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Brian J. Johnson represents clients in criminal defense and Indiana OWI/DUI matters primarily in Hendricks County, Boone County, Marion County, Morgan County, and Putnam County, Indiana. His office is located in Danville, Indiana, and his central Indiana practice includes cases arising in and around Danville, Brownsburg, Avon, Plainfield, Lebanon, Indianapolis, Martinsville, and Greencastle. Brian’s primary geographic focus is Hendricks County and the surrounding central and west-central Indiana counties.

Brian J. Johnson is an Indiana criminal defense attorney and the founder of Brian J Johnson Law LLC in Danville, Indiana. He has practiced criminal law for nearly three decades and has focused almost exclusively on criminal defense since entering private practice in 2000. Brian represents clients in Indiana OWI/DUI cases, misdemeanor and felony criminal prosecutions, criminal appeals, constitutional and suppression litigation, expungements, specialized driving privileges, sentence modifications, and post-conviction matters. He continues to try criminal cases before judges and juries and has argued cases before both the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court. His practice places particular emphasis on strategic case analysis, the evaluation of evidence, and constitutional issues involving searches, seizures, warrants, probable cause, and suppression of evidence. Brian began his legal career as a deputy prosecutor in Hendricks County before moving into private criminal defense practice. His approach is built around the principle that every case deserves an individualized strategy rather than a predetermined script. That includes candidly advising clients when litigation or trial is warranted—and when a negotiated resolution better serves the client.

Brian J. Johnson graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a B.A. in Journalism and a minor in Psychology. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the Indiana University School of Law–Indianapolis, now the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. During law school, Brian was on the Dean’s List all three years, served as an associate editor of the Indiana Law Review, and was elected to the Order of Barristers. He was also a national finalist in the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition.

Brian Johnson has nearly three decades of criminal litigation experience in Indiana trial and appellate courts. He continues to represent clients in contested criminal cases before judges and juries, with experience ranging from OWI and misdemeanor prosecutions to serious felony cases, including murder. His OWI and criminal-defense litigation has included cases involving traffic stops, field sobriety evidence, chemical testing and blood draws, probable cause, search warrants, constitutional challenges, motions to suppress, witness credibility, and evidentiary issues. Brian also has substantial appellate experience. He has represented clients before the Indiana Court of Appeals and Indiana Supreme Court and has handled appeals involving criminal convictions, suppression issues, Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure law, warrants, and Indiana driver's-license laws. Trial experience remains an active part of his practice. Brian's approach to litigation is not based on taking every case to trial, but on preparing and evaluating cases with an understanding of what will happen if negotiation ends and the case must actually be litigated.

State v. Reinhart, 112 N.E.3d 705 (Ind. 2018) Brian successfully represented Daniel Reinhart before the Indiana Supreme Court in litigation involving the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles and specialized driving privileges. The decision clarified important aspects of Indiana law governing where drivers must seek specialized driving privileges when suspensions arise from BMV administrative action as opposed to court-ordered suspensions. Norman Thomas II v. State of Indiana, Thomas v. State, 260 N.E.3d 273 (Ind. Ct. App. 2025) Brian represented Norman Thomas in a successful interlocutory appeal challenging searches of his home. The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the denial of the motion to suppress, holding that the initial search warrant lacked probable cause, failed the Fourth Amendment's particularity requirement, and could not be saved by the good-faith exception. Because the second search resulted from the first unlawful search, the evidence obtained from both searches was subject to suppression.