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Thursday, January 20, 2005

Ind. Courts - Reports on yesterday's State of the Judiciary

Two good reports in the papers today on Chief Justice Shepard's State of the Judiciary address to the Indiana General Assembly, each focusing on a different section of the remarks. (Access the address here.)

"Shepard urges overhaul of court system" is the headline to this AP story by Charles Wilson, published today in the Louisville Courier Journal. Some quotes:

The state's courts need to be restructured to ensure that people receive equitable treatment regardless of where their case is filed, Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard said yesterday.

Indiana's judicial organization has not changed much in 100 years, Shepard said in his annual State of the Judiciary speech to the General Assembly. "Somebody who came in and looked at the table of our court organization in 1905 would feel right at home (today)," he said. * * *

The chief justice said the state's 19th century framework works "OK" but is far from ideal. The traditional structure results in dramatic differences in caseloads from one court to another. And uneven caseloads result in uneven treatment for people who must go to court to solve their problems, Shepard said.

"Imagine two women who file for divorce in the same courthouse on the same day, both needing an order for temporary child support," he said. "One gets an order quickly because she's in a court that isn't very busy, and the other waits for weeks because she's in a court that's overloaded."

One remedy would be to restructure local courthouses so judges share responsibility for all the cases filed there — something some larger urban courts already have done, Shepard said. Under the current system that most counties use, certain judges in each county are assigned certain types of cases, from small claims to lawsuits to criminal trials.

The shift to joint responsibility is evolving slowly, he said in an interview after his speech. Shepard also said the Supreme Court next week will change the way senior judges are assigned to help local courts focus on relieving the most overburdened courts.

The state already has moved to improve the way paper documents are handled, Shepard said, and the Supreme Court is working on a computerized system for tracking the nearly 2 million new cases filed each year. Officials also are working on allowing courts and other agencies — such as state police and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles — to share information electronically.

"Chief jurist lauds change in jury pools: Counties can't rely only on voter rolls," is the headline to this story by Richard Walton today in the Indianaplis Star. Some quotes:
Hoosiers who don't register to vote to avoid jury duty now face performing their civic duty, Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard said Wednesday.Shepard, speaking to a joint session of the Indiana General Assembly in his annual State of the Judiciary address, said the high court is expanding the pool from which potential jurors are drawn.

Calling it "a terrible fact" that some people refrain from voting to get out of jury service, Shepard said the Supreme Court already has required counties to choose jurors from more than just voter rolls.

Shepard said there now are plans to provide every county with names and addresses from agencies such as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Indiana Department of Revenue. Breaking the historic link between jury service and voting is not just good for the jury system by making it more representative, Shepard said, "it will be good for democracy." * * *

[Shepard cited another jury reform:] A Supreme Court rule that took effect this month ended the longtime practice of judges admonishing jurors not to speak about a case among themselves during recesses and other breaks. He called that instruction contrary to the way people normally arrive at judgments. "That's not the way grown-ups make important decisions," Shepard said. "We talk about it with each other as we go along."

In an interview, he said jurors will be told they can discuss the case with one another but to withhold a final judgment until all the evidence is in. He said he is confident jurors "can be completely trusted to keep in their minds that they haven't heard the whole story yet."

Other recent jury system reforms also have been put in place, Shepard said. Among these is the requirement that judges instruct jurors that they have a right to ask questions of witnesses who have been screened by the judge. They've long had that right, Shepard added -- "they just didn't know it."

Another change gives judges an additional option when juries report they are deadlocked on a verdict. Before, the judge could send jurors back to deliberate in the dim hope of a breakthrough or declare a costly mistrial. Now, the judge may ask the jury what is causing the impasse, then give lawyers on both sides equal time to address those issues. The result, Shepard said, has been fewer mistrials.

The jury reforms came from a judicial committee headed by Ernest Yelton, a former Clay Circuit judge who recently accepted the post of executive director of the Indiana Gaming Commission.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 20, 2005 08:19 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts