Special attorneys will target violent crime offenders with federal charges

Indianapolis leaders announced more details Tuesday on the city’s effort to prosecute more people on the federal level for violent crimes.

Last week, the Indianapolis City-County Council unanimously approved $225,000 in funding to hire three attorneys to report to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The attorneys will be tasked to identify, investigate and bring forward federal charges for violent crimes in Marion County. The partnership is part of Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s violence reduction strategy.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary Myers said the attorneys will target offenses like organized crime and the trafficking of illegal firearms. They will also focus on people who are prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms.

“We're going to be selecting the worst of those cases and the most problematic of those offenders,” Myers said at a news conference. “And we're going to be selecting those cases carefully under the existing guidelines that we have to have the biggest impact with these resources.”

Federal crimes often carry more extreme penalties than state charges. Defendants can be denied bail and must serve the majority of their sentence in prison.

Hogsett said he and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have discussed creating more resources to prosecute federal crimes for years. After two Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were shot and injured in April while investigating an illegal firearms case, the need for the partnership became clear.

“These attorneys can bring federal sized consequences down on illegal gun owners, choking at the access points where criminals buy firearms, to spread more violence,” Hogsett said.

The hiring process for the attorney’s is ongoing, and the city’s Office of Corporation Counsel is accepting applications. The attorneys will make between about $77,000 and $89,000 a year, according to the job posting.

Additional funding to continue the partnership will need to be allocated in Hogsett’s 2024 budget.

Contact WFYI criminal justice reporter Katrina Pross at kpross@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @katrina_pross.

Pross is a Corps Member of Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.