05222003 - News Article - EDITORIALS: Call Kouros to order - The issue: Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros

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09242017 - News Article Links - Disparity of justice: Comparison of Magistrate James Johnson's and Judge Joan Kouros' judicial investigations - Backlog of court cases

EDITORIALS: Call Kouros to order
The issue: Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros
NWI Times
May 22, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/call-kouros-to-order/article_cff04733-6e1a-5da7-8b12-3ffc8c90654b.html
Our opinion: The high court should remove her and appoint a temporary judge, someone who can straighten out the ever-mounting paper overflow and backlog that have created havoc in the

Enough is enough. Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros must vacate the bench so judicial order in her courtroom can be restored.

Kouros has had enough chances, opportunities and warnings to clean up her courtroom act. But she has not. Instead, her inability to keep up with her workload has put an unwelcome spotlight on the perception of judicial arrogance.

Faced with a scathing report from the Indiana Supreme Court's Division of State Court Administration, the high court should remove her and appoint a temporary judge, someone who can straighten out the ever-mounting paper overflow and backlog that have created havoc in the judicial system here.

Here is just a sampling of the chaos the high court representatives found: Cases in which defendants who were supposed to be sentenced in 1998 have not been sentenced; people who were arrested on warrants that were supposed to have been recalled; defendants who were supposed to be kept in jail were released; and - you guessed it - defendants who were supposed to be released were kept in jail.

In the latest report by the division of State Court Administration, Kouros is cited for specific errors caused by the judge's inability to deal with her paperwork. Kouros, the report concluded, "appears unable or unwilling to perform the duties of her office." The report suggests Kouros, who has been on the bench since she was appointed in 1996, be replaced by a temporary judge.

The state's highest court should take that suggestion as a mandate.

Kouros has not returned telephone calls from The Times seeking her response.

Still, it is hard to ignore the findings of the judicial inspectors. Taxpayers who pay her salary are entitled to a judicial system that runs smoothly. The defendants and lawyers on either side of the judicial system also are entitled to an efficient system.

Korous' inability, for whatever reason, to handle the caseload is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Taxpayers do not need that added expense.