What this office does
The prosecuting attorney is the elected lawyer who brings criminal cases on behalf of the State of Indiana, conducting all prosecutions for felonies, misdemeanors and infractions within the prosecutor's jurisdiction [1]. A prosecutor is elected in each judicial circuit rather than by county, and Indiana has 91 prosecuting attorneys [2, 3]. Candidates must be admitted to practice law in Indiana before the election [4]. Since July 2025, a state prosecutor review board can investigate complaints that a prosecutor is not following state law [5, 6].
The job in full — the duties the Indiana Code puts in it, the term, what it pays and who sets that, and what to ask a candidate.
- Term
- 4 years; prosecutors are elected in 2026, 2030, 2034 and every four years after that [2]
- Elected
- One prosecutor per judicial circuit, on the partisan November ballot; Democratic and Republican nominees are chosen in the May primary, while the Libertarian Party nominates prosecutor candidates at its state convention [2, 4]
- Term limit
- None; the office has a four-year term with no term limitations [7]
- Qualifications
- Must be admitted to the practice of law in Indiana before the election, be registered to vote in the election district by the candidate filing deadline, and file a statement of economic interest with the courts [4]
- Pay
- The state pays the minimum salary: for a full-time prosecutor, equal to the minimum salary of the circuit court judge in the same circuit, and 60% (66% in certain circuits) of that amount for other prosecutors [8]
- On the 2026 ballot
- 91 races; 11 contested [9]
What the law puts in this job (12)
- Conducts all prosecutions for felonies, misdemeanors and infractions within the prosecutor's jurisdiction, and performs other duties required by law [1].
- Represents the state in criminal cases, conducts criminal investigations, and convenes and oversees grand juries [7].
- Handles juvenile cases and prosecutes traffic and infraction violations [7].
- Enforces child support orders entered in divorce and paternity cases; the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council runs a statewide child support services program to support this work [7, 3].
- Gives information and help to crime victims [7], and must notify the victim when the prosecutor withholds prosecution under a diversion agreement [10].
- May withhold prosecution of a misdemeanor, Level 6 felony or Level 5 felony if the person agrees in writing to a pretrial diversion program, with conditions such as treatment, restitution, fees or staying away from the victim; the program is not available for certain drunk-driving charges [10].
- Superintends lawsuits in which the county or certain trust funds have an interest [1].
- Appoints a chief deputy and other deputy prosecutors; the state pays set salaries for certain deputies, and the county council appropriates money each year for other deputies, investigators, clerical staff and office expenses [11].
- Works with the county sheriff, a separately elected officer who arrests suspects and runs the county jail, and with local police agencies [12, 13].
- Receives training, manuals and legal research support from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, a state judicial branch agency governed by a board of 10 elected prosecutors [3].
- Since July 2025, can be the subject of a complaint to the state prosecutor review board, a board of five prosecuting attorneys that investigates whether a prosecutor is complying with state law and issues a report [6, 5].
- What the prosecutor does not control: judges decide whether a defendant is released on bail [14]; the county council appropriates the county's share of the office budget [11]; and the state sets the prosecutor's minimum salary [8].
What has changed in this job lately
Changes in the law the next officeholder will work under, most distant first.
March 2023
Senate Bill 284, which would have set up a procedure to appoint a special prosecutor when a prosecutor refuses to enforce a law, passed a House committee 9-4 and was sent to the Ways and Means Committee; the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council supported that bill and the ACLU opposed it [15].
February 2025
As passed by the House 72-24, House Bill 1006 would have created a board to investigate prosecutors who categorically refuse to prosecute laws and required the Prosecuting Attorneys Council to withhold certain funding from a prosecutor labeled noncompliant; author Rep. Chris Jeter (R-Fishers) said it is lawmakers' job to make the law and prosecutors' job to enforce it, while Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) said voters decide every four years how prosecutors use their resources [16].
May 2025
Gov. Mike Braun signed House Enrolled Act 1006 (Public Law 147-2025), which took effect July 1, 2025, and established the prosecutor review board [17, 5, 18].
July 2025
Mirror Indy reported that under the enacted law anyone can file a complaint, a board of five prosecuting attorneys investigates, and the law does not specify consequences beyond the board's report; Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears told Fox59 the law was deliberately targeted at his office, Jeter called it a step toward holding prosecutors accountable, and Chris Naylor of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council said his group did not oppose this version [6].
2025
House Enrolled Act 1006 also requires that two members of the Indiana Commission on Court Appointed Attorneys be trial court judges [5].
November 2026
Public Question 1 asks voters whether to amend the Indiana Constitution so courts can deny bail, for offenses other than murder or treason, when the state proves by clear and convincing evidence that no release conditions will reasonably protect others or the community [19].
2026
On the bail question, author Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) said releasing some defendants before trial is too dangerous to public safety, while Samantha Bresnahan of the ACLU of Indiana said detention can cost someone their job, housing and custody of their children, and Zach Stock of the Indiana Public Defender Council raised concerns about jail overcrowding [14].
St. Joseph County's numbers for this office
Legal Insights county office research (Oct. 13, 2026): Indiana Gateway budgets 2019-2026 and the indicator sources linked on each line.
Budgeted separately, not included above: IV-D child support and victim assistance (depts 0660, 0290), $3.3 million.
- Includes $199,988 in funds named for the office (for example a commissary or perpetuation fund) that are not coded to its department.
Measured, for this county
A position compares this county with counties of similar size. It is not a grade: for most measures a higher or lower number is neither good nor bad on its own.
Trial-court workload per judicial officer · 2025
0.875
Weighted caseload: judicial need divided by judicial officers. Above 1.00 means more work than officers to handle it.
How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low: measures the trial courts' workload; the prosecutor's filings are one input
Position 11 of 11 counties with 150,000 or more residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)
source
Share of people in jail awaiting trial · 2023
78.0%
People held before trial as a share of the jail population.
How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low to partial: pretrial detention is decided by courts (bail) and prosecutors (charging); the county funds pretrial services
Position 5 of 11 counties with 150,000 or more residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)
source · source
About this race
- Open seat: incumbent Ken Cotter is retiring at the end of his term and endorsed Democratic nominee Amy Cressy, his chief deputy [21].
- Cressy filed as a Democrat on January 12, 2026 [9]. No primary vote totals for this office were found; local primary-results coverage listed sheriff, clerk and council races but not the prosecutor race [24].
- Republican John Maciejczyk withdrew from an earlier party caucus, then agreed to run again; the county Republican Party formally added him to the ballot on July 31, 2026 [25, 26]. The state candidate list shows his filing dated August 4, 2026 [9].
- Both nominees are career prosecutors: Cressy has worked in the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office since 2003 and became chief deputy in 2022 [21, 27]; Maciejczyk is a former St. Joseph County chief deputy prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney [25, 28].
- Police-prosecutor relations are a stated theme of the Republican ticket: at the July 31 party briefing, Republican Rod Laureys said there had been "a huge breakdown between the prosecutor's office and the police department," particularly involving the city [26]. No response from the prosecutor's office was found.
- No general-election forums or debates between Cressy and Maciejczyk were found in the sources reviewed.
Who holds this seat now
Kenneth Cotter (Democratic) — not on this ballot.
Ken Cotter has been St. Joseph County prosecutor since 2015, after serving as chief deputy to Prosecutor Michael Dvorak [20]. He announced in January 2026 that he would retire after 11 years as county prosecutor and endorsed his chief deputy, Amy Cressy, as his successor; he is not on the ballot [21].
Cotter's record in the job
- 2015: Elected prosecutor after serving as Prosecutor Michael Dvorak's chief deputy [20]; before becoming prosecutor he spent almost 20 years as a deputy prosecuting attorney and chief deputy [21].
- June 2025: Said his county group's Adult Protective Services coverage would change from seven investigators for four counties to 11 for 20 counties under the state's privatization of APS, effective July 1, 2025; he said the state had long underfunded APS, that St. Joseph County had supplemented investigator pay, and that he planned to ask the county council for a few thousand dollars in severance for unused paid time off [22].
- June 2025: The county Democratic Party reported that Cotter would not seek re-election [20].
- January 21, 2026: Announced his retirement at a press conference and endorsed Cressy, saying, "Her proven abilities, her dedication, and hard work will do this community well" [21].
- July 2026: Announced that a South Bend officer acted within the law in a May 6, 2026 fatal shooting; he said the shooting was recorded on video but that he would not release the footage because the woman's family asked him not to. WVPE reported that Indiana's Access to Public Records Act does not let family members decide whether such videos are released; Cotter declined WVPE's interview request [23].
Candidates on the ballot
AC
Amy Suzanne Cressy
Democratic
Cressy is the St. Joseph County chief deputy prosecutor, a post she has held since 2022, and began in the office as an intern in 2003 [21]. She is endorsed by retiring Prosecutor Ken Cotter [21].
Cressy's background
- South Bend native; LaSalle High School, 1993; journalism degree from IU-Bloomington and law degree from IU-Indianapolis [27].
- Started as an intern in the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office in 2003 and became a deputy prosecutor; worked in the Traffic and Misdemeanor Division, then Major Crimes, handling drug, gun and gang cases, according to her campaign site [27].
- Spent four years embedded with the county's Drug Investigation Unit, which her campaign describes as targeting violent drug traffickers and overdose fatalities [27].
- Promoted to chief deputy prosecutor and chief of staff in 2022 [27, 21].
Cressy's positions
Violent crime
- Quoted by the South Bend Tribune, as reproduced on the county Democratic Party's candidate page: "I want to keep our focus on violent crimes and putting our dedication and our resources into that…" [29].
- On lower-level offenses, quoted in the same reproduced article: "We can encourage them to do that and maybe keep them out of the system with our diversion programs and deferral programs…" [29].
Charging priorities
- Told ABC57 that the prosecutor must make tough decisions, take tough cases and hold people accountable, working with investigators and community members [26].
- Her campaign site says she "believes that compassion and accountability are both necessary in the pursuit of justice" [27].
How Cressy would run the office
- Emphasizes community involvement in public safety; she told ABC57, "I think a safe community is an engaged community" and "I can't wave a magic wand from the 10th floor of the county city building" [26].
Cressy on the current officeholder
- Is the chief deputy to retiring Prosecutor Ken Cotter, who endorsed her [21]. She told ABC57 she felt a duty to continue public service after her predecessor left the role [26].
How Cressy got on the ballot
- Filed as a Democrat on January 12, 2026 [9, 21]; listed as the Democratic nominee on the general-election candidate list [9]. Primary vote totals were not found.
Cressy's endorsements and funding
- Endorsed by Prosecutor Ken Cotter [21].
- Her campaign site takes donations through ActBlue and lists no endorsements [27]. No campaign finance totals were found.
What we could not find about Cressy
- No forum or debate appearances, questionnaire responses, or statements on backlog, staffing, juvenile justice or victims' services were found.
- No primary vote totals were found.
- No detailed written plan for the office was found on her campaign site, which lists no specific policy positions [27].
- No statements by Cressy about Maciejczyk were found.
Cressy's campaign website
JM
John Michael Maciejczyk
Republican
Maciejczyk is a former St. Joseph County chief deputy prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney who teaches as an adjunct professor at Notre Dame Law School [25, 28]. He was added to the ballot by the county Republican Party in July 2026 [25].
Maciejczyk's background
- U.S. Naval Academy graduate (1976); served on Atlantic Fleet destroyers until 1981 [28].
- Notre Dame law degree (1984); clerked for Chief Judge Ruggero Aldisert of the Third Circuit, 1984–1986; private practice in Houston and Elkhart, 1987–1998 [28].
- Chief deputy prosecutor for St. Joseph County until 2002, then an Elkhart County deputy prosecutor; became an assistant U.S. attorney in 2004 [28].
- Notre Dame lists him as having tried more than 100 criminal jury trials and argued more than 30 appeals in the Seventh Circuit; he teaches cybercrime and cybersecurity/data protection as an adjunct professor [28].
Maciejczyk's positions
Charging priorities
- Main platform is coordination among the police department, sheriff's office and prosecutor's office [26]; he promised monthly meetings with police chiefs [25].
Drugs & treatment
- Said his office would enforce state marijuana law as long as marijuana remains illegal in Indiana [26].
Staffing & budget
- Promised expanded training for younger prosecutors [25].
Transparency
- Promised to share office statistics publicly each month [25].
- On Flock license-plate cameras, said he was not fully aware of how the county uses them and compared them to court limits on cell phone location data: "And I think that's a similar type of privacy concern that the courts will be looking at with regard to Flock cameras" [25]. He told ABC57 he wants to see how state-level litigation unfolds before setting a local approach [26].
How Maciejczyk would run the office
- Monthly meetings with police chiefs, monthly public release of statistics, and more training for younger prosecutors [25].
How Maciejczyk got on the ballot
- Withdrew from an earlier party caucus, saying he was concerned about time away from his family, then agreed to run again after meeting with party officials; the county Republican Party formally added him to the ballot on July 31, 2026 [25, 26].
- He said, "I know it looks like I'm going back and forth, which I did, but it's just because this is going to be a big job" [25]. The state candidate list dates his filing August 4, 2026 [9].
Maciejczyk's endorsements and funding
- Selected by the St. Joseph County Republican Party to fill the ballot vacancy [25]. No endorsements or campaign finance reports were found.
What we could not find about Maciejczyk
- No campaign website or candidate questionnaire was found.
- No forum or debate appearances were found; no statements on backlog, violent crime, juvenile justice or victims' services.
- No statements by Maciejczyk about Prosecutor Cotter's record or about Cressy were found. At the same July 31 Republican briefing, Rod Laureys said there had been a breakdown between the prosecutor's office and police [26].
Key points
- Both nominees are career prosecutors: Cressy has worked in the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office since 2003 and became chief deputy in 2022; Maciejczyk is a former St. Joseph County chief deputy prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney. (WNDU)
- Police-prosecutor relations are a stated theme of the Republican ticket: at the July 31 party briefing, Republican Rod Laureys said there had been "a huge breakdown between the prosecutor's office and the police department," particularly involving the city. (ABC57)
Sources
Researched Sunday, October 11, 2026
- Indiana Code 33-39-1-5: Duties of prosecuting attorneys (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
- Indiana Code 3-10-2-12: Election of prosecuting attorneys (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
- Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council (Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council)
- 2026 Indiana Candidate Guide (Prosecuting Attorney) (Indiana Election Division)
- Prosecutors (H.E.A. 1006, P.L. 147-2025) (Indiana Legislative Update, Indiana Office of Court Services)
- How a new Indiana law about 'noncompliant prosecutors' could affect Indy (Mirror Indy)
- Prosecutor's Office (Clark County, Indiana)
- Indiana Code 33-39-6-5: Prosecuting attorney salaries (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
- 2026 General Election Candidate List (Indiana Election Division)
- Indiana Code 33-39-1-8: Pretrial diversion (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
- Indiana Code 33-39-6-2: Deputy prosecuting attorneys (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
- Indiana Code 36-2-13-5: Duties of sheriff (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
- 2026 ISA President Statement (Jeffrey A. Balon, Porter County Sheriff) (Indiana Sheriffs' Association)
- Amendment to deny bail to some offenders moves closer to November ballot (WFYI (via Indiana Public Media))
- Noncompliant prosecuting attorneys (SB 284) (Indiana Legislative Update, Indiana Office of Court Services)
- Indiana House OKs bill that could give county prosecutors less discretion (Indiana Capital Chronicle (via The Indiana Lawyer))
- IN HB1006 (2025): Prosecutors (BillTrack50)
- Michiana-area lawmaker supports new bill aiming to hold prosecutors accountable (WNDU)
- Indiana bail amendment clears General Assembly, sending detention question to November ballot (IndyPolitics.Org (reporting by Indiana Capital Chronicle))
- Cotter, Hess stepping down, other Democrats stepping up to run (WVPE)
- St. Joseph County prosecutor announces retirement, endorses deputy (WNDU)
- Cotter says APS privatization will stretch investigators thinner (WVPE)
- Cotter says officer's fatal shooting of South Bend woman justified (WVPE)
- 2026 Primary Election Results (95.3 MNC)
- St. Joseph County's GOP public safety candidates discuss Flock cameras, platforms (WVPE)
- Saint Joseph County Republican Party holds briefing over county safety (ABC57)
- Amy Cressy for Prosecutor (campaign website) (Committee to Elect Amy Cressy for Prosecutor)
- John Maciejczyk, Adjunct Professor of Law (Notre Dame Law School)
- 2026 Candidates (St. Joseph County Democratic Party)
- What's included
- the U.S. House, statewide offices, every Indiana House and Senate district on the ballot, Indiana's statewide public questions and judicial retention questions, and county, township, city, town and school board races from the Indiana Election Division's candidate list.
- Everything else
- Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: IndianaVoters.in.gov.
- Candidate lists
- As of Sunday, October 18, 2026.
- At the polls
- Indiana law lets you bring a list of candidates and public questions into the polling place, including one stored on your phone, as long as you don't electioneer. IC 3-11-8-18.5
This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.