About Jeff Cardella

I began my legal career as a criminal defense attorney in Indianapolis, fighting to protect the Constitutional rights of my clients against the government. I have experience in every stage of the criminal justice process, including jury trials, court trials, suppression hearings, post-conviction relief, forfeiture proceedings, 1983 civil rights actions, appeals, oral argument, probation revocation hearings, expungement, sealing of records, hardship license petitions, specialized driving privileges petitions, and plea negotiations.
My office has been recognized as one of the ten best law firms in the State of Indiana by the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys and I have been recognized as one of the top ten criminal defense attorneys in the State of Indiana under the age of forty by the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys. I taught criminal law at the Indiana University School of Law and have served as a Judge pro tem in Indianapolis. I have represented a fellow criminal defense attorney, an Indianapolis Metro Police Officer, and two former Marion County Sheriff’s deputies after they were arrested and accused of illegal activity. I filed the Federal Class Action lawsuit of Washington v. Marion County Prosecutor, in which Indiana’s vehicle forfeiture statute was held to be unconstitutional, under the Due Process clause of the US Constitution. I also co-authored the amicus brief for the United States Supreme Court case of Timbs v. State of Indiana, in which the United States Supreme Court held that Indiana’s attempts at forfeiture were unconstitutional under the Excessive Fines clause of the US Constitution. I handled over a dozen successful lawsuits against the Indiana Department of Corrections, challenging solitary confinement procedures under the Due Process Clause of the US Constitution. I also filed several successful lawsuits against the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for arrests that violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution.