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Kouros faces more charges of misconduct
Judicial agency says poor performance created backlog problems
NWI Times
Sep 27, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/kouros-faces-more-charges-of-misconduct/article_fab8c8c3-d191-5906-9565-2373b98bd733.html
CROWN POINT -- A local judge already under suspension for sloppy paperwork and delays now faces misconduct charges filed by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications.
Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros' hopes for a return to the bench in the near future were dashed Friday as she was preparing to ask for reinstatement to active duty.
The state agency with the responsibility for policing judicial officials filed charges against her Friday afternoon alleging her poor performance created a backlog delaying the transfer of Lake County Jail inmates to state prison and the release of jailed people and their bond money.
The high court suspended her June 27 for such violations and appointed Senior Judge Raymond D. Kickbush to manage her court.
Her attorney, Kevin P. McGoff of Indianapolis, said Friday morning he planned to petition the high court next week to reinstate her because she has spent the last three months undergoing case management training to sharpen her administrative skills.
Her attorneys, McGoff and Stanley Jablonski of Merrillville, have 20 days to respond to the complaint now against her. Neither the judge, McGoff nor Jablonski could be reached Friday for comment after the charges were filed.
Meg W. Babcock, counsel for the Judicial Qualifications Commission, said Friday the Supreme Court will appoint a panel of three judges to preside over an evidentiary hearing and report their findings to the Supreme Court.
Kouros was appointed to the bench in 1997 and retained by voters three years ago, despite calls from a number of lawyers in the Lake County Bar Association for her removal because of her inability to finish a case.
Bar President Stephen Place said Friday his association doesn't currently have a position on whether Kouros should remain suspended.
The Supreme Court investigated her court in January 2001 and found a backlog of hundreds of case files piled up in her judicial chambers awaiting her signature on decisions she made months earlier.
The consequences of the backlog were detailed Friday in a 26-page document charging her with conduct prejudicial to the administrative of justice, willful misconduct in office and the violation of judicial canons.
It recounts the case of Vernon Dallas, whom Kouros sentenced to six years in prison on Sept. 9, 1999. However, he wasn't moved to prison until her sentencing order arrived three months later.
Dallas sued Kouros in 2000 for depriving him of educational opportunities in the state prison system that weren't available in the county jail. A federal judge later dismissed the suit.
Jail officials listed 39 inmates in 2001 who couldn't be moved from the county lockup here to a state prison because of Kouros' tardiness. The new charge alleges that resulted in overcrowding and misbehavior by some of those inmates that led to injuries.
It also alleges Kouros promised the Supreme Court in 2001 she had a new system of processing paperwork to end delays, but she didn't start using the system until February of this year
In another case Kouros allegedly ordered a defendant -- charged as a habitual offender -- to be held without bond, but didn't issue her decision in writing, so the defendant was mistakenly released on bond, the document said.
The high court ordered her to amend her ways, but by last June, the justices concluded she had refused help from others until faced with an ultimatum threatening her judicial career and afterwards still failed to return completed files to the clerk's office as required by court rules.
County documents indicate Kouros attended a seminar last month in Maine on case management and has visited other courts around the state to examine their administrative procedures at a public cost of more than $1,500.
Kouros still received her salary and benefits during the suspension, including reimbursement for judicial training.
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