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Thursday, January 19, 2006

Ind. Courts - News on Howard County Judges Hopkins and Jessup

From the Kokomo Perspective today, a fairly lengthy story by Lisa Fipps headlined "Judges asked me to give up criminal cases: Superior Court II judge under fire for bond policy; other judges say it contributes to jail overcrowding issue." It begins:

It’s not surprising that the creation of Superior Court IV caused drastic changes for the new judge, George Hopkins. But Superior Court II Judge Stephen Jessup was surprised by the changes it created for him: His criminal caseload has been drastically reduced.

And he thinks the reason why is because he sets high bonds for criminals.

For about the past month, Jessup has started setting lower bonds - which comes none too soon for the other three judges, Jessup alleges.

“I’ve been getting pressure from the coordinating committee ... concerning jail overcrowding,” Jessup said.

He said he was told that by setting high bonds he was contributing to overcrowding at the jail because those who couldn’t pay the bonds had to sit in cells while they awaited trail.

Superior Court I Judge William Menges said, “There was a period of time when there were more people in the jail out of Superior II than Circuit and Superior I combined.”

“As far as the jail numbers, ... it’s been a real concern,” Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray said.

“I had more than the other courts of people in jail awaiting trial,” Jessup admits.

Because of that, Jessup contends, “Menges came into this office and said they were of the opinion I should give up criminal jurisdiction, and I told him no, in no uncertain terms.” By “they” Jessup refers to Menges, Murray and Superior Court III Judge Doug Tate.

And that was just the beginning ...

The Perspective also has a story today about the new judge - also by Lisa Fipps, the piece is titled "Here comes the judge: George Hopkins reflects on transition from law practice to bench." Some quotes:
From the time Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed George Hopkins to the Superior Court IV bench, he prepared himself to be judge. He wasn't prepared for one thing, though: leaving his law office.

“When I left my office and shut the door for the final time, I thought, 'This is the last day I'll practice law,' and that kind of gets to you,” he said, standing in his chambers.

But the changes have also been exciting, giving Hopkins a chance to realize a dream.

“It's one of those things that is such an important thing in a life,” Hopkins said, trying to find words to describe how he felt donning the black robe for the swearing-in ceremony. “You realize the awesome responsibility at that point.” * * *

Hopkins said, “One of the things I tried to do … was I sat down with each of the judges individually and talked to them about the number of questions I had about how they handled things.” They were all “very forthcoming” and “very helpful,” he said.

“The whole goal was to be in operation at 8 o'clock on Friday (Jan. 6) morning, and we met that goal,” Hopkins said.

Superior IV is a court of general jurisdiction, just like the other courts. There's a schedule to distribute cases. So the first criminal cases didn't start trickling in until Jan. 16.

“I don't think there's going to be a mass transfers into the court,” Hopkins said. So, to date, his docket has been light. “Quiet,” “slow,” that's how he describes it. “But that's not unexpected. It's going to be a gradual speed up.”

In the meantime, Hopkins has to get used to one thing: being called judge.

“It takes a while,” he said, adding that whenever he hears someone say judge, “I keep looking around. I wonder what judge walked in behind me.”

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 19, 2006 09:37 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts