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Committee passes broad criminal-sentencing and bail bill that raises fentanyl penalties, mandates bail hearings for violent arrestees and adds domestic-violence
Summary
Senate Bill 324, a broad criminal-justice package that raises penalties for fentanyl-related dealing, requires individualized bail hearings for violent arrestees, adds GPS monitoring options for domestic-violence cases and bans imitation firearms on campus, passed the committee 12–1 after extensive testimony and multiple amendments.
Senate Bill 324, a wide-ranging criminal-justice measure addressing fentanyl dealing, bail, domestic-violence protections and other items, passed the Criminal Code Committee after substantial testimony and several adopted amendments.
Senator Aaron Freeman, the bill’s sponsor, framed the measure around public-safety priorities and fentanyl’s rapid lethality: “Fentanyl kills people in microscopic amounts,” he said, urging stronger penalties for dealing that leads to death and a requirement that certain violent arrestees appear before a judge rather than be released on a preset schedule. Representative Garrett Bascom offered a significant amendment (Amendment 8) that mirrors the committee’s bail-review commission recommendation: it requires individualized bail determinations in open court for defined violent and repeat-violent arrestees (removing the 48-hour timing requirement where local courts lack weekend dockets), raises base fentanyl dealing levels for some offenses and provides aggravating and mitigating factors to guide sentencing.
The committee heard emotional testimony from family members of domestic-violence victims and from a father, Daniel Stobick, who said his daughter was murdered by an abuser who had previously served a short jail term; Stobick urged mandatory monitoring devices (GPS) in certain cases and recommended additional bail and probation conditions to limit access to weapons for people with violent histories. Laura Berry, CEO of the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, endorsed cleanup language (Amendment 9) to make jails and courts consistent on mandatory holds for domestic-violence arrests.
Courtney Curtis of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council described the bill’s bail-related amendments as following a bipartisan bail-and-release commission’s interim recommendations and said prosecutors support individualized judicial review for certain violent arrestees. Zach Stock of the Indiana Public Defender Council said defenders appreciated mitigators and individualized bail but asked for counsel-access guarantees at bail hearings and raised concerns about raising certain resisting offenses to felony levels. The Indiana State Police and county sheriffs also testified in support; the State Police supplied recent drug-seizure data.
Other amendments adopted during the hearing included provisions to prohibit imitation firearms on school property (sponsor-supported; SRO group supported it) and to clarify aggravating circumstances (including one amendment related to immigration-status aggravators that passed on a voice vote). After debate and multiple roll-call items, the committee approved the bill by a vote reported as 12–1.
Votes at a glance: Senate Bill 324 (as amended) — Motion: “Move to pass as amended.” Outcome: passed by committee (reported 12–1).
