---
type: "Bill"
title: "Victim's rights and investigations."
description: "Establishes a procedure permitting an immediate family member of a deceased individual to request the superintendent of the state police department to conduct a new investigation into the death of the individual if: (1) a local law enforcement agency has determined that the death was not the result of a criminal act by a third party; (2) the individual was not under the care of a physician or the victim of medical malpractice; and (3) the family member has a reasonable suspicion that the death was the result of a criminal act by a third party."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 177"
citation: "Indiana SB 177 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["DEATH", "LAW ENFORCEMENT", "State Police", "VICTIMS OF CRIME"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark Messmer", "Michael Young", "Steve Bartels"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 21
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-05"
last_action: "2021-04-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c0a57728-6c63-4257-9f2d-2d8b8cb31151"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/senate/177"
source_hash: "1ee2f6f1fcc5e8b462476deb83bf18e8fb4efc1d54f1cc91fefc506e80937933"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-in"]
---

# Indiana SB 177 (2021) — Victim's rights and investigations.

Establishes a procedure permitting an immediate family member of a deceased individual to request the superintendent of the state police department to conduct a new investigation into the death of the individual if: (1) a local law enforcement agency has determined that the death was not the result of a criminal act by a third party; (2) the individual was not under the care of a physician or the victim of medical malpractice; and (3) the family member has a reasonable suspicion that the death was the result of a criminal act by a third party.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0177/versions/SB0177.04.ENRH)
2. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0177/versions/SB0177.01.INTR)
3. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0177/versions/SB0177.03.COMH)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0177/versions/SB0177.02.COMS)

## Votes

- SB 177 - Bartels - 3rd Reading — **91–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark Messmer — primary (person)
- Michael Young — primary (person)
- Steve Bartels — primary (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-05** Authored by Senator Messmer
- **2021-01-05** First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-01-25** Senator Young M added as second author
- **2021-01-28** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-01** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-02** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 47: yeas 47, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-02** House sponsor: Representative Bartels
- **2021-02-02** Senator Randolph added as coauthor
- **2021-02-03** Referred to the House
- **2021-03-01** First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-01** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-04-05** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-04-06** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 364: yeas 91, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-07** Returned to the Senate with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-07** Motion to concur filed
- **2021-04-08** Senate concurred in House amendments; Roll Call 375: yeas 47, nays 0 `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-12** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2021-04-13** Signed by the Speaker
- **2021-04-19** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-04-19** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-19** Public Law 71

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c0a57728-6c63-4257-9f2d-2d8b8cb31151`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).