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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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