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Sloppy records may unseat judge
The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN)
May 16, 2003
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/0FB1712DDEF5F198?p=AWNB
A state judicial panel has recommended replacing a northwest Indiana judge, blaming her sloppy paperwork for a yearslong backlog of criminal cases.
In a petition filed Wednesday, the Division of State Court Administration urged the Indiana Supreme Court to call Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros to the state capital to justify why she should remain on the bench.
The 15-page petition concludes that Kouros "appears unable or unwilling to perform the duties of her office," and suggests she be replaced by a temporary judge.
Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard ordered the division in October to investigate the backlog in Kouros' court following a complaint by County Clerk Anna Anton.
Investigators said they found hundreds of case files in Kouros' office, on the bench and in the jury room, with entries scribbled on Post-It notes and never transcribed.
Judge Thomas P. Stefaniak Jr., senior judge in the court's criminal division, said the paperwork flow has improved but that more progress is needed.The petition alleged attorneys were not notified of court dates, inmates who should have been released remained in jail, people were arrested on warrants that should have been recalled and defendants who should have been sentenced in 1998 were still awaiting sentencing.
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