Being Arrested
IC 35-33-7-1 — someone arrested without a warrant goes promptly before a judicial officer
- An officer may arrest a person on a warrant commanding the arrest.
- An officer may arrest without a warrant on probable cause that the person committed or attempted a felony, or is committing or attempting a misdemeanor in the officer's presence.
- An officer may also arrest without a warrant on probable cause for a set list of offenses committed outside the officer's presence, among them leaving the scene of an accident, impaired driving, battery resulting in bodily injury, domestic battery, invasion of privacy, unlawful carrying of a handgun and theft.
Who handles this in Indiana: legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Indiana directory.
An officer who arrests a child or takes a child into custody makes a reasonable attempt to notify the child's parent, guardian or custodian, or the emergency contact on the child's school record.
A person arrested without a warrant is taken promptly before a judicial officer for an initial hearing. One who makes bail first has the initial hearing within 20 calendar days of the arrest, and within ten calendar days where the arrest was for impaired driving.
At the initial hearing the judicial officer tells the person, orally or in writing, of the following.
- The right to retain counsel, and that counsel has to be hired within 20 days on a felony, or ten days where the only charges are misdemeanors, because motions and defenses have deadlines and are waived if missed.
- The right to assigned counsel at no expense for a person who is indigent.
- The right to a speedy trial, the amount and conditions of bail, the privilege against self incrimination, and the nature of the charge.
- That a preliminary plea of not guilty is entered, and becomes a formal plea of not guilty 20 days after the hearing, or ten on misdemeanors only, unless the defendant enters a different plea.
Several rules about an arrest come from the Supreme Court of the United States rather than from this state's code. It has held that before questioning a person in custody, officers must warn that the person may remain silent, that anything said can be used against them, and that they have a right to a lawyer, appointed if they cannot afford one; that a person arrested without a warrant is entitled to a prompt decision by a judge on whether there was probable cause; and that officers generally need a warrant to search the data on a phone taken from a person they arrested. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Sources for this section (6)
- IC 35-33-1-1 — Law enforcement officer; federal enforcement officer
- IC 35-33-7-1 — Arrest without warrant; initial hearing; venue
- IC 35-33-7-5 — Initial hearing; advisements; referral of a pregnant woman charged with a drug crime
- Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) — Right to remain silent and to counsel during custodial interrogation
- County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44 (1991) — Probable cause review generally within 48 hours of a warrantless arrest
- Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014) — Police need a warrant to search a phone seized during an arrest
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Indiana attorney.