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Judicial body: Replace Kouros
Scathing report questions ability, will of Lake Criminal Court judge
NWI Times
May 15, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/judicial-body-replace-kouros/article_fa32e195-c73f-5c27-bdc7-e7504d408eda.html
INDIANAPOLIS -- Citing a long litany of judicial misdeeds, the Indiana body responsible for judicial administration has issued a blistering report on Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros and said she should justify why she should remain on the bench.
The 15-page petition filed by the Indiana Supreme Court Division of State Court Administration on Wednesday "is a shot across the bow," said Supreme Court spokesman David Remondini.
The scathing report, which lists pages of specific errors caused by Kouros' inability to deal with her paperwork, concludes by saying Kouros "appears unable or unwilling to perform the duties of her office" and suggests she be replaced by a temporary judge.
The petition asks the Supreme Court to call Kouros to Indianapolis to answer why she should not be replaced.
Kouros has thus far defied both the state and local judges in their attempts to get her to clean up an almost unfathomable mess in her courtroom, a situation she has alternatively denied and blamed on political enemies.
In 2001, the local judges assured the state the matter had been dealt with, but it soon became apparent that their attempts had failed. In early 2002, the Indiana Supreme Court sent its own representatives to view the situation.
What they saw did not please them.
Cases sat untouched in the court for months, entries were scribbled on Post-It notes and never transcribed, orders were issued haphazardly if at all. Hundreds of case files sat on the bench, in Kouros' office and overflowed into the jury room.
Lawyers could not find cases, were not notified of new court dates. Inmates who should have been released or transferred to the Indiana Department of Correction sat in Lake County Jail, unable to communicate and unable to find out why they were being ignored.
Among the findings of the Wednesday petition were cases in which defendants, who were supposed to be sentenced in 1998, have yet to be sentenced; people were arrested on warrants that were supposed to have been recalled; defendants who were supposed to be kept in jail were released; and defendants who were supposed to be released were kept in jail.
In all, the state court administrator Executive Director Lilia Judson cited 15 such cases found on one date alone, and also found that contrary to her promise, Kouros had failed to implement a Dictaphone method of transcription but continued to use her "Post-It" system.
On Jan. 17, the Indiana Supreme Court issued a blistering order, blasting Kouros and telling her that she ignored their orders at her peril.
They gave her a timetable to clean up the mess -- or else.
The March 8 cleanup deadline came and went, and although there appeared to be a token attempt to clean the mess, Lake County Clerk Anna Anton said there were still 172 files checked out, well in excess of the Supreme Court's demand.
On April 21, the state court administrator revisited the court and, according to the Wednesday report, "Judge Kouros had failed to comply with each of the parameters established by the Supreme Court's order of January 17, 2003." Judson went on to list dozens of violations of the order, including five cases checked out to Kouros' court simply marked "unable to locate." Judson's scathing report noted in conclusion that Kouros does not maintain a central case log to track cases, that she continues to rely on "Post-It" notes and that "she has failed to meet each of the minimum standards set in the Supreme Court's order of Jan. 17.
"For more than two years, Judge Kouros has failed to heed the Supreme Court's orders and has continued to delay processing of necessary paperwork in a timely manner, thereby causing delay and backlog of the cases pending before her."
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