Courtroom From Hell
The Indiana Supreme Court has removed a superior court judge from office as a result of what the court characterized as serious judicial misconduct.
The charges
…alleged mismanagement, delays, and dereliction of judicial duties on cases; display of an inappropriate demeanor, retaliation, and creation of a hostile environment for attorneys and others working in the court; failure to complete necessary paperwork and adequately train or supervise court staff, which resulted in delayed releases of defendants from jail; and failure to cooperate with members of the Marion Superior Court’s Executive Committee to address the underlying issues that led to the delayed releases.
The court approved findings of three appointed masters. Among the findings were discourteous behavior to judges and attorneys in general but
The Respondent treated public defenders even worse. The Respondent’s dissatisfaction with public defenders assigned to Court 16 began as early as 2009, when she asked supervisors in the public defender’s office to reassign two public defenders from Court 16 because, according to the Respondent, they were “too adversarial,” “extremely litigious,” and not “aiding in the movement of cases.”
And
From 2011 through 2012, the Respondent made the following derogatory comments, among others, in front of court staff. The Respondent crassly remarked about a particular deputy prosecutor’s weight on several occasions, once quipping that the deputy prosecutor “should have used that law school money and gone to Jenny Craig instead.” The Respondent expressed disbelief that one public defender had passed the bar, adding that he must have had “someone … supporting him behind the scenes” or words to that effect. She called one attorney a “moron” and another “a pain in [the] ass.” She referred to a supervisor in the public defender’s office as “evil,” “very nasty,” and “out to get certain people.” Once in 2012, after a hearing involving a public defender, she walked into her office with a court employee and asked, regarding that public defender, “Can you believe that asshole, prick, dick, and did I mention he was an asshole?”
The Respondent had a practice in Courts 16 and 7 of favoring some court employees over others and keeping at least one employee as a confidant. She told some favored employees that she was suspicious of other employees, whom she described as “disloyal,” “out to get” her, and not to be trusted. The Respondent made the following inappropriate comments, among others, to favored court employees about other employees: that one employee “wears her lesbianism on her sleeve,” one was “ghetto fabulous,” one would not have gotten her job “if it wasn’t for her daddy,” one was “classless” with a “felon” for a boyfriend and “into illegal things,” and others were “crazy,” mentally ill, or in need of increased medication. These comments made the employees who heard them uncomfortable. Whenever a favored employee disagreed with the Respondent’s views or suggested she was being overly suspicious or critical, the Respondent stopped treating that employee as a confidant and asked that employee to return the judge’s office key with which that employee had been entrusted.
The Respondent openly ignored disfavored employees, took away some of their job responsibilities, did not respond promptly to their requests for time off, and did not share information with them in advance regarding when the Respondent would be absent and other scheduling matters. The disfavored employees felt ignored, disliked, and insufficiently informed.
The court considerd and rejected arguments against removal from judicial office
Regrettably, the Respondent’s pattern of neglect, hostility, retaliation, and recalcitrance toward investigating officials indicates an unwillingness or inability on her part to remedy deficiencies, alone or with others’ assistance. And the record in the present case does reveal attempts by others to help. Most notably, the Marion Superior Court’s Executive Committee tried to assist the Respondent in addressing the problem of delayed releases from jail, but the Executive Committee’s involvement was met by the Respondent’s hostility, noncooperation, and inaccurate representation that the problem had been rectified. On other occasions, the Respondent failed to work with other court officials, clerk’s office supervisors, and a supervisor in the prosecutor’s office who offered to help locate a courtroom for a trial. And, when the Commission later attempted to gather information about cases, the Respondent failed to cooperate fully and often presented untimely, incomplete, inconsistent, or unresponsive replies.
The court did not impose sanctions against the now-former judge’s law license. (Mike Frisch)