What Is the Omnibus Date in Indiana Criminal Cases?

The omnibus date in Indiana criminal cases is a deadline the judge sets at your initial hearing that acts as the anchor point for every major pretrial obligation that follows. Under Indiana Code 35-36-8-1, it lands 45 to 75 days after the initial hearing in a felony case, and 30 to 65 days after in a misdemeanor case. In misdemeanor cases, that same date is also your trial date. In felony cases, it’s the reference point from which filing deadlines, discovery obligations, and defense notices are measured backward.¹

How the Date Gets Set

The judge sets the omnibus date at your initial hearing. For a felony, the date must fall no earlier than 45 days and no later than 75 days after that hearing. For a misdemeanor-only case, the window is 30 to 65 days. The prosecutor and defendant can agree to a different date within limits — in misdemeanor cases they can agree to an earlier date, but not a later one than 65 days out.¹

Once the date is set, the court clerk is required to notify the defendant and all attorneys of record. This is a statutory obligation, not a courtesy, and it exists so no one can later claim they didn’t know the deadline.

The felony-versus-misdemeanor distinction matters in practice. If you’re charged only with misdemeanors, the omnibus date is when you’re expected to go to trial, so everything you need to do beforehand must happen within that 30-to-65-day window. If you’re charged with a felony, the omnibus date is a scheduling anchor, and trial itself will be set separately.

What Deadlines Run From the Omnibus Date

The statute’s own description of the omnibus date’s purpose is that it establishes a point in time from which various pretrial deadlines are measured.¹ Several required filings count backward from it.

The clearest example is the alibi defense. If you plan to argue you were somewhere else when the alleged crime happened, you must file written notice with the court and serve it on the prosecutor at least 20 days before the omnibus date in a felony case, or at least 10 days before in a misdemeanor case. The notice has to identify where you claim to have been and name any witnesses who’ll support that claim.² Miss that deadline and the court can bar you from presenting the alibi at trial at all.

Discovery runs on the same clock. Indiana’s rules require the prosecution to turn over police reports, witness statements, physical evidence, and other case materials, and most of this disclosure is automatic rather than motion-driven. The omnibus date gives both sides a fixed reference point: if evidence hasn’t been exchanged by the deadlines measured from it, the court has grounds to intervene, whether by compelling disclosure, excluding late evidence, or imposing other sanctions.

Pretrial motions follow the same pattern. Motions to suppress evidence, motions in limine, and other evidentiary challenges are typically filed and heard in the weeks before the omnibus date so the judge can rule before trial rather than mid-trial. If these challenges aren’t raised before trial, the chance to raise them is usually gone.

When the Omnibus Date Can Change

Once set, the omnibus date doesn’t move just because someone asks for more time. The statute allows a change in only four circumstances:

You invoke your right to an early trial under Indiana’s criminal rules, which overrides the omnibus timeline.
Your defense attorney withdraws or is removed because of a conflict of interest or manifest necessity, and new counsel enters after the omnibus date has already passed.
The prosecution fails to comply with a court order to turn over discovery.
Both the prosecutor and defendant agree to continue it to a later date.

Outside those four scenarios, the omnibus date stays fixed until the case reaches final disposition.¹ The rigidity is intentional. It prevents indefinite case drift.

What Happens When Deadlines Are Missed

Consequences for missing deadlines tied to the omnibus date cut in both directions. A defense attorney who fails to file an alibi notice on time can be barred from presenting that defense at trial. A prosecutor who doesn’t produce evidence as required can face sanctions, and in extreme cases the court can dismiss charges. Judges have broad discretion over the remedy, which can range from fines to evidence exclusion to schedule adjustments.

For you as a defendant, the biggest risk isn’t a court sanction but losing something your defense needed. If your attorney misses a filing deadline and you lose the ability to present a key defense, you may have grounds for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Under Strickland v. Washington, you’d need to show both that your attorney’s performance fell below professional standards and that the failure actually prejudiced your defense in a way that undermines confidence in the outcome.³ The second part is the hard one. Showing your lawyer missed a deadline isn’t enough; you have to demonstrate a reasonable probability that your case would have come out differently.

How It Relates to Speedy Trial Rights

The omnibus date is a scheduling tool. It isn’t the same thing as your constitutional speedy trial right, and the two systems run independently. Indiana Criminal Rule 4 sets outer limits on how long the state can take to bring a case to trial. For defendants held in jail on a pending charge, trial must begin within 180 days. If you file an early trial motion, the omnibus date framework gives way to the speedy trial timeline.

The Sixth Amendment adds a federal layer. Courts evaluate speedy trial violations by weighing the length of the delay, the reason for it, whether you asserted the right, and any prejudice you suffered from waiting. An omnibus date that keeps getting pushed back without justification can become evidence supporting a speedy trial challenge, particularly if you’re sitting in jail the whole time.

If you’ve been charged in Indiana and you’ve just come out of your initial hearing with an omnibus date on the paperwork, the practical takeaway is this: that date controls the clock on everything your defense needs to do. Know what yours is, know which deadlines count backward from it, and make sure your attorney is tracking them.

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-36-8-1 – Omnibus Date; Setting; Purpose; Notice; Time Limits
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 35 Criminal Law and Procedure 35-36-4-1
3
Constitution Annotated. Prejudice Resulting from Deficient Representation Under Strickland