Of Counsel
Criminal Defense Litigation
James (“Jim”) Alton Spangler, Jr. has over eight years of experience as a criminal defense attorney. For most of that time, he was a public defender, first in Indiana and then in Dallas, Texas. While in Indiana, he was awarded the statewide prestigious Gault Award that is presented annually to only one Indiana public defender for “commitment, competency, and professionalism in representing juvenile clients.”
As a public defender, Jim learned how the criminal justice system actually works and how to get things done. He has resolved more than two thousand cases, including more than five hundred felonies. He has gotten more than seven hundred cases dismissed and won multiple felony trials. Jim grew up in the Dallas, Texas area.
After graduating high school, he attended the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated in 2006 with a B.A. in Political Science and Government. Jim then moved to Vienna, Austria, for five years, where he was an English teacher for children. In 2011, he returned to the United States. He studied law at the University of Indiana, Bloomington, where he graduated with a J.D. in 2014.
Jim was politically active in college, and he saw firsthand the injustices in the criminal justice system. This motivated him to go to law school and become a criminal defense attorney, and it remains his motivation today.
Education
Indiana University– Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, IN
– J.D., May 2014
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
– B.A., History and Government, May 2006
Awards
The Gault Award, Indiana Defense Council, 2017
– The Gault Award is issued annually to recognize one public defender chosen “for commitment, competency, and professionalism in representing juvenile clients.”
