03112003 - News Article - Criminal judge reports backlog of cases is cleaned up - High court will decide if further intervention is needed

Criminal judge reports backlog of cases is cleaned up
High court will decide if further intervention is needed
NWI Times
Mar 11, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/criminal-judge-reports-backlog-of-cases-is-cleaned-up/article_8e8fb080-f685-5108-8321-c7ef0e18df41.html

CROWN POINT -- A local judge has told the Indiana Supreme Court she has successfully picked up and straightened her courtroom.

David Remondini, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said Monday they have received a report from Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros in which she said she has complied with its orders to work through a backlog of 376 case files that had collected in her chambers unfinished.

He said copies of her report now will be circulated to the justices. "They will meet to discuss it in the next couple of weeks," Remondini said.

Kouros reported to the Supreme Court on March 4, two days before the high court's deadline, that she had reduced hundreds of pre- and post-trial decisions and orders to writing and sent them to the clerk's office where they are available for public viewing.

Her report, made public Monday, states all minimum standards for completing such paperwork "... has been and will continue to be followed."

She wrote she has a dictation machine for recording orders that her staff will transcribe and that she now maintains a log of court cases that records the date of a case file's arrival in court and its departure back to the clerk.

Kouros couldn't be reached Monday afternoon for comment.

The Supreme Court ordered the cleanup last January after complaints that she continued to hold on to hundreds of public records weeks and months after she had ruled on the cases.

It was the second time in two years she had come under scrutiny from the high court, which raised fears about overcrowding in the County Jail because of delays in getting court orders to transfer convicts to state prison. Kouros said last year those concerns were exaggerated.

Chief Justice Randall Shepard said last year Kouros had more or less reneged on an earlier promise made to clean up the mess and there would be "further action" by the high court if the situation is not addressed to the court's satisfaction.

Kouros in her report asked the high court to reconsider its strict rules on her deadlines for having files completed and back to the clerk. She said confusion over how long she holds a file may occur because the clerk does not routinely stamp the date the file returned to the clerk's office in a timely manner.