What's the punishment for battery in Indiana

[Darryl Hayes]

I was wondering what kind of punishment someone would face in Indiana if that person assaulted someone and broke that person's nose? And I mean if he broke it really bad where it is completely flattened and all the way to one side.

[kels]

Sorry, we dont have enough information.

You probably need to speak with a lawyer
as soon as possible.

Here, battery with great physical injury can
get you jail time.

[Ispbear]

Agreed there needs to be more information. Depending upon ages and circumstances it could be a Class A Misdemeanor to a Class D Felony.

Class A misdemeanor
Sec. 2. A person who commits a Class A misdemeanor shall be imprisoned for a fixed term of not more than one (1) year; in addition, he may be fined not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000).

Class D felony
Sec. 7. (a) A person who commits a Class D felony shall be imprisoned for a fixed term of between six (6) months and three (3) years, with the advisory sentence being one and one-half (1 1/2) years. In addition, the person may be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

[Darryl Hayes]

Ok. Here's more information. I'll tell you the whole story.

A friend of mine was the victim of this crime. Let me tell you what happened. But before I do that, one question. Does this mean that what that guy did to my friend is only a misdemeanor? Doing some research on the internet, I thought I read somewhere that battery resulting in disfigurement was a felony. I don't remember where I read that but I'm trying to find it again on google. I can't believe that someone can go around like that and disfigure innocent people and get away scott free with it. That's what happened here. This guy walked away with this herrendous crime without any repercussions what so ever.

Anyway, here's the story. This happened a long time ago, back in 1995. But to this day, 13 years later, he still can't get it out of his mind how this guy did this to him and absolutely nothing could be done to punish this person. It makes me wonder what kind of society we live in when people can go around disfiguring innocent people's faces like this and walk away laughing and nothing can be done about it.

Back in 1995, a friend of mine was sitting down minding his own business when someone, drunk on alcohol, came up to him and attacked him, breaking his nose so bad that he disfigured him very bad. My friend was told that it would cost him $13,000 (back in 1995) to have reconstructive surgery. My friend didn't have insurance, he had to pay for this out of his own pocket. He tried calling lawyers to try to sue this person to have him pay for this. No lawyer would take this case for two reasons. One was that since there were no witnesses, it was his word against the other person's word on who started it, even though my friend didn't even swing at this guy once and this guy didn't have a scratch on him. The other reason one lawyer gave was that he, and most lawyers wouldn't touch the case since there was alcohol involved. Since there was alcohol involved, it would be really difficult to get accurate statements to what happened, they said, which allows me to believe that as long as someone gets hammered first, then it's ok for that person to go around and attack people.

To make things worse, he was advised by that county's police department not to file a police report against this guy. I don't know who he spoke to, but he doesn't think it was with a police officer. He most likely spoke to a dispatcher, who told him he would be wasting his time if he were to file a police report. So besides having to pay for what happened to him out of his own pocket, or remain permanently disfigured for the rest of his life, he couldn't even file a police report to have this guy pay for his crime by doing jail time.

The lady he spoke to when he called the police station told him he had to come to the police station in person in order to be able to file the police report, but when he told her what happened, she advised him not file the police report because he would just be wasting his time when she found out that there were no witnesses.

Does this mean that someone can go around and beat the crap out of people and get away with it as long as there are no witnesses?

He regrets not filing that report and keeps wondering to this day if justice might have been done if he pressed charges and filed the report and didn't listen to the advice of the person he spoke to on the phone at the police station who told him that he'd just be wasting his time by doing so. That decision is still eating away at him 13 years later.

I think I read somewhere on the internet that a felony in Indiana has no statute of limitations. I'm trying to find that source again also. I should have bookmarked these sources when I first found them. That's why I was wondering if this was a felony since it involved disfigurement as a result from the battery.

If a felony has no statute of limitations in Indiana, does that mean that the person who had a felony crime committed against him/her can still file a report against that person who committed this crime (13 years later) or does it only mean that someone can be arrested for that crime no matter how much time goes by as long as the victim reported the crime within a certain timeframe?

As a last note, the guy who attacked my friend and disfigured his face ended up getting a very high paying job right afterwards, found a really good looking girl, has been raising a family with her and has had, a very great and rewarding life ever since, while my friend's life has been devasted. Isn't there any justice in this world?

[cobravenom1]

A LAWYER would be the better option here. You trying to be an internet investigator is good but this is not like shopping for a car. Your not going to ge the best price and I know I don't know squat about Indiana Law.:D

[deputywave]

What you describe would be a Felony. If it is as bad as you describe, it could probably be charged as a C Felony. However, it is WAY too late to try and bring charges. The only Felony charge I'm aware of, without a statute of limitations, is Murder. As for what your friend was told at the time, I wasn't there and I am not about to question what he may or may not have been told by Police or lawyers.

I do find it hard to believe that he couldn't find a lawyer to take his money, I mean case.:D

[Darryl Hayes]

I would like to add one more thing. I was listening to this man, who broke my friend's nose, not long before this incident happened, talking to someone else and telling him this story of how he had sex with a 12 year old girl. He was about 23 to 24 years old at the time he had sex with this child. He was telling this guy how the police were looking for him after he had sex with her. This kid (about 13 or 14 years old) who lived next door to his (his parents) house (he was living with his parents at this time) told him that the police were looking for him but didn't know who he was and wanted to find out who he was. This guy was known for hanging around with kids at that time also. He was hanging around with this kid, who told him that the cops were looking for him, when he met this 12 year old girl and had sex with her.

I'm not sure if this 12 year old consented or not, but I'm almost thinking it was rape/child molesation if a police report was filed against him. I would imagine that this child's parents must have called the police and I can't imagine that this 12 year old girl would tell her parents that she just had sex with an adult if she consented to it. Even if she did consent to it, it would still be against the law.

He was telling this guy how he got scared when he heard that the police were looking for him and stayed in his house for an entire month without coming out because of it. He was laughing about it the whole time like it was a joke to him.

My first question is....would this be a felony? If so, there must be no statute of limitations and the police report was filed immediately after it happened. Can he still go to jail for this if the police find out this man's identity since it was a felony and there probably is no statute of limitations on it? Third question is.....if I wanted to tell the police about this man and how I heard him tell this story, is there any way I can search this town's police records to make sure that this crime really was reported so I don't go there and make an *** out of myself by finding out that no such report was ever filed?

By the way, this incident happened in Illinois.

Since this is somewhat of a different subject, I may also just start a whole new thread on this subject.

[Samuel]

Since this is somewhat of a different subject, I may also just start a whole new thread on this subject.

Actually I think keeping all your questions/concerns in ONE thread would be Just fine...

[phantasm]

statute of limitations in NY is

"a" felony any time
all other felonies 5 years
all misd 2 years
violations 1 year

There are a few exceptions, the only of which that would apply here is if a victim of a sex crime is under 18, then the 5 year clock doesn't start until the victim reaches the age of 18.

If you're a suspect, and there's enough info for an accusatory instrument/arrest warrant, then the clock stops, and the warrant can stay around forever.

The only "A" felonies are

CP = criminal possession
CS = criminal sale
CU = criminal use
cs = controlled substance
CBW = chemical or biological weapon

A-I felonies are murder 1, CPCS 1, CSCS 1, CPCBW 1, CUCBW 1, (and attempts)

A-I felonies are conspiracy 1, murder 2, aggravated murder, kidnapping 1, arson 1, terrorism and the specified offense is a class B felony.

A-II felonies are terrorism and the specified offense is a class A-I felony, predatory sexual assault, predatory sexual assault against a child, CPCS 2, CSCS 2, CUCBW 2, (and attempts)

The PL does not say anything specific about attempted A-I felonies other than those listed. These are the only A felonies.