Law Office of Jerry L. Garner

Focus and practice areas

This is a criminal defense practice, and defense work fills its whole docket. The firm represents people charged in Indiana state and federal courts. Its caseload runs across several charge types: drug possession and dealing, OWI and DUI, property and theft crimes, weapons and firearms charges, assault, domestic abuse, murder, sex crimes, white collar offenses and misdemeanors.

That is a wide span for one office. It suggests a general criminal defense posture, set up to answer most of the charges a person in the region might face, whether a first misdemeanor or a serious felony.

Some of these charges, like drug possession and impaired driving, fill county courts week to week. Others, such as murder and sex crimes, carry the heaviest penalties a state can impose. A defense practice that handles both ends of that scale is taking on the full weight of criminal work.

The attorney behind the firm

Jerry L. Garner founded the firm in 2017 and runs it as owner and attorney. He was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, and earned his law degree at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. His route to this practice covers more ground than most. Before he came back to private practice, he spent 23 years as an FBI Special Agent, from 1990 to 2013, and earlier practiced law in Madison, Indiana.

Garner is licensed in Indiana state and federal courts, which lines up with the state and federal cases the firm lists. He also holds a Master of Science in Astronomy from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. That is an unusual line on a criminal defense resume, and it points to a habit of study that ran past law school.

A career in federal investigation

The FBI years are the part of this background worth dwelling on. A defense lawyer who spent more than two decades as a federal agent has seen how federal investigations get built and how federal cases are charged. As a reviewer, I read that experience as directly relevant to the white collar and federal matters the firm handles. Someone who once worked the other side of a federal case brings a specific kind of knowledge to defending one.

Teaching and further study

Garner taught while he built the firm. From 2013 to 2020 he was an adjunct professor at Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he taught criminal justice courses. Those years overlap the practice's first stretch, so he was in front of students and in front of judges at the same time. Teaching a subject tends to keep a person current in it, and criminal justice is the field this firm works in every day.

State and federal cases

The firm lists work in both Indiana state courts and federal court, and that split is worth a note. Most criminal cases in the region run through county courts, under state law. Federal charges follow their own procedures and sentencing rules, and far fewer defense lawyers take them on.

Garner's licensing covers both. His FBI years sit on the federal side, and the white collar and drug charges the firm lists are the kinds of cases that can land in either system. One attorney who can work a case in state or federal court keeps the representation in the same hands if the venue changes.

Where the firm works

The main office is in Rockport, the seat of Spencer County, and a satellite office sits in Evansville. Two locations give clients across southern Indiana a choice of where to meet. The firm primarily serves Vanderburgh, Spencer, Perry and Warrick counties.

Its reach extends to nearby communities, including Newburgh, Boonville, Tell City and Santa Claus. For clients in Spencer and Perry counties, the Rockport base is close to home. For those around Evansville, the satellite office cuts the drive. Covering four counties from two offices is a practical setup for a rural and small city stretch of the state.

What the record shows

This is a solo practice built around one attorney. The site names Jerry L. Garner and no other lawyers, so a client here works directly with the owner rather than a rotating team of associates. The firm has operated under the same name since 2017, which gives it several years of continuous work behind it.

The picture here is straightforward. Jerry L. Garner is a licensed Indiana attorney with a 23 year federal law enforcement background and a teaching record in criminal justice. In my opinion that combination gives a prospective client a clear and specific place to begin. The firm handles state and federal criminal charges across Vanderburgh, Spencer, Perry and Warrick counties from its Rockport and Evansville offices.