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Kouros' response triggers more questions
What lies ahead for embattled Lake County judge?
NWI Times
Oct 22, 2003
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/kouros-response-triggers-more-questions/article_bd1dedad-ef4d-5656-9700-7a9c68745b22.html
Monday's admission by Lake County Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros that she suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder has given greater insight into why her court bogged down to a point where the Indiana Supreme Court suspended her in June.
But the admission also has raised questions about her decisions on the bench as well as what the future holds for Kouros, who has said the illness is treatable and has petitioned the Supreme Court for reinstatement.
Her local attorney, Stanley Jablonski of Merrillville, said it is unlikely the admission of mental illness will jeopardize any of the judicial decisions she has made in the more than six years she has been a judge.
"It doesn't have much more effect than a juror who falls asleep or an elderly judge who falls asleep on the bench," he said. "If there is an issue, it is an issue that can be raised on appeal, and I can't recall any motions to correct errors saying in essence the judge was not with it. If her rulings were out of line, you appeal."
Deputy Prosecutor John Burke, his office's supervisor in Kouros' courtroom, has clashed with the judge a number of times and said he sees it differently.
"I can't answer that for sure, but if she remains on the bench and sentences someone to death or hammers them with 250 years, you can bet they are going to challenge the sentence on grounds of (the judge's) mental instability," Burke said.
Kouros' problems have manifested themselves in her inability to deal with closing out cases, preferring to check and recheck each file for everything from punctuation and spelling to signatures.
The delays have resulted in people remaining in jail when they should have been transferred to the Indiana Department of Correction, or in some cases, released.
By revealing the mental illness as well as the fact that she has multiple sclerosis, Kouros also has opened the door to the possibility that she may be protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act, a set of federal statutes that prohibits discrimination based upon disability.
While there are limitations to the act, Jablonski said it "has a lot of teeth in it," but he said he has not gone so far as to explore that avenue.
"At this point, I can't make a comment on that, it's a little too sensitive," he said.
The multiple sclerosis was diagnosed several years ago, and she has been undergoing what Jablonski characterized as successful treatment since then. However, he said, she was only diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder after her suspension, and even then only under pressure from family and friends to see a physician.
In September, the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission filed a 78-count complaint against Kouros, alleging that she "failed to process important paperwork, usually sentencing orders," said commission counsel Meg Babcock.
Kouros responded to each of the counts Monday, denying three of them, offering an explanation for 15, saying she had insufficient evidence to comment on 11 and admitting 34.
A remaining 14 she blamed on other court branches, including 10 on the clerk's office, three on a criminal court magistrate and one on the probation department.
"It's the blame game again," Burke said. "It's always someone else's fault. She has the same mental attitude as most of your criminals -- it's not my fault."
In the final count, the commission accused Kouros of lying to them when she said she was implementing a Dictaphone system to help streamline her court cases, which she did not do.
Kouros said in her response that although she did tell the Supreme Court on Feb. 16, 2001, that such a system was installed, it was not installed until Feb. 24, 2003, more than two years later and only after repeated visits and admonitions from representatives of the high court.
She claimed in her response that the equipment could not be installed because of a wiring problem, but she did not explain why the problem took more than two years to correct and why she told the court the system was in operation when it was not.
The state provides an avenue for judges and lawyers with physical and mental problems to get help confidentially. Jablonski said he does not know why Kouros did not take advantage of this program earlier, but said it took pressure to get the judge to come forward even now.
Should she resign, she would quit short of being vested in the judicial pension plan and also would lose the county insurance, although Jablonski said the insurance was not an issue.
"She has had other job offers from inside the county and outside," he said. "That would not be a problem."
He also said the pension was not an issue.
"She wants to fight this," he said.
Burke said he believes Kouros should quit.
"The job's too big for her," he said. "Believe it or not, I feel sorry for her, and the people who really, really care for her, like her family, should be the ones urging her most strongly to step down."
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