06192001 - News Article - Chief public defender suspended

Chief public defender suspended
NWI Times
Jun 19, 2001
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/chief-public-defender-suspended/article_e84a53b8-6183-59ec-884eca342b0111ac.html
VALPARAISO -- Porter County Chief Public Defender James Tsoutsouris has been slapped with a 30-day suspension for engaging in a sexual relationship with a client seven years ago.

While the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission determined the relationship violated the ethical guidelines governing lawyers, Tsoutsouris said Monday he respectfully disagrees.

The consensual relationship in no way interfered with the handling of the client's cases, he said, which in his opinion, is the deciding measure in these types of matters.

"I'm vehemently opposed and I stand on my moral grounds," Tsoutsouris said. "I'm a model for this community. It just angers me. It's not going to impact my life."

The decision will require that Tsoutsouris cease practicing law for a 30-day period beginning July 23. The purpose of the delay is to minimize the impact on his current case load, said Donald Lundberg, executive secretary for the disciplinary commission.

It is unclear whether the penalty will have an impact on his service as public defender.

Tsoutsouris, who has served as the county's chief public defender since 1971, currently provides those services through a contract with county judges. When contacted Monday afternoon, Porter Superior Court Judge Thomas Webber said he knew nothing about the suspension and would first need to review the details before deciding how to proceed.

The current contract does not expire until 2003, Webber said, but there is a clause that allows it to be terminated early by either party with just 90 days notice.

"It's kind of shocking," he said of the news involving his chief public defender.

The relationship began in 1994, while Tsoutsouris was representing the unnamed client in cases involving child support modification and a dissolution action against her second husband. Both cases were handled as part of his private practice and not among his responsibilities as a public defender.

"The respondent did not inform the client how a sexual relationship between them might impact his professional duties to her or otherwise affect their attorney/client relationship," according to the notice of disciplinary action.

The relationship ended a few weeks after it began, and yet the client hired Tsoutsouris a third time in 1996. A year later, she sought psychological treatment, during which time the relationship was discussed and the complaint filed.

Why the complaint was filed, Tsoutsouris could not explain. Yet he pointed out it was filed just one month before he married his current wife. He was divorced at the time of the relationship.

"I had an innocent romantic encounter seven years ago -- period," he said.

While the disciplinary commission sees things a little differently, the group found no evidence the relationship impaired Tsoutsouris' representation of his client. This, in conjunction with Tsoutsouris' clean professional record of 33 years, convinced the group to settle with the 30-day suspension.

05252001 - News Article - More than just suds - Beer Barrel Restaurant & Lounge has a little of everything, including tasty weekend specials

More than just suds 
Beer Barrel Restaurant & Lounge has a little of everything, including tasty weekend specials
Post-Tribune (IN)
May 25, 2001
infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/0FF6786B8E799FF9?p=AWNB
Owners Yolande and Ned Pujo have been cranking out barbecued lamb, pig and cevapcici for $7.95 at the Beer Barrel Restaurant & Lounge in Merrillville for 15 years.

They serve the Serbian delicacies on Saturdays only, but the weekend also heralds the appearance of other house favorites -- prime rib, all-you-can-eat crab legs for $24.95, frog legs for $19.95, and ocean perch for $10.95.

The dining room is only open on Fridays and Saturdays, starting at 4 p.m., but the rest of the week, you can have lunch or dinner at a booth in the old-time bar.

There's a little of everything on the menu. In the sandwich department, there's a double-decker burger, beef and cheddar, open-face hot beef, clubs, gyros and tacos. For dieters, there's a chicken breast with cottage cheese and tomatoes on a bed of lettuce. And you can have feta cheese and olives or a Greek salad in small, medium or large.

We had dinner on a Saturday when the dining room was open and started with an appetizer of six potato pierogi ($3.95). They were boiled perfectly, sautÈed with onion and served with sour cream. Ned admits they're not homemade, but they're awfully good, with a tender dough. If the filling had been seasoned better, they would have been perfection.

Everything on the salad bar, however, is homemade. It's included in the price of dinner and we had a tasty onion soup with chunky croutons, crisp, fresh salad greens and toppings and sensational potato and pasta salads.

We chose the shrimp platter ($14.95) with four varieties of shrimp -- stuffed, coconut, de jonghe and another I can't remember -- with a really good twice-baked potato. It was a filling meal.

Since they were out of prime rib, our second choice was the shrimp-and-steak combo ($11.95). Again, the seafood was good, but the ribeye steak was tough and disappointing.

However, people at the other tables, who were obviously repeat customers and knew what to order, were feasting on crab legs. Other specials that night were orange roughy, catfish and porterhouse steak, which looked great.

The Saturday barbecue begins at noon, so get there early to make sure you get your share. For $1 more, you can have the salad bar and, if you like your prime rib rare, get there at 4 p.m.

Look for tambouritza music once a month. Diner's Club is the only credit card accepted, but, with proper identification, you can pay by check.

If you go
WHAT: Beer Barrel Restaurant & Lounge

WHERE: 4717 E. Lincoln Highway, (U.S. 30) Merrillville

PHONE: 947-2995

HOURS: 3 to 7 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers, $1.25 to $3.95; soup, $1.25 to $1.75; salads, $1.50 to $7.50; sandwiches, $3.15 to $4.95; dinners, $6.95 to $24.95

WORTH NOTING: Full bar, separate dining room, adequate parking, the only credit card accepted is Diner's Card; checks with proper I.D. accepted.

04152001 - News Article - Family Court's reach expands The project is courting success but battling the clock

Also See:

09242007 - Terror in Porter County Divorce Court - 1990's - Magistrate James Johnson and Judge Thomas Webber at the helm

Family Court's reach expands
The project is courting success but battling the clock
NWI Times
Apr 15, 2001
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/family-court-s-reach-expands/article_d870b6b6-1277-5daf-a6b3-9610adf7dbbe.html
VALPARAISO -- If Family Court Coordinator Alison Cox has her way, families in conflict are going to see a much more user-friendly court, complete with a service access center. There, families will be guided on how to navigate the court system once they've seen the judge.

Many families find themselves in non-compliance with court orders simply because they don't know how to follow through, she said.

That's just one of the various programs in development through the Family Court pilot project, beginning its second year.

Porter County is one of three in the state earmarked by the Indiana Supreme Court to explore family court models.

The family court movement strives to consolidate various family issues before a single judge to better serve families as a whole and improve court efficiency.

But those, like Cox, who are charged with developing the court are finding the pilot project's two-year shelf life won't be enough.

"It's a big endeavor, much bigger than we ever thought," Cox said. "The other two (counties) are feeling that way, too."

Cox said she is in regular touch with her counterparts in Monroe and Johnson counties.

"The big thing right now is that there is this prediction that two years isn't going to do it," she said. "We're looking at a change in the thought process of our judicial system. Our judicial process hasn't looked at the family as a whole, and it's going to take a long time to change the process."

Cox said it's taken a full year for even the key members of the coordinating team to "get a hold on it."

The local project's chief architect, Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper, agreed the complexity of the task has been a surprise.

"We're working in a lot more areas than I had expected initially," she said.

For example, while mediation services were always on the drawing board, they have been expanded to many more areas than originally considered. What Harper calls "the mediation project" is reaching families involved in juvenile, paternity, divorce and post-divorce conflicts.

Another major, perhaps radical, departure from original plans is the court embracing even those families who are not involved in multiple courts.

"But that's because there's a major need for changing the way we do business," she said.

Over the last year, the idea has gained the support of the Porter County Bar Association, a necessary ally if the project is to succeed.

Nine attorneys are trained as mediators, courtesy of an Indiana Supreme Court grant secured by Harper. Although the grant pays some or all of the fees for families who can't afford the service, the attorneys agreed to nevertheless lower their rates.

Harper said she has sought out attorneys who were active in family law and good at it.

"They're carrying the torch now," she said.

Their success has surprised Magistrate James Johnson, one of the county's two magistrates, who handle most of the divorce caseload.

"It's certainly a preferable alternative," Johnson said. "I've seen some really amazing results from cases that I never thought would mediate but have."

Johnson said he had harbored some doubts.

"I wasn't so sure that in family law, it was the best avenue because of the emotion involved," he said. "There are separate issues, those involving children and (those) involving property. I thought the property issues could mediate. I've been shown since that it's useful in both those areas."

Johnson credited the attorneys' skill.

"They've gotten a lot of people trained, thanks to this program," he said.

Johnson said the improved communication the attorneys offer builds bridges within families in conflict.

"We want to build the bridges, not destroy them," he said.

The combined effect of the mediation project is to move families through the system at a much faster rate, according to Cox.

"What we've found is families are waiting and waiting and waiting for these court hearings to get these issues resolved," she said. "While we have a hearing nine months down the line, a child is waiting, saying, 'Do I have to put up with mom and dad fighting for these nine months?' "

In addition to joining the mediation project, the bar association has organized a family law section. At their first meeting Monday, members formed a subcommittee to explore improving custody evaluations, according to Harper.

"The subcommittee will be looking into real-time needs and reasonable attorney fees," she said.

But the clock is running on these projects and others.

"Technically the grant funds run out Dec. 31," Cox said. "We're out of money at that time, although the mediation funds go until next February. We're really, really hoping to get further funds."

Harper, in her usual style, already is making some contingency plans, but confesses to some concerns given the county's own budget restraints.

"I don't know how they'll handle it downstate," she said. "I hope they understand the massive amount of work to set this up."

02222001 - News Article - Court backlog down, but not out Judge Kouros continues to whittle caseload

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Court backlog down, but not out
Judge Kouros continues to whittle caseload
NWI Times
Feb 22, 2001
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/court-backlog-down-but-not-out/article_3450d490-46d4-5039-8617-84cce08c40e5.html
CROWN POINT -- A deadline to clear up the immense backlog in the courtroom of Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros has come and gone with much of the work done, but apparently a large amount of work still to be done.

Last Friday, the Indiana Supreme Court was assured by the four judges of Lake County's criminal division that Kouros had the situation under control and that all files checked out by Kouros would be returned to their rightful place in the clerk's office by the close of the business day Tuesday, the Supreme Court-imposed deadline.

As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, a check with the clerk's office showed 141 files still checked out to Kouros' room, although most of the files that once cluttered her bench, her chambers and the adjacent bailiff's room are gone.

On Jan. 22, the Indiana Supreme Court stepped in and ordered the senior judge of the Lake Criminal Court to clean up the "unreasonable backlog of cases" in Kouros' courtroom, to immediately attend to 39 cases where people apparently were improperly lodged in Lake County Jail because of court inaction and to develop an in-house plan to deal with the remaining backlog.

At the time, the clerk's office showed 354 case files checked out to Kouros, some dating back into 1998. In the intervening weeks, the judge worked nights and weekends to reduce the backlog, which often necessitated her listening to audiotapes made of the proceedings and making the proper entries.

Both magistrates from the criminal division were sent to Kouros' courtroom to hear in-court proceedings while the judge spent her day whittling down the backlog, and each day her bailiffs would appear in the clerk's office with armloads of the files, each in the green jacket that designates Kouros' court.

"We've seen so much green in the past couple weeks we should get St. Patrick's Day off," said one of the deputy clerks.

They won't get time off -- in fact, the deputy clerks will be working Saturday to deal with the glut of cases coming down from Kouros' court.

Last Friday, Criminal Court Judge Richard Maroc, the senior judge in the division, hand-delivered his court's response to the Supreme Court, which had set Feb. 20 as the deadline. The response was signed by all four criminal division judges.

In the response, Kouros "assures us that all except one file ... a death penalty charge which needs further work ... will be returned to the clerk prior to the close of the business day on February 20, 2001."

The response assured the Supreme Court "there has been almost full compliance by the presiding judge. Nearly all (files) are now completed by the judge ... and consigned to the clerk."


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Maroc said he was surprised by Friday's report from the clerk that 159 cases still remained out at that time, saying he and his colleagues "assumed it was much, much less than that."

But there is no argument that Kouros has made substantial headway in cutting through the tangled backlog and eventually will reduce it to its proper level if she maintains her current level of work.

What has troubled the Supreme Court is that once attention no longer is focused on her, Kouros will return to the pattern that has caused her to accumulate such a backlog.

One of the largest problems was an inability to delegate and to demand perfection at the cost of efficiency. In January, the judge began sending formal memos to the clerk's office demanding corrections on extremely minor inaccuracies that other judges would correct with a phone call. The amount of time spent finding the errors, dictating the memos and double-checking the corrections added to her time burden.

Once The Times asked to see the memos, she reportedly stopped issuing them.

"We are not here to micromanage how she conducts her court," Indiana Supreme Court Administrator Douglas Cressler said. "Nothing further is planned on our end, unless the judges up there request it. Maybe we'll check back in two weeks, and if it's not working, we will reintroduce ourselves into the process. We have certainly left the door open for that possibility."

In their memo to the Supreme Court, the judges welcomed future scrutiny and said Kouros has taken steps to ensure "the case backlog dilemma should not occur in the future."

Cressler said the Supreme Court's concern is less how Kouros manages her court than whether justice is being served.

It was a complaint that justice was not being served at all that led the Supreme Court to become involved in the matter. The Lake County Sheriff's Correctional Merit Board wrote the local judges, asking that some action be taken to alleviate overcrowding in the jail caused by orders not being entered and prisoners not being sent on to the Indiana Department of Correction.

Those cases were all corrected within days, Kouros said, and did not result in people who should have been released being kept in custody as the merit board had feared.

02082001 - News Article - Date set for courtroom cleanup Kouros told to fix paperwork backlog or accept help

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Date set for courtroom cleanup
Kouros told to fix paperwork backlog or accept help
Feb 08, 2001
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/date-set-for-courtroom-cleanup/article_bd35e0f8-5e66-5ea7-845c-ef5ea1ee1896.html
CROWN POINT -- It is becoming increasingly likely the Indiana Supreme Court will take a hand in straightening out the paperwork mess in the courtroom of Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros.

In January, the high court ordered the judges of the Lake Superior Court's criminal division to come up with a plan by which the 300-plus case logjam in Kouros' court be resolved. Senior Judge Richard Maroc was given until Feb. 5 to submit the plan to the Supreme Court.

Last week, Kouros agreed to allow the criminal division's two magistrates to assume some of her in-court duties in addition to their own, while Kouros was to tackle the mounds of troublesome paperwork. But as of Wednesday neither of the magistrates had been allowed by Kouros to sit.

To move things along, a second stipulation was added, that the backlog be cleared up by Feb. 20. With more than 300 cases that have to be updated, more than one court employee has said the deadline probably will not be met.

Each of the 300-plus files must be updated to reflect all entries the judge made, and some of the files go back more than a year. To do many of the updates, the judge must listen to tape recordings of the proceedings and then make the entries by hand; on others, she has affixed yellow Post-It notes with the entries.

The backlog, which many attorneys have complained about for months, came to the attention of the Indiana Supreme Court directly by way of a letter from the Lake County Sheriff's Department Correctional Officers Merit Board, which represents the guards of the Lake County Jail.

Because much of the backlog means orders for transfer from the jail to the Indiana Department of Correction do not go through, the merit board complained the inactivity by the judge has resulted in a dangerous situation for the guards because of overcrowding and angry attitudes among prisoners.

Most prisoners would rather be housed in the Department of Correction than the jail for several reasons, among them the access to education and better living conditions.

Kouros has said no one is in the jail who does not belong behind bars, but admitted that a number of the prisoners now in the jail are overdue for transfer to the DOC. She said she is making substantial headway in cutting the backlog and has been working nights and weekends to try to remedy the situation.

In its order, the Supreme Court said if timely and satisfactory action is not taken, it will impose on Kouros an attorney from its own staff or a staff of its choosing to assist her and perhaps to guide her.

01272001 - News Article - Judge addresses backlog problem - Preliminary plan to clean up courtroom given to Supreme Court

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Judge addresses backlog problem
Preliminary plan to clean up courtroom given to Supreme Court
NWI Times
January 27, 2001
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/judge-addresses-backlog-problem/article_db1a5c5a-4ad0-5f00-901c-b22ae26531a9.html
CROWN POINT -- In an attempt to get a handle on the critical backlog situation plaguing Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros, the court's senior judge has forwarded a plan of action to the Indiana Supreme Court in which he acknowledged a serious problem.

Judge Richard Maroc, senior judge of the criminal division, said Kouros has by his count checked out 330 files that she has not returned to the criminal court clerk's office. A judge will normally check out just the number of files he or she plans to hear that day -- as few as four or five, maybe as many as 45 -- and return them the same day or the next day.

A reporter's check with the criminal clerk's office showed 357 files out to Kouros, which the judge said Thursday is "not true, although I do have more out than other judges."

Maroc said he has done a random spot check on the files Kouros has checked out, and "there appears to be a significant lag in the entries of the current order in several."

What this means is that a number of people have been kept in the Lake County Jail for longer than they were supposed to be.

Maroc promised the Supreme Court the situation will be studied further, and a plan to attack the large-scale backlog will be submitted to the high court on or before Feb. 5.

The judges have met with Kouros and addressed the problem, which they say stems from Kouros' perfectionism.

"The perfect is getting in the way of the good," Maroc said.

Kouros admits she is driven, often working nights and weekends to clean up a file and checking and rechecking her own work and the work of others. But while the other judges praise the work ethic, they say she must stop the micromanagement.

Most of the people affected are inmates awaiting transfer to the Indiana Department of Correction, but there are some who have been kept in jail while awaiting transfer to mental health facilities or even release.

On Monday, the Indiana Supreme Court recognized the problem and issued an order to Maroc to start an accounting of Kouros' backlog, beginning with a list of 39 inmates prepared by the office of the warden at the jail.

The Supreme Court gave Maroc 48 hours to deal with the problem. By Wednesday, Maroc had prepared a response for the court. Of the 39 inmates, Maroc said, 13 were not dealt with inside the 48-hour deadline, but he and Kouros were still working to complete their orders. The remaining 26 are accounted for.

Kouros on Thursday denied any inmate has stayed in the jail when he should have been freed, a claim disputed by several defense attorneys.

She also said that, although she is backlogged, there is little difference between keeping a prisoner in Lake County Jail and in the Department of Correction.

"It's not like these people are supposed to be walking the street, and they're in jail," she said.

There is one prisoner, she said, who on paper should have been dismissed but is actually being held on a federal detainer.

Some of the difference boils down to money. If a federal prisoner is kept in the county jail, the government reimburses the county for caring for its prisoner. But if the transfer order was never issued, the prisoner technically still belongs to the county, and the county pays the bills. The same holds true with prisoners who have been transferred on paper to the Department of Correction, but who remain in county jail.

Without the transfer orders, the jail continues to pay and also exposes itself to potential liability. Jail guards have privately said they fear a lawsuit against the county if an inmate who should have been transferred injures another inmate or is injured by another inmate.

The fear is not unrealistic. Earlier this month, inmate Mareese Boyd, who is on the list of 39, was charged with beating fellow inmate Eugene Britt, who is awaiting trial on six counts of murder.

Although Maroc's investigation found "Boyd appears to be properly in Lake County Jail," he was recently transferred here from the Department of Mental Health after being declared competent to stand trial.

01262001 - News Article - Indiana high court takes on local judge - Backlog in inmate transfers cited as problem stemming from Judge Kouros' courtroom

Also See:

09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

Indiana high court takes on local judge
Backlog in inmate transfers cited as problem stemming from Judge Kouros' courtroom
NWI Times
Jan 26, 2001
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/indiana-high-court-takes-on-local-judge/article_4b016683-d06b-5acd-924b-9377be7b6d2a.html
CROWN POINT -- Like a parent who has to break up a battle among angry siblings, the Indiana Supreme Court has stepped into an internal donnybrook among Lake County's criminal court judges, the Sheriff's Department and inmates at the county jail.

In a strongly worded order, Chief Justice Randall Shepard told the senior judge of the Lake Criminal Court he has to clean up the mess in the courtroom of Judge Joan Kouros, and he has to do it immediately, citing 39 Lake County Jail prisoners who should have been sent to the Indiana Department of Correction or, in one case, released after his case was dismissed.

"This circumstance is symptomatic of a long-term problem," Shepard wrote in the opinion, issued Monday in Indianapolis.

The chief justice ordered Criminal Court Judge Richard Maroc, the division's senior judge, to develop a plan to cure the problem or be prepared to have the Supreme Court step in with personnel from downstate.

Maroc said Thursday "an order from the Supreme Court is sufficient to focus the attention on the absolute need" for action, and he sent a response to Indianapolis within 48 hours of the Supreme Court order.

The judges long have known that a problem exists in Kouros' courtroom, where orders often go unsigned for months and where the case files themselves disappear in a sea of green folders that stand stacked in Kouros' chambers, her bailiffs' room and inside the courtroom.

On Jan. 12, the Lake County Sheriff's Corrections Merit Board, which represents the county's jail guards, stopped playing nice and took on the judges, saying that Kouros' inaction was leading to more overcrowding in the county jail and a dangerous situation for their employees and inmates.

In a letter hand-delivered to Maroc, merit board President J. Justin Murphy told the judge 39 inmates then in the jail should have been transferred to the Indiana prison system or released.

Murphy noted the board informally approached Maroc in October and asked that the problem be dealt with.

"We recognized there was a problem," Murphy said Thursday, "and we met with the judge, who promised us he and his fellow judges would cure the problem."

Instead, Murphy said, the number of inmates awaiting transfers continued to grow, "and we wrote the formal letter."

Kouros said she was angered by Murphy's letter and said the list of the 39 inmates contains numerous errors that could have been addressed had Murphy "had the decency to call me before sending that letter."

The judge admitted there are a number of inmates who should have been transferred to the Department of Correction, but she said, "There is no one in jail who should not be behind bars. Maybe they're in the Lake County Jail instead of the Department of Correction, but it's not like they're supposed to be out walking around."

But Maroc disagreed and said there are significant problems with keeping inmates in the county jail after they should have been transferred to the prison system, among them the cost to taxpayers and the ability of inmates to earn degrees while in the prison system.

The one inmate shown on Murphy's list, which was cited by the Supreme Court, who shows his case dismissed is Keyron O'Neal, against whom state charges were dropped on June 13. O'Neal remains in jail in Lake County. Kouros said he is being held on a federal detainer and should not have been released.

However, she did say some of the cases ended up getting lost. Nonetheless, she said, of the 39, 37 have been cleared up and transfer orders signed, and she expects the other two to be cleared up today.

Others, including some defense lawyers, say they have had clients stay in jail for days or even weeks after a finding of innocent or a dismissal of a charge while awaiting a signature from Kouros.

"That's not true," said the judge. "It's not possible for a person to be in there that long without having written to me or called me."

But the letter from Murphy said jail guards are bombarded on a daily basis with the complaints.

"Our correctional officers receive complaints from the individuals on the enclosed list on nearly a daily basis as to why they have not been transferred to the DOC and/or released. Our officers' response that documentation has not yet been forwarded by the court only creates frustration and hostility, raising the risk of potential harm to our correctional officers and other inmates."

In addition, ex-inmate Vernon Dallas, 21, a convicted child molester, has sued Kouros for not sending him to prison. He contends she has procrastinated for more than a year after his case file was checked out on Sept. 8, 1999, and never returned. The suit is pending in U.S. District Court in Hammond.