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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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