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Friday, November 07, 2008

Ind. Courts - Panel recommends Marion County Superior Court Judge Grant W. Hawkins removal

First, here is the 70-page "Master's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Recommendations to the Supreme Court," in the matter of The Honorable Grant W. Hawkins, Judge of the Marion Superior Court.

Start reading on p. 57 for the Master's conclusions on each of the 11 Counts. Page 62 begins the Recommendation of Sanction:

There is one glaring detail the Masters cannot set aside in recommendation a sanction in this case: Judge Hawkins' failure to discharge his judicial duties properly resulted in Mr. Buntin's spending almost two unnecessary years in prison.
On p. 64:
This matter is seriously complicated by Judge Hawkins' response to the Commission's investigation, including the information he gave to the Commission, which later proved to be incorrect; the missing order, disk, letters from the Buntin file; and the lack of any coherent explanation for what happened to the Buntin file and how it somehow appeared on a diesk on March 6, 2007.
From p. 67:
The Masters strongly believe Judge Hawkins owed Mr. Buntin, the Commission, and the public an accurate and complete accounting of what happened in the Buntin case, what exactly caused the almost two year delay in ruling, and we strongly believe they are still entitled to that explanation today. We do not find that Judge Hawkins has provided that accounting.

The Masters have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the failure to correct the misrepresentations promptly and the failure to offer an accurate and complete accounting for what happened in the Buntin case is the same as Judge Hawkins' deliberately setting out to deceive the Commission and the public. The loss of public confidence in our judiciary from the delayed rulings, then the failure to release Mr. Buntin from prison immediately, then the misinformation given as to the circumstances which caused the delay, causes the Masters to conclude that the appropriate sanction in this case is removal.

We reach these conclusions with great regret and after much thought and do not make this recommendation lightly. As trial judges, we know too well how difficult our jobs are, how many demands we have on our time and attention, and how easy it is to make mistakes. The Masters believe, however, the mistakes made in this case were so critical, the loss of liberty so significant, and the Judge's response so lacking, that we as trial judges would not carry out our duty as Masters unless we called for a significant sanction.

In October Hawkins' former Master Commissioner Nancy L. Broyles was "PERMANENTLY BANNED from serving in any judicial capacity of any kind, including service as a judge pro tempore." See ILB entries from Oct. 10 and Oct. 11.

For background, see a long list of ILB entries here.

The story originates with an April 24, 2007 Indianapolis Star report headed "Indy man is angry that '05 order for his release was wrongly put in storage" and another, from Jan. 16, 2008, headed "Cleared of rape, Indy man sues over delay in prison release."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 7, 2008 11:04 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts