INDIANA—The Indiana House Courts and Criminal Code Committee has approved Senate Bill 159, a measure designed to modernize and clarify procedures for obtaining warrants.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Garrett Bascom and authored by Senator Mike Bohacek, aims to update existing laws regarding oral and electronic warrant requests.
SB 159 specifies that a judge or a prosecuting attorney must record any oral warrant request made via telephone, radio, or similar electronic means under the judge’s direction. This expands upon current law, which only mandates judges record such requests.
Furthermore, the bill permits specific warrant requests to be made and recorded electronically, a departure from the current practice limited to audio tape recordings. This change reflects the increasing reliance on digital communication in law enforcement.
A key provision of the bill requires prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement agencies to maintain records of all warrant requests and provide them to defendants during the discovery process.
During the committee hearing, SB 159 was amended by consent. The amendments removed specific provisions detailing who would handle recording and transcribing warrants. Notably, the amendment now mandates that both the prosecuting attorney and law enforcement agency must maintain and provide to the defense all relevant warrant requests, including those denied by the court, and any recordings of the transcribed conversations. This ensures greater transparency and accountability in the warrant process.
The amended bill now proceeds to the full House for consideration.
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