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Removed Judge Kouros hit with 78 disciplinary charges
Post-Tribune
September 27, 2003
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/0FF5C3BEEB364915?p=AWNB
Any chance that Lake Superior Court Criminal Division Judge Joan Kouros could return to the bench sometime soon appears to have been doused.
On Friday, the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed 78 separate disciplinary charges against Kouros, who was forced to step down from her Room 3 bench on July 1 by order of the Indiana Supreme Court.
The disciplinary charges come just six days before Kouros could have started the process to petition the state Supreme Court to be placed back on the bench.
The charges cited by both the disciplinary commission and state Supreme Court are a result of Kouros' failure to process important paperwork with the hundreds of cases she handled out of her courtroom prior to her removal.
In addition, both the Supreme Court and the disciplinary commission cite the same cases to charge Kouros with the disciplinary counts.
According to a statement from Meg W. Babcock of the qualifications commission, there are several cases that include delays of over a year between sentencing and the processing of sentencing orders.
The charges note one case in particular, that of Vernon Dallas, who filed a lawsuit against Kouros in 2001 because her inaction prevented his transfer from the Lake County Jail to the state Department of Corrections.
The commission's charges made reference to the impact on the Lake County Jail of having inmates kept there but who could have been moved to state prison facilities had Kouros processed sentencing orders in a timely fashion.
The commission states that it cautioned Kouros in early 2002 about the delays but the problem continued. Another charge of misconduct, according to the commission's report, involved Kouros suspending the sentence of a defendant, but failing to issue an order for his release. That forced another judge to step in and release the man from jail.
The commission also alleges that Kouros falsely certified to the Supreme Court last March that she was in compliance with its standards, including her implementation of a transcription system in February 2001.
But the Supreme Court learned that Kouros did not implement the new system until last February.
Kouros has 20 days to answer the charges. Then, the Supreme Court will appoint a panel of three judges to preside over an evidentiary hearing and report their findings to the high court.
The Supreme Court in January issued an order requiring Kouros to process her cases under a specific time schedule, which the judge failed to do.
The rare ultimatum by the Supreme Court was the result of its apparent loss of patience with Kouros' inability to correct a serious backlog of cases in her courtroom dating back to January 2001.
The court stated that Kouros could petition for reinstatement after 90 days. That 90-day period is up in six days. Kouros' attorneys, including Lowell attorney Stanley Jablonski, could not be reached for comment Friday.
By May, the Supreme Court Division of State Court Administration petitioned Kouros to show why a judge pro tem should not be appointed to perform duties in her courtroom.
In early June, Kouros responded to the Supreme Court by submitting a lengthy court brief where she cited a number of reasons why she had been unable to deal with the backlog issue, but emphasized that her pursuit of "perfection" was part of it.
The Supreme Court was unmoved by the petition, ordering Kouros' removal. Her last day hearing cases was June 30. Retired Porter County judge Raymond Kickbush has been serving as judge pro tem.
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