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Judge Kouros continues to create her own problems
Our opinion: Kouros lowered judiciary by finding prosecutor Burke in contempt of court
Post-Tribune
November 24, 2002
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/0FF67B806AFCA05A?p=AWNB
It has become more than coincidence.
There is a pattern developing in the courtroom of Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros.
It's disturbing.
Because of a variety of problems, the Indiana Supreme Court last year launched an investigation into Kouros' management of her caseload, largely because her propensity to micromanage has slowed the disposition of cases.
The high court's review continues.
The Indiana Attorney General's office got involved in a case before Kouros on Nov. 15.
The attorney general, in motions filed in Lake Superior Court, said Kouros erred when she ruled in September that Eugene Britt isn't competent to stand trial. Britt is charged with six murders.
The state contends that Kouros didn't comply with statute when she found Britt unfit to stand trial based on the findings of a psychiatrist hired by Britt's defense team.
It certainly is cause for any lawyer worth his salt to raise an objection.
The state says statute requires the judge to appoint two or three "competent and disinterested" psychiatrists or physicians to examine the defendant.
The irony of this mess is that Kouros did that in late 2000. A team of three psychiatrists and physicians found Britt competent to stand trial.
But, Britt's attorneys, Jerry Jarrett and Gojko Kasich, asked Kouros in August if they could hire their own person to have Britt examined, because their client no longer would cooperate with them.
Kouros gave them the go-ahead and then accepted the finding of the defense team's hired gun.
Did the judge expect the psychiatrist to put a healthy check in his pocket and turn around and find Britt competent to stand trial? That's likely why statute calls on the judge to appoint "disinterested" doctors to do the exams.
After finding Britt incompetent, Kouros ordered him to be examined by doctors at the state mental hospital in Logansport.
That hasn't yet been done and Britt is due back in court here Dec. 18.
A month or so after finding Britt incompetent, Kouros slipped up again when she allowed a six-time convicted felon to bond out of jail four days after being found guilty in her courtroom.
That led to a public outcry from the prosecutor's office, particularly veteran prosecutor John Burke, who handled the case.
Burke criticized Kouros and she tried to stiff-arm blame.
It is fairly evident that confrontation led to what happened in Kouros' courtroom on Wednesday.
Burke was there on another case and sitting in the audience waiting his turn.
When the judge called Burke's case, she called on a deputy prosecutor who she thought was handling the case.
When the deputy told the judge Burke was doing the case, Kouros said Burke wasn't there.
But Burke was there and told the judge he had been in the courtroom since before she took the bench.
But Kouros, proving that justice is blind, found Burke in contempt of court and fined him $100.
Now, that's what's really contemptuous.
