Indiana’s Uniform Pre-Marital Act. A prenuptial is a document or series of documents, that specifies what a…
Raising Someone Else’s Children A word that has almost vanished from common conversations is the term “nuclear” family. This conjured up the notion of a mother, father, two children (a boy and a girl), family dog, and the proverbial white fence. Now children are routinely shared between same-sex parents, divorced parents or have a single parent. However, there are tens…
A. The right to use force and deadly force in Indiana. Under Indiana’s use of force statute, a person is justified in using reasonable force against another person to protect the person or a third party from what the person believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force. Further, a person is justified in using deadly force and does…
Just a few years ago, there were exceedingly narrow ways an Indiana felon could have his or her record cleared up to “remove” the felony. For example, the person who committed a felony years ago and had not been in legal trouble since that time was likely not a felony risk to society and should not have the stigma. Also,…