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Supreme Court orders court cleanup
NWI Times
Jan 18, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/supreme-court-orders-court-cleanup/article_8dce0f0c-02b5-55b2-98eb-5b2b5788ac3b.html
CROWN POINT -- Like a frustrated parent looking at a teenager's room, the Indiana Supreme Court on Friday again ordered Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros to clean up the paperwork mess in her courtroom.
It is the second time within a year the state high court has found it necessary to intervene in the situation in Kouros' courtroom. Chief Justice Randall Shepard left no wiggle room in Friday's order, saying Kouros had more or less reneged on a promise made last February to clean up the mess.
He also left unspecified what would happen if she failed this time, but said there would be "further action" by the high court if the situation is not addressed to the court's satisfaction.
At issue are the stacks and stacks of case files checked out to Kouros from the clerk's office but never returned, leaving some inmates in limbo and some lawyers without pay for services rendered.
In the strongly worded five-page order, Shepard said the four criminal court judges in January 2002 were told to institute corrective practices in the court to reduce the backlog, and in February the judges said such practices had been implemented.
But in October, representatives of the Supreme Court visited Kouros "and the review revealed that there were over 200 files ... that had gone to hearing or trial but were still awaiting orders or entries ... and return to the clerk's office," Shepard said.
"Handwritten comments about judicial decisions were marked on numerous 'Post-It' notes affixed to case files, but these comments were not reduced to orders ... orders were prepared but not signed and case files remained in the court and were not returned to the clerk's office for appropriate recordation of court action in the public record.
"Further, despite the report submitted by the four Criminal Division judges on Feb. 16, 2002, Judge Kouros had not implemented a new method of transcribing and processing papers" at the same time as announcing decisions in open court.
In short, the high court was saying it had told Lake County there was a mess, that Lake County had assured the court it was cleaning it up and it had not.
The January 2002 order from Shepard to Kouros to clean the court left it up to the local judges to implement the clean-up plan. Friday's order does not.
It spells out how quickly Kouros must move on backlogged cases -- those that have been signed out for more than 180 days will be acted on first and must be finished no later than Feb. 3. It proceeds to a point where it addresses files checked out for 48 hours to 30 days, and mandates they be cleared up no later than March 6.
Shepard also set a minimum effort Kouros must exert, including issuing and signing orders within 48 hours of action in open court, returning all files to the clerk's office within 48 hours of being signed out and ensuring that no more than 80 files are checked out at one time to her room.
Judges normally have between 20 and 50 cases checked out to their rooms at any one time to address the normal daily court calls, and most are returned the afternoon of the day they are checked out. It was not unusual for Kouros to have between 300 and 400 files checked out, records in the clerk's office show.
Shepard also ordered Kouros to certify, in writing, a written report by March 15 on what steps she has taken to "assure that the unreasonable delay in processing cases in her court and the existence of an unreasonable number of backlogged cases in her court have been eliminated."
Criminal Division Senior Judge Clarence Murray said he has seen the report, and said, "It speaks for itself." He did not comment further.
Kouros was not available for comment, but has said in the past that while there has been some backlog in her court, its extent has been greatly exaggerated and is at least in part politically motivated.
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