07282004 - News Article - Court names Kouros' replacement - Former Porter judge appointed to Lake Criminal Court for indefinite amount of time

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Court names Kouros' replacement
Former Porter judge appointed to Lake Criminal Court for indefinite amount of time
NWI Times
Jul 28, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/court-names-kouros-replacement/article_41c8cf30-34c7-56ef-bdb3-9bf36067d16b.html
The Indiana Supreme Court appointed Senior Judge Thomas Webber Sr. on Tuesday to fill the Lake Criminal Court seat vacated by Judge Joan Kouros.

Webber will take the bench Monday and will remain indefinitely, according to the appointment order signed by acting Chief Justice Brent Dickson.

The Supreme Court suspended Kouros on Thursday after the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed a recommendation for her removal for not keeping up with paperwork in her court despite her promise to do so.

Kouros' suspension came six months after she returned to the bench following a six-month suspension for the same problem. The Supreme Court will determine at a later date whether to remove Kouros permanently.

Webber retired Dec. 1, 2002, from Porter Superior Court, where he served for 13 years.

He said he will meet Thursday and Friday with his new court staff and has been told to prepare to kick off a murder trial his first day on the bench.

"I guess they wanted someone who has trial experience," he said.

When he retired, Webber said he wanted to follow in the footsteps of former Porter Circuit Court Judge Raymond Kickbush and serve as a senior judge to assist and fill temporary vacancies.

It was Kickbush who filled in for Kouros during her first suspension from June 2003 until she returned to the bench in January. While in Criminal Courtroom 3, Kickbush cleaned up the backlog of cases caused by Kouros' inability to process her paperwork in a timely manner. During his tenure, prisoners were reportedly transferred from county lockup to state prison and bond money was released to lawyers expediently. Lawyers practicing in Kouros' court began complaining four years ago she was too slow in completing routine paperwork.

Kickbush testified in April before three master judges hearing evidence of Kouros' not keeping her word to the Supreme Court to send signed orders to the court clerk within 48 hours and to have no more than 80 files checked out to her court at any given time.

The commission offered reams of evidence to the masters that Kouros' court had fallen behind again. One of the masters asked Kickbush if he thought Kouros was capable of handling the volume of paperwork created in a Lake County criminal courtroom.

"I think people coming into court are entitled to justice and that involves prompt justice and anything short of that we're shortchanging not only the litigants, which are the important thing in criminal cases, but the lawyers and their families and everyone as well," Kickbush said in April.

"In short, my opinion is that I don't, bottom line, think that she can do the job. I just don't think that."

Kouros was appointed judge in 1997.

The Supreme Court first asked Kouros' fellow judges to help her improve. They said she initially refused their help.

The commission reviewed her court and found a backlog of hundreds of cases awaiting her signature on decisions made months earlier.

The high court issued warnings and detailed instructions two years ago on how to manage her paperwork. She failed to comply, and the high court suspended her for six months last year.

Kouros asked to be reinstated in October, saying she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder. The disorder caused Kouros to go over every order more times than necessary to check for mistakes. She said she was being treated for the disorder, spent her suspension time studying how to run the court more efficiently and was ready to take the bench.

The high court again issued guidelines to which Kouros agreed to follow. The Judicial Commission contended in April that Kouros' court was again in disarray and she should be removed from the bench. In response, the Supreme Court suspended Kouros with pay and will determine later whether to permanently remove her.

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07282004 - News Article - High court suspends judge with pay

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High court suspends judge with pay
Indiana Lawyer (Indianapolis, IN)
July 28, 2004
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/10E9B885771DDD00?p=AWNB
The Indiana Supreme Court has issued an order suspending Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros from the bench pending a final decision in her judicial misconduct case currently before the court.

The order was given in response to a recommendation for removal by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications. The recommendation was part of the commission's response to a masters' report that was issued June 14 following an April 22 hearing before a three-judge master's panel.

The panel, which consisted of Marion Superior Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, Allen Superior Judge John Surbeck Jr., and Vanderburgh Circuit Judge Carl Heldt, recommended that Kouros not be disbarred, but made no recommendation as to her discipline, removal, or retirement.

In response to the masters' report, the judicial qualifications commission made a series of objections to the masters' report, and recommended that Kouros be suspended with pay while the disposition of the disciplinary position is pending.

Kouros was previously suspended from the bench for about six months at the end of 2003. The commission's objections to the masters' report have to do with the fact that the report is silent on certain findings of fact and conclusions that the commission felt should be brought to bear in deciding the case.

Chief Justice Randall Shepard, who sits on the commission, did not participate in the recommendation.

Specifically, the commission noted that Kouros had a significant number more files checked out to her court on certain dates than the 80 files to which she had been limited by the high court. In addition, she on a number of occasions did not return orders on sentencings or arrest warrants to the clerk's office within 48 hours after reaching a decision. Again, the commission alleges this is a violation of the court's order.

"The Commission objects that the Masters did not also conclude that, by retaining more than 80 files and delaying the processing of the orders described previously, Judge Kouros violated Canons 1 and 2 and committed willful misconduct in office for her failure to comply with the Court's Order and with her sworn commitment to maintain compliance," the commission wrote.

In a memorandum supporting the commission's recommendation for removal, commission attorneys Meg Babcock and Thomas Carusillo note, "Since 2001, Judge Kouros has demonstrated her continued inability or unwillingness to perform the necessary functions of her office. She has failed to comply with the Court's Order of January 2003, and to fulfill the promises she made to the Court."

According to the high court's order, which was signed by Chief Justice Shepard, the admission and discipline rule states that a judicial officer must be suspended with pay while a commission recommendation for retirement or removal of that officer is pending before the Supreme Court.

"Because the Commission has made a recommendation for removal, we therefore order that Joan Kouros is suspended from the office of Judge of the Lake Superior Court, Criminal Division 3, with pay," Chief Justice Shepard writes.

The suspension was effective July 22, and will continue in effect until further order of the court. The court will appoint a judge pro tempore to the court at a later date.

Kevin McGoff, counsel to Judge Kouros, said Kouros remained on the bench until the order came from the court.

He said Kouros still plans to file an answer to the masters' report, and has until mid-August to do that.

McGoff said he has not yet formulated the answer, and so could not provide specific arguments on Kouros' behalf. However, he did say the judge will seek to be reinstated to the bench.

A decision is expected from the court by late August or early September.

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07282004 - News Article - Webber replaces ousted judge - Longtime Porter County judge appointed to replace Kouros in Lake County

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Webber replaces ousted judge 
Longtime Porter County judge appointed to replace Kouros in Lake County
Post-Tribune (IN)
July 28, 2004
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/104279A9E7F58A20?p=AWNB
Thomas W. Webber Sr., a senior Porter Superior Court judge working part-time, was appointed Tuesday as judge pro tempore for Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros.

Webber, who went on senior status in 2002, is a retired Portage police captain who earned a law degree from Valparaiso University. A Porter County judge for 13 years, Webber was appointed to complete the term of the late Judge Bruce Douglas.

His pro tem appointment in Lake County is effective Monday and remains in effect until further order of the Supreme Court, according to Dave Remondini, counsel to Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard.

For the remainder of this week, Lake County Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan said she will serve as judge pro tem in Kouros' courtroom.

Kouros, 46, was removed from the bench Thursday by the Indiana Supreme Court, with pay.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed a brief July 14 recommending her removal. The panel indicated her removal "is necessary to protect the integrity of the judicial system and to ensure the fair and timely administration of justice in her court."

Kouros' attorneys have 30 days to file a response to the judicial qualification commission's recommendation that she be removed, and the state may respond.

Kouros, who was appointed by then-Gov. Evan Bayh in January 1997, is accused of violating a January 2003 state Supreme Court order intended to end the chronic backlog of cases in her courtroom, where criminal cases are heard.

During a daylong hearing in April before a panel of judicial masters, fellow judges testified that the backlog in Kouros' court prevented the timely release of inmates from the Lake County Jail. Some cases dated back to 2001.

Judge Raymond Kickbush, who filled in for Kouros during her first suspension from the bench, testified he found a letter to the court from accused serial killer Eugene Britt of Gary in a box with old magazines and papers beneath the office fax machine. Kickbush, a retired Porter Circuit Court judge, told the judicial masters panel he thought the job was too big for Kouros.

Webber could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Kouros, a former Lake County deputy prosecutor who replaced Judge Richard Conroy after his retirement, said a combination of her battle with multiple sclerosis and an obsessive-compulsive disorder compelled her to repeatedly check her findings before issuing rulings. During her earlier suspension, she sought treatment for the obsessive-compulsive disorder and advice from various judges on courtroom management.

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07232004 - News Article - Kouros loses gavel again as justices ponder fate - Panel recommended permanent removal; judge will collect pay while sidelined

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Kouros loses gavel again as justices ponder fate
Panel recommended permanent removal; judge will collect pay while sidelined
NWI Times
Jul 23, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/kouros-loses-gavel-again-as-justices-ponder-fate/article_0f43460d-69fe-56a8-a389-dc96db7fdbc3.html
Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros is off the bench -- again.

The 15-month saga involving the controversial jurist took another turn Thursday when she was suspended with pay by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Kouros was on the bench Thursday, but will not return for court today.

The suspension stems from charges Kouros was slow in filing court documents and had too many files out at one time, creating a backlog of prisoners at the county jail. It comes six months after she was returned to the bench following a six-month suspension.

When reinstated in January, she promised to send signed orders to the court clerk within 48 hours and to have no more than 80 files checked out to her court at any given time.

The suspension comes one week and a day after the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed a response recommending her permanent removal from the bench. Once the commission recommends removal for a judge, that judge automatically is suspended with pay.

Lake County Senior Criminal Court Judge Thomas P. Stefaniak Jr. was on vacation and fellow Judge Clarence Murray spoke for his peers.

"All the judges regret it has come to this but won't question the wisdom of the Supreme Court -- it's not our place; when they speak, we answer," Murray said. "As to the future, it's in their hands. We'll carry on."

All Kouros can do now is get her response to the Judicial Qualifications recommendation to the Supreme Court by Aug. 13. Even after her response is filed, Kouros will remain suspended with pay until the Supreme Court decides whether to take her off the bench permanently or reinstate her.

Kouros' lawyer, Kevin McGoff, said he and Stanley Jablonski are working with Kouros to file her response within the 30 days after the commission's recommendation.

"The order (for suspension) comes as no particular surprise because that's how the rule operates," McGoff said. "We are prepared to file our response in a timely manner and to go forward from there."

The commission recommendation was in response to the Masters' Report on Kouros filed June 14 in which a three-judge panel declined to make a recommendation to the Supreme Court despite finding Kouros hadn't complied with agreed-on requirements on how to run her courtroom.

During the April hearing before the three-judge panel, the commission showed Kouros had more than 137 files checked out on select dates and it took weeks for some orders to be implemented.

Kouros was appointed judge in 1997. Lawyers practicing in her court began complaining four years ago she was slow in completing routine paperwork.

The Supreme Court first asked Kouros' fellow judges to help her improve. They said she initially refused their help.

The commission reviewed her court and found a backlog of hundreds of cases awaiting her signature on decisions made months earlier. Her tardiness aggravated overcrowding in the county lockup by preventing inmates from being transferred to a state prison.

The high court issued warnings and detailed instructions two years ago on how to manage her paperwork. She failed to comply, and the high court suspended her for six months last year. Raymond Kickbush, a retired judge from Porter County, said he had to work hard to return her court to normalcy.

Kouros admitted in her October request to be returned to the bench that her obsessive-compulsive disorder prevents her from performing routine jobs without excessive deliberation.

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07232004 - News Article - Kouros removed from bench - State Supreme Court seals fate of Lake County judge with unanimous ruling

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Kouros removed from bench 
State Supreme Court seals fate of Lake County judge with unanimous ruling
Post-Tribune (IN)
July 23, 2004
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/1044530632C8BF7A?p=AWNB
The state Supreme Court officially suspended Lake County Judge Joan Kouros pending their review of her case.

Kouros' fate had been sealed by an administrative rule that required her suspension, with pay, once the Indiana Judicial Nomination Commission filed its brief last week, recommending she be removed from the bench.

Without a successful appeal through the same legal system that removed her, Kouros' judicial career essentially has ended.

Her court had remained open until the official order. The high court handed down its unanimous decision Thursday afternoon.

"It comes as no surprise. The court really had no alternative," said Kevin McGoff, her attorney in Indianapolis.

In the next 30 days, Kouros is expected to file a response to the judicial qualification commission's recommendation that she be removed. The state then has the right to respond.

McGoff estimated that the earliest the high court could take up the case would be early September.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court will appoint a judge pro tem to run her court. Until the appointment, the Lake County Superior Court will be in charge of appointing someone to keep her court operating, said Dave Remondini, council to chief justice Randall Shepard.

 Court records show that since 1992, four Indiana judges have either been removed by the state Supreme Court or resigned during investigation. The last judge to be removed from the bench was Vigo County Judge William C. McClain in 1996.

During a daylong hearing in April, Kouros, 46, said she began seeking treatment for an obsessive-compulsive disorder during her suspension. She maintained her battle with multiple sclerosis and an obsessive-compulsive disorder compelled her to check and re-check her findings before issuing rulings.

Kouros, a former deputy prosecutor, said she would stay nights and weekends to grapple with the increasing backlog.

During the same hearing before a group of three judicial masters appointed by the Supreme Court, Judge Pro Tem Raymond Kickbush, who filled in for Kouros during her imposed absence, testified against her. He found a letter to the court from accused serial killer Eugene Britt stuffed with old magazines and papers in a box beneath the office fax machine.

Kickbush told the panel of masters that he thought the job was too big for Kouros.

Kouros was forced to go through the formal hearing process after the Supreme Court rejected an earlier agreement worked out between the judge and the judicial qualifications commission. That deal would have allowed her to remain on the bench.

The masters recommended in June that she retain her law license but made no recommendation on whether she should be removed from the bench.

In its eight-page recommendation to the court, the judicial qualifications commission said "(Kouros') removal is necessary to protect the integrity of the judicial system and to ensure the fair and timely administration of justice in her court."

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07222004 - News Article - Supreme Court suspends Judge Kouros

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Supreme Court suspends Judge Kouros
NWI Times
Jul 22, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/supreme-court-suspends-judge-kouros/article_4019365e-ce7a-5db8-8d82-066bc3079e04.html
Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard signed an Indiana Supreme Court order today suspending Lake Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros with pay.

It was an immediate suspension.

Kouros was on the bench today, but will not return for court Friday.

The suspension comes one week and a day after the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed its response to the Masters' Report on Kouros recommending her permanent removal from the bench. It cited a judicial Admission and Discipline rule stating that once the Judicial Qualification Commission recommends removal for a judge, that judge is to be suspended with pay.

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07162004 - News Article - Commission recommends judge's removal - Judicial committee also requests suspension for Joan Kouros; she plans to fight

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Commission recommends judge's removal
Judicial committee also requests suspension for Joan Kouros; she plans to fight
NWI Times
Jul 16, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/commission-recommends-judge-s-removal/article_7c8c60a6-cb8b-5bda-998c-73c30d0130b4.html
*Judge Joan Kouros held court Thursday despite the latest volley fired in the battle to oust her.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed a recommendation late Wednesday that Kouros be permanently removed from the Lake County Criminal Court bench.

Until the state Supreme Court makes that decision, the commission asked the state's highest jurists to follow their own rule and suspend Kouros with pay.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, the court had not ordered Kouros suspended.

Kouros' lawyer, Kevin P. McGoff, said they will definitely file a response within the allotted 30 days.

"Her (Kouros') attitude is we need to get our response to the court so the ultimate arbiter of the matter can make its decision," McGoff said.

However, nothing in the rule states the court must wait for Kouros' response before suspending her, McGoff said.

"The rule reads 'the court shall issue an order suspending a judge with pay once a recommendation for removal is made,' " he said.

The commission recommendation is in response to the Masters' Report on Kouros filed last month in which a three-judge panel declined to make a recommendation to the Supreme Court despite finding Kouros hadn't complied with agreed-upon requirements on how to run her courtroom.

In October, when Kouros asked to be returned to the bench after a six-month suspension she promised to get signed orders to the clerk within 48 hours and to have no more than 80 files checked out to her court at any given time.

During the April hearing before the three-judge panel, the Judicial Qualifications Commission showed Kouros had upwards of 137 files checked out on select dates and it took weeks for some orders to be implemented.

"Unfortunately, this case is about far more than the administrative failures," the judicial commission states in the seven-page memorandum supporting the 41-page removal recommendation.

"It is about Judge Kouros' lack of trustworthiness. ... In light of the Masters' conclusions that Judge Kouros not only continually neglected her duties but defied a Supreme Court Order and was dishonest with the Court, removal is necessary to protect the integrity of the judiciary."

Kouros was appointed judge in 1997. Lawyers practicing in her court began complaining four years ago she was slow in completing routine paperwork.

The Supreme Court first asked Kouros' fellow judges to help her improve. They said she initially refused their help.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission reviewed her court and found a backlog of hundreds of cases awaiting her signature on decisions made months earlier. Her tardiness aggravated overcrowding in the county lockup by preventing inmates from being transferred to a state prison.

The high court issued warnings and detailed instructions two years ago on how to manage her paperwork. She failed to comply, and the high court suspended her for six months last year. Raymond Kickbush, a retired judge from Porter County, said he had to work hard to return her court to normalcy.

Kouros admitted in her October request to be returned to the bench her obsessive-compulsive disorder prevents her from performing routine jobs without excessive deliberation. The high court reinstated her in January, but the evidence indicates Kouros has apparently fallen into the old pattern.

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07162004 - News Article - What's ahead in Kouros case?

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What's ahead in Kouros case?
NWI Times
Jul 16, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/mark-kiesling/what-s-ahead-in-kouros-case/article_ee46d8bf-5a1d-593c-b27b-304518c33582.html
While a panel of judges assigned to investigate allegations against Lake County Criminal Court Judge Joan Kouros wimped out, the state's Commission on Judicial Qualifications did not.

The three-judge panel of masters who investigated Kouros in April made no recommendation at all despite concluding she was unable to administer justice in a timely manner and had lied to the Indiana Supreme Court about it.

But Commission Counsel Meg Babcock, in her no-nonsense recommendation filed Wednesday, said Kouros could not be trusted and was making a mockery of the judiciary.

She recommended her removal and immediate suspension with pay. There was none of the wishy-washy legalese that characterized the report by the panel of masters.

Babcock noted maybe the most significant omission by the masters: The opinion of former Porter Superior Court Judge Raymond Kickbush's testimony before them in April.

Kickbush sat in for Kouros during an earlier suspension and his testimony is that of a respected veteran who believes justice did not operate in Kouros' court:

"I believe the operation of (Kouros' court), from what I've seen, even on the tail end, is too big a job for Joan Kouros. I'm concerned. I think people coming into court are entitled to justice and what involves prompt justice, and I think anything short of that we're shortchanging not only the litigants, which are the most important things in criminal cases, but the lawyers and their families and everyone else as well. In short, my opinion is that I don't, bottom line, think that she can do her job. I just don't think that."

During Kouros' suspension she would again be replaced by an interim judge, and who is named will say a lot about what's going to happen.

If a Democrat steps in, could there be pressure to cover for Kouros, to say she had cleaned up her court?

Former Porter Superior Court Judge Thomas Webber Jr.? Susan Severtson, wife of former state Democratic Chairman Peter Manous and now hearing officer for the workers' compensation board in Lake County?

Kouros is the daughter of East Chicago Councilman Gus Kouros, a longtime ally of East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick, and was named to the bench by former Gov. Evan Bayh, who has been friends all his life with the Pastricks and is now a U.S. senator.

How long a judge serves will also be a tip on what's ahead for Kouros. If the judge commits to a month, look for her to be back on the bench. A commitment through the end of the year allows for her removal and time for Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan to name a replacement before his term ends Dec. 31.

Looking beyond that, if Kouros can drag this out until the spring, she will put herself in position to resign and begin drawing a pension.

And if there is anything Kouros knows how to do, it's drag a case out.

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07162004 - News Article - EDITORIALS - Time to slam gavel down on judge - The issue: Joan Kouros

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EDITORIALS - Time to slam gavel down on judge
The issue: Joan Kouros
NWI Times
Jul 16, 2004
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/time-to-slam-gavel-down-on-judge/article_ef0f1ba8-93ee-5ed2-9142-bcd0e48ce344.html
Our opinion: If she cannot do the job, she should not be on the bench.

The state Judicial Qualifications Commission wants Lake Superior Judge Joan Kouros off the bench for not doing her job. Again. Still.

The backlog of cases in her courtroom remains, the commission argued in urging the Indiana Supreme Court to remove her. The commission urged a 30-day suspension until the high court rules.

The pattern by the judge is unacceptable and a flagrant disregard for the judicial system in Lake County.

Kouros now has 30 days to reply to the commission.

Surely, it should not take her that long to compose her reply. After all, she knows the routine. She was suspended for six months last year for the same reason -- poor management skills and behavior problems, which led to huge case backlogs and other problems.

She has blamed her problems on mental and physical ailments, for which she said she has sought treatment.

State statute says that once the commission, which prosecutes judicial misconduct, recommends dismissal, the judge must be suspended with pay pending the Supreme Court's final decision, said Meg Babcock, commission counsel.

Ultimately, it is up to the Supreme Court whether to remove her from the bench.

A tenet of the court system is that it acts in a timely, fair manner to dispense justice.

If Kouros, who was named to the bench in 1977 by then-Gov. Evan Bayh, cannot do so, she should not be on the bench.

The justices should heed what the commission said in urging the suspension.

"Her removal is necessary to protect the integrity of the judicial system and to ensure the fair and timely administration of justice in her court," the commission wrote in its eight-page recommendation.

This problem has been going on since 2001. It is time to solve the problem. After the suspension, she must be removed.

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07152004 - News Article - Commission suspends Kouros - State Supreme Court will rule on her permanent removal from bench

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Commission suspends Kouros 
State Supreme Court will rule on her permanent removal from bench
Post-Tribune (IN)
July 15, 2004
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/104068FAC0BF59F0?p=AWNB
Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros will be removed from the bench, pending a final decision by the state Supreme Court.

Her second suspension with pay will be in response to a brief filed Wednesday by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications, which acts as prosecutors in cases of misconduct by attorneys and judges.

The commission's prosecutors recommend that the judge be removed for violating a January 2003 Supreme Court order designed to end the chronic backlog in her court.

The commission filed its brief with the Supreme Court just prior to the deadline under the statute. It had to respond within 30 days of the decision of the panel of master judges, which made no recommendation on whether Kouros should be removed or forced to retire.

State statute says that once the commission recommends dismissal, the judge must be suspended with pay pending a final decision by the Supreme Court, said Meg Babcock, commission counsel.

"Her removal is necessary to protect the integrity of the judicial system and to ensure the fair and timely administration of justice in her court," the commission wrote in its eight-page recommendation to the high court.

Kouros was first suspended by the state Supreme Court in June 2003 for a pattern of abuses that revolved around allowing case records to pile up in her courtroom; she returned to the bench in January.

At a 10-hour hearing in April before a panel of judicial masters, fellow judges testified that the backlog in Kouros' court, which dated back to 2001, had prevented the timely release of inmates from the Lake County Jail.

Judge Pro Tem Raymond Kickbush, who filled in for Kouros during her imposed absence, testified that he found a letter to the court from accused serial killer Eugene Britt that was stuffed with old magazines and papers in a box beneath the office fax machine. Kickbush told the panel of masters that he thought the job was too big for Kouros.

Kouros' attorney Kevin McGoff said the commission's recommendation was not unexpected. In March, the Supreme Court had rejected an earlier agreement worked out between the judge and the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Kouros is expected to be in her courtroom today, waiting an official suspension order from the high court. McGoff said he expected the order would be issued quickly, though it could be months before the Supreme Court issues a final decision on Kouros' future as a jurist.

"The court rules when it rules. There is no way to predict," McGoff said.

A final decision isn't expected for at least 30 days because Kouros has that much time to file her response to the Supreme Court.

Gov. Evan Bayh appointed Kouros as judge in January 1997, in one of his last acts as Indiana governor. She replaced retiring Judge Richard Conroy.

Kouros, 46, has maintained that a combination of her battle with multiple sclerosis and an obsessive-compulsive disorder compelled her to check and re-check her findings before issuing rulings. A, a former deputy prosecutor, said she would stay nights and weekends to grapple with the increasing backlog.

During Kouros' suspension, she began treatment for the obsessive-compulsive disorder, and sought advice from judges around the state on courtroom management.

In June, the panel of masters found substantial problems with Kouros' court, but did not make a recommendation to the Supreme Court on whether to remove her from the bench.

After she returned from her first paid suspension in January, Kouros was under an order from the Supreme Court to return all case files within 48 hours. Investigators for the Judicial Qualifications Commission found between January and March 40 sentencing orders had been delayed by at least six days. Some orders had been delayed by weeks. They found 30 orders were signed but not processed or remained unsigned for long periods, according to their findings.

"Unfortunately, this case is about far more than administrative failures. It is about Judge Kouros' trustworthiness," the brief stated.

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