By TIM SPEARS
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Braun
Gov. Mike Braun on Wednesday highlighted a pair of public safety laws in a ceremonial bill-signing.
Senate Enrolled Act 324, which will take effect July 1, will stop charitable bail groups from paying bail for anyone accused of violent crimes or is a repeat violent arrestee. The law also will target domestic violence cases.
Under SEA 324, the court will consider ankle monitoring devices as a condition of bail if a person is charged with a domestic violence crime, has a prior unrelated conviction for a violent offense, and has at least one prior conviction for invasion of privacy.
One of the people attending Braun’s event, Michelle Hennessee, lost her sister, Jessica Stoebick, to domestic violence. Stoebick’s ex-husband snuck into her house a week before Christmas 2023 and murdered her. Hennessee hopes Indiana strengthening bail restrictions can save lives like her sister’s.
“They just need some kind of warning,” she said. “They need some kind of protection. My sister only felt safe when (her ex-husband) was in jail. I don’t want any family, or any woman or man to go through what we had to go through with her.”
Braun also ceremonially signed House Enrolled Act 1014, which also will take effect July 1. It will make being in the country unlawfully an aggravating factor during sentencing. It also will ban any government entity from hosting or funding “obscene performances” and says people can sue agencies breaking that law.
Braun said in his brief remarks, “When communities are safe, families can grow and the economy can thrive.”
The Republican governor did not take questions.
He later ceremonially signed eight additional pieces of legislation. Click here to see a full list of bills signed into law by the governor this year.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/i-team-8/indiana-criminal-sentencing-bail-laws-change-2025.
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