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EDITORIALS - Kouros shouldn't return to bench
The issue: Judge Joan Kouros
NWI Times
Jul 1, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/kouros-shouldn-t-return-to-bench/article_7c3ee754-7c95-5084-82e8-48a87e84d3ac.html
Our opinion: She had plenty of time and opportunity to run the court properly. It's time for her to go - permanently.
A retired Porter County judge is the temporary replacement for Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros. She has three months to prove she is cured of her sloppy record-keeping.
Senior Judge Raymond D. Kickbush is filling in for Kouros, beginning today, for at least 90 days and possibly the remaining two and a half years of her term.
She is the first judge in the three decades of Lake County's merit selection system to be forced off the bench by anyone other than the voters.
Kouros first blamed others for her courtroom's trouble with records and only accepted responsibility earlier this month.
The Indiana Supreme Court finally decided that enough is enough and removed her from office. She can petition for reinstatement in three months, but she would have to prove she is capable of running an efficient court.
This isn't just a matter of making clerks happy. This is affecting the administration of justice.
A Supreme Court investigation revealed, in January 2001, a backlog of 330 case files piled up, waiting for her signature on decisions she made months earlier. The delays meant people who should have been freed earlier weren't and people who should have remained in jail were released.
Last October, the backlog had grown again to at least 200 cases. The Supreme Court ordered the backlog to be a maximum of 80 cases, but she violated that twice this spring.
The Supreme Court has given Kouros plenty of time and opportunity to operate the court properly. It's time for her to go - permanently.
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