Craig Robert Hendry v. State of Indiana

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 12, 2025
Docket25A-CR-00022
StatusPublished

This text of Craig Robert Hendry v. State of Indiana (Craig Robert Hendry v. State of Indiana) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Craig Robert Hendry v. State of Indiana, (Ind. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE

Court of Appeals of Indiana FILED Craig R. Hendry, Nov 12 2025, 8:51 am

Appellant-Defendant CLERK Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals and Tax Court

v.

State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff

November 12, 2025 Court of Appeals Case No. 25A-CR-22 Appeal from the Vermillion Circuit Court The Honorable Hunter J. Reece, Special Judge Trial Court Cause No. 83C01-2310-F6-111

Opinion by Judge Weissmann Judges Bailey and Brown concur.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-22 | November 12, 2025 Page 1 of 29 Weissmann, Judge.

[1] Craig Hendry became a frequent visitor to city hall in the small town of

Clinton, where he filmed confrontational interactions with employees and

posted the videos to his YouTube channel. After he uploaded his first video

from Clinton and listed the phone number of the mayor’s office in the video’s

caption, city hall received hundreds of threatening phone calls and voicemails.

[2] Hendry continued to visit city hall and targeted the mayor’s assistant, P.K.,

banging on her closed office door and filming her through her closed blinds.

After he was prohibited from entering city hall, he waited in the parking lot and

followed P.K. to her car. Based on this conduct, Hendry was convicted of Level

6 felony stalking and Class B misdemeanor aiding, inducing, or causing

harassment. He appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting

his convictions and claiming that his conduct was constitutionally protected

free speech. We affirm.

Facts [3] Hendry makes his living by posting videos on YouTube in which he, in his own

words, “go[es] around and record[s] government buildings” to observe whether

employees “uphold [the] constitutional right to freedom of speech in public.”

Tr. Vol. IV, pp. 121, 123. Some of his interactions with government personnel

turn argumentative and hostile. He posts videos of these interactions to his

YouTube channels, which have over 65,000 subscribers. Hendry earns income

based on video views, donations, and the sale of merchandise.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-22 | November 12, 2025 Page 2 of 29 [4] Over the course of about 18 months in 2022 and 2023, Hendry visited Clinton

City Hall multiple times and filmed confrontational interactions with

employees. He posted videos of these visits on YouTube with thumbnails

containing messages such as “COP GONE WILD,” “THIS PIG WILL

VIOLATE,” and “THROW HIM OUT.” State’s Exhs. 7, 19, 20. The captions

of his videos included the contact information for Clinton’s city hall, which

received hundreds of threatening phone calls in response.

[5] Hendry made his first visit to Clinton on April 19, 2022, when city hall was still

closed to the public due to COVID-19. When he and his filming partner first

walked into the building, Clinton Chief of Police Billy MacLaren asked the

two: “Can I help you?” State’s Exh. 1 at 1:16. Hendry responded: “No, I

definitely don’t need your help, brother.” Id. at 1:18-20. Chief MacLaren

explained that city hall was closed to the public and asked Hendry and his

partner to leave. They refused, and an argument ensued. Chief MacLaren

repeated his request roughly 24 times, but Hendry insisted he was not required

to leave. Hendry stated: “Dude, I’m telling you, you can tell me, ‘Please leave,

please leave.’ But it’s not a law. I don’t obey.” Id. at 8:59-9:03.

[6] As the argument grew more heated and protracted, another officer arrived.

Then, Clinton Mayor Jack Gilfoy came out of his nearby office to provide

documentation showing that city hall was closed. Mayor Gilfoy’s assistant,

P.K., also emerged from the office she shared with the mayor and attempted to

record the interaction on her cell phone. Hendry and his partner still refused to

leave. Chief MacLaren gradually moved them towards the exit, backing Hendry

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-22 | November 12, 2025 Page 3 of 29 and his partner out of city hall. By this point, it had been over ten minutes since

Chief MacLaren first told them to leave.

[7] As Hendry exited the building, he yelled at Chief MacLaren: “If you wanna

take that badge off, we can figure out who’s the tough guy.” Id. at 11:24-27.

P.K., who was just behind Chief MacLaren, heard this statement and

exclaimed: “Oh, that was a threat.” Id. at 11:27-29. Hendry continued: “You’re

a p***y bro. Come on, take the badge off and let’s go somewhere else. Let’s go

to private property and you can fight.” Id. at 11:30-36. Chief MacLaren shut the

door as Hendry shouted: “P***y a** pig. I swear to god, bro. This is why cops

drop. You hear me?” Id. at 11:43-49. Hendry, now outside city hall, filmed P.K.

through the glass door. P.K. was filming Hendry on her cell phone, and Hendry

yelled: “I’m getting that recording there. I’m going to, it’s called public records

request. You think you’re so tough.” Id. at 11:55-12:01.

[8] Hendry then walked next door to the police station to file a complaint against

Chief MacLaren. Once inside, he remarked: “The way that guy acts I wouldn’t

be surprised if he ended up like Greg Ferency.” Id. at 13:12-15. As later

explained at Hendry’s trial, Greg Ferency was a police officer in nearby Terre

Haute who was shot and killed while off duty. When Chief MacLaren greeted

Hendry at the police department desk, Hendry asked for public records from

city hall but refused to specify which records. Hendry threatened: “If you take

longer than five minutes to get it, man, I’m gonna go in there and do it myself.”

Id. at 14:42-47. As Chief MacLaren left the desk, Hendry yelled after him: “Hey

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 25A-CR-22 | November 12, 2025 Page 4 of 29 thug, get over here. Hey, you piece of [muted in video] why don’t you go on

and get over here. Here piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy, piggy.” Id. at 15:30-43.

[9] Hendry then left the police station and called P.K. in the mayor’s office to

request the video recording she had made on her cell phone, but she hung up on

him. Hendry then “continuously call[ed] for the next 15 minutes” and

eventually left a voicemail threatening to sue if he did not receive the records he

was requesting. Id. at 17:14-17.

[10] A few days after his April 19 confrontations, Hendry posted the video of his

visit on YouTube. The video’s caption included the phone numbers for both

Clinton’s police department and the mayor’s office. The posting of this video

triggered an immediate and massive harassment campaign against the city

offices. On the day Hendry posted the video, the mayor’s office received 195

phone calls—far exceeding the normal daily volume of roughly 5 calls. In the

first week following the video’s posting, the office received 529 phone calls and

hundreds of voicemails, most referencing Hendry’s video. Over the course of

April 2022, the mayor’s office received over 770 phone calls.

[11] P.K. listened to all the voicemails that came into her office to determine

whether anyone had legitimate business with city hall. She found only three

legitimate calls of the 423 voicemails she documented through May 18, 2022.

She identified about 350 messages as containing personal threats to P.K. and

the other employees that appeared in Hendry’s videos. In one message, the

caller threatened: “We’re coming up there next week and we’re gonna have five

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Craig Robert Hendry v. State of Indiana, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craig-robert-hendry-v-state-of-indiana-indctapp-2025.