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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Ind. Courts - Marion County Judge Hawkins, Master Commissioner Broyles charged by Disciplinary Commission

Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 16th, quoting from a Jon Murray report in the Indianapolis Star about Harold David Buntin, who "served 13 years for a rape that DNA evidence proved he didn’t commit," including two year after a judge had cleared him: "Now Buntin, 38, is suing Marion Superior Court for mishandling the May 2005 ruling that should have set him free but instead sat inside his file in storage, unseen by nearly anyone," the story continued. More from the Jan. 16th story:

“Somebody should be held accountable,” he said. “I lose 11 years of my life over something I didn’t ever do, and you turn around and cheat me out of two more years? * * *

His wrongful detention lawsuit against Criminal Court 5, filed Friday in Marion Superior Court’s civil division, also names the clerk, the county and the state of Indiana as defendants. His lawsuit against Rader has been pending since August.

Judge Grant Hawkins, who presides in Court 5, declined to comment Tuesday, and a phone message left at the office of the city’s attorney, the corporation counsel, was not returned. Rader also did not return a message.

When Hawkins ordered Buntin’s release in April, he apologized.

He and Master Commissioner Nancy L. Broyles, who had issued the 2005 ruling, explained in a written notice at the time that the decision was never entered into the court’s record or sent to the defendant or prosecutors. Either a bailiff failed to follow handwritten instructions, the notice says, or a deputy clerk did not fulfill her duties. * * *

After a court hearing in early 2005, [Buntin] waited for Broyles’ ruling. And waited.
He wrote at least five letters to the court, the lawsuits say, and more to his attorney. When Rader responded, Buntin said, she urged patience. Family members called the court, but the computer system showed there had been no ruling yet.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Buntin said, and he remembered thinking: “This doesn’t make no sense, like there’s some kind of conspiracy. This shouldn’t happen. … I was exonerated by DNA.”

Finally, Buntin filed a “lazy judge” complaint, prompting Hawkins and Broyles to review the case and retrieve the file from court archives.

This afternoon reporter Murray has posted this story, headed "Judge, aide face inquiry over delay in freeing inmate." Some quotes:
Disciplinary charges have been filed against a Marion Superior Court judge and a commissioner who presided over the case of a man who was exonerated of rape, but not released for two years.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed notice in the Indiana Supreme Court Wednesday of 11 charges against Judge Grant Hawkins and 10 charges against Master Commissioner Nancy L. Broyles.

The disciplinary action, which could take several months to resolve, could result in punishment ranging from reprimand to suspension without pay to removal from office. The disciplinary process allows Hawkins and Broyles 20 days to file an answer to the charges, then could be forwarded to panels of three active or retired judges who will recommend sanctions to the Supreme Court. * * *

The disciplinary notices say Hawkins and Broyles were unable to explain some of the delays. They also question whether Broyles actually signed the order in May 2005, since the order issued in March 2007 was newly revised, but dated May 20, 2005, with no copy remaining of the original order.

The charges "allege delay and dereliction of their duties as the judicial officers responsible for Harold D. Buntin's post-conviction case and as the judicial officers responsible for providing reliable and timely information about the court's delay in the Buntin case."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 10, 2008 01:49 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts