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Kouros removed as judge
Criminal judge given 90 days to restore order in her courtroom
NWI Times
Jun 28, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/kouros-removed-as-judge/article_1c63614a-dbcc-5504-b36d-6f7cb9ad2af7.html
CROWN POINT - The Indiana Supreme Court temporarily removed Joan Kouros from office Friday as a Lake Criminal Court judge for delaying justice through sloppy paperwork.
Senior Judge Raymond D. Kickbush will replace her, beginning Tuesday, for at least 90 days and possibly the remaining two and a half years of her current term.
"I'm very sorry to hear that," County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter said Friday afternoon. The two have known each other for more than a dozen years. "This is bad news and I feel for her."
Neither Kouros nor her attorney, Kevin McGoff of Indianapolis, could be reached Friday for comment on whether she will attempt to regain her job or resign.
The announcement sent shock waves through the Criminal Courthouse here. One judge, who wished to remain anonymous, compared the announcement to a death of a friend.
She becomes the first in the three decades of Lake County's merit selection system - designed to pick the most capable judges - to be forced off the bench by anyone other than the voters.
Judge Kouros blamed her troubles on others, including the clerk's office, prosecutors, defense lawyers and her own staff and only accepted responsibility earlier this month, saying that her desire for perfection tied her in knots, "where others would be satisfied to allow simple errors to go unchanged."
The Supreme Court said Friday that admission was too little, too late.
"Unfortunately, a correction to the manner in which justice is being administered in Lake Superior Criminal Court III is needed now and cannot await further gradual improvement," according to a Supreme Court statement.
"We therefore find that the Honorable Joan Kouros has failed to perform the duties of her office without good cause."
There is no indication on the order as to whether she will lose her salary or benefits, and the justices are giving her the chance to petition for reinstatement in three months, if she can prove she is finally capable of running an efficient court.
Douglas Cressler, of the Supreme Court's administrative division, said Friday it is unclear exactly what Kouros would have to demonstrate to get her job back.
"The Supreme Court deliberately left that open and flexible. Who knows what the situation will be three months from now and what things Judge Kouros may do in the interim? The court is leaving it open for the eventuality of reinstatement, depending on what things look like three months from now," Cressler said.
Retired Lake Criminal Court Judge Richard W. Maroc, who worked with Kouros six years, said Friday, "I think it would be difficult for her to prove she can do the job if she is not doing the job." However, he thinks there is some hope for her. "I feel that it is very significant that they appointed a (temporary judge) rather than open an appointment for a new (permanent) judge."
Senior Criminal Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak said Friday, "I respect the Supreme Court's decision and will cooperate with them in any way, should they ask for that cooperation. Certainly, if the Supreme Court should reinstate her, my promise to assist in any way still stands."
Kouros was appointed to the bench in 1997 and retained by voters three years ago, despite calls for her defeat because of her inability to finish a case.
The Supreme Court initiated an investigation and revealed, in January 2001, a backlog of 330 case files that were piled up in her judicial chambers waiting for her signature on decisions she made months earlier. The backlog created delays in the release of jailed people and allowed the release of people, who should have remained behind bars.
She aggravated the backlog further by communicating her thoughts on dozens of sticky notes attached to court documents, rather than dictating her orders into a recorder for a secretary to type out in acceptable form.
The high court ordered her to amend her ways, but last October the backlog had grown again to at least 200 cases. The justices demanded in January she keep it to 80 cases or fewer, but she exceeded that limit at least twice this spring.
The high court said Kouros refused help from others until recently when the Supreme Court delivered an ultimatum on her continued judicial career. She begged to keep her job in a lengthy petition her attorney filed two weeks ago.
The Supreme Court Justices stated Friday, "The tenor of the response, the acknowledgement by Judge Kouros that there have been problems in the administrative aspects of her judicial responsibilities and the steps she has taken toward correcting those problems are viewed with favor by the court. Were we writing on a clean slate, her response might persuade us to forestall action."
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