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Kouros must fix court, lawyers say
Even supporters call for judge to clean up her case backlog
NWI Times
May 16, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/kouros-must-fix-court-lawyers-say/article_65cfae11-76f3-546c-8230-0032a65f7154.html
CROWN POINT -- Even some of the staunchest supporters of Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros are conceding it is time for her to clean up her courtroom or leave the bench.
In the wake of a scathing 15-page petition filed Wednesday before the Indiana Supreme Court, the county courthouse where Kouros has sat as a judge since 1997 was buzzing with the news that the high court may consider removing her from the bench.
Such an extreme sanction is unheard of in the tight-knit world of the judiciary, one of the closest fraternities with an extreme reluctance for imposing sanctions on themselves.
"One day it's him, and the next day it's you," said one lawyer who has served on several state judicial boards.
But the feeling is that Kouros may have burned one bridge too many by her apparent refusal to admit there is a serious housekeeping problem in her court and by apparently refusing to cooperate with years of attempts to correct the problem by gentler means.
"I have talked to her. I have talked to her father," said Merrillville attorney Nick Thiros, a member of the committee that screens judicial nominees and who had strongly supported Kouros for the bench in 1997.
"I don't think she understands the problem. No, I know she does not understand the problem."
The problem is that Kouros, an admitted perfectionist, spends a great deal of her courtroom time ensuring that all paperwork submitted to her meets her exacting standards, and if it does not she sends the casework back to be redone.
While other judges allow attorneys to correct minor errors in court when both sides agree, Kouros does not. Paperwork piles up and has overwhelmed her court, forcing her to work nights and weekends just to keep her head above the sea of case folders in her courts.
"She is a smart woman. She is a good judge. She is terrible at housekeeping," Thiros said. "I hope for her sake she can get this cleared up and behind her."
Asked whether he thought it would be in everyone's best interest if Kouros resigned or was replaced, Thiros sighed. "I'd hope not," he said.
"But there are some people who are just not suited for some jobs. Maybe she would be happier somewhere else. All this stress can't be good for her health."
Rumors already were circling Thursday morning that East Chicago City Councilman Gus Kouros, the judge's father, was sending out feelers about getting his daughter a job as a lawyer somewhere within East Chicago.
Thiros conceded he'd heard the rumors.
"There would be a lot less stress, and she'd probably make a lot more money," he said.
Tension over Kouros already has forced a personnel change in the prosecutor's office. Veteran Deputy Prosecutor John J. Burke was replaced as trial supervisor in her courtroom, culminating months of antagonistic exchanges that included Kouros charging Burke with contempt of court.
The contempt charge was dropped, and Burke said Thursday he believes it was because Kouros did not want to face a hearing at which her incompetence would be exposed. "She does not know the law," he said.
On Wednesday, Indiana Supreme Court Administration Executive Director Lilia G. Judson asked the high court to order Kouros to appear before them, explaining why she should not be replaced by a temporary judge.
Judson cited Kouros' unwillingness to cooperate either with the local judges or the Supreme Court to reduce a case backlog in her courtroom, and an inability to keep her court under control.
The first official inkling the state high court had that something was wrong was in January 2001, when former Judge Richard Maroc, at that time senior judge of the criminal division, wrote to the court saying Kouros was not dealing with her paperwork in a timely manner.
This came after months of unsuccessful attempts by Maroc and his fellow criminal court judges to get Kouros to deal with the problem, and ended when the Supreme Court issued an order on Jan. 22, 2001, charging the local judges with the responsibility to deal with the mess and submit a report.
Despite a report assuring the state court the situation was in hand, the Supreme Court continued to get complaints, particularly from Lake County Clerk Anna Anton, that files supposed to be back in her office were sitting in Kouros' chambers for months, unattended to.
On Oct. 24 and again last month, the staff of the Division of State Court Administration conducted an on-site inspection. On Jan. 17, the Supreme Court issued a new order to Kouros to get the backlog disposed of by March 6.
The date came and went, and on March 21, Anton sent the high court a letter saying 172 files were still checked out to Kouros, more than twice the limit the court had set for any single day.
On April 21, the staff of the Supreme Court returned, reviewed files and concluded Kouros "had failed to comply with each of the parameters established by the Supreme Court's order of January 17, 2003," and listed more than two dozen examples.
The result was Wednesday's request, which the Supreme Court has taken under consideration, that Kouros be required to appear before the court and explain why a temporary judge should not be assigned to her courtroom.
What would happen after that is unclear, whether Kouros would return to the bench after the clutter had been straightened out or whether she would be removed or given the opportunity to resign.
"I think right now, what everyone is doing is just watching and waiting," Merrillville attorney Martin Kinney said.
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