2025 Criminal-Law Roundup: 5 Statutes That Change Your Defense Playbook

2025 Criminal-Law Roundup: 5 Statutes That Change Your Defense Playbook

Indiana’s 2025 session rewrote key chapters of the criminal code:

1. Crime of Swatting (S.E.A. 198) – False emergency 911 calls now carry Level 5-felony exposure when someone is injured.

2. DNA at Arrest (S.E.A. 120) – Police may collect buccal swabs for any felony arrest, expanding the evidentiary pool long before conviction.

3. Signal-Jamming Devices (S.E.A. 26) – Possession of a GPS or cell-signal jammer is a misdemeanor; use during a crime upgrades charges. 

4. Extended Lifeline Immunity (S.E.A. 74) – Calling 911 for an overdosing friend now shields the caller from most drug-possession charges, encouraging lifesaving action. 

5. Statute-of-Limitations Tweak (S.E.A. 151) – Certain sexual-offense clocks now restart when new DNA evidence surfaces, adding years of prosecutorial reach. 

   
   

Strategic takeaways

• Early evidence review is critical; DNA swabs expand discovery but also line up suppression motions.

• “Good Samaritan” cases demand precise affidavits to invoke lifeline immunity - missteps void the shield.

• Tech-crime defenses must account for jamming-device enhancements; plea offers that looked safe in 2024 may now entail jail.

  
  

Defense attorneys should reassess case checklists: arrest-date DNA protocols, new tolling provisions, and felony-level communication crimes all shift negotiating leverage.

Charged under one of these new laws? Set a confidential case review with Brinkley Law. We’ll craft a defense that accounts for every 2025 change, before prosecutors do. Call Brinkley Law today at 317-766-1379.