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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Retiring Clark County judges were tough but caring"

The Louisville Courier Journal has a column today by Dale Moss that begins:

Cecile Blau and Steve Fleece lock up criminals. Not many judges in Indiana do it more often.

They can throw the book like Peyton Manning throws the football.

Blau and Fleece leave the Clark County bench at year's end, though, proud to distinguish bad people from bad choices. Being tough mattered less than being fair. Judging is part social work, or it should be.

Blau and Fleece set up surely enduring programs less to punish people than to help them. These Superior Court judges survived politically, nonetheless. They retire, instead of being retired by voters.

Steve Stewart, the county prosecutor, agrees Blau and Fleece are right not to mete out justice as if they were cutting cookies. "It's a misconception that you can't be tough and caring at the same time," Stewart said.

Their backgrounds reflect the approach of Fleece and Blau on the bench. Fleece studied awhile to be a Roman Catholic priest and worked in the Clark welfare office when he went to law school. Blau was in the Peace Corps and then taught and coached at Providence High School.

The column ends:
Neither Blau nor Fleece signs off on all plea bargains. Each is known to add to sentences more than to reduce them. To assume them softies is to underestimate their determination to do whatever is right.

"It was a rare case I didn't think (the adjudication of) was harsh enough," Stewart said.

Blau, 63, and Fleece, 58, both seek the status of senior judge, which will allow them to fill in. They look forward to more family time -- especially a treat for Blau, whose four grandchildren live overseas. Not yet ready to kick back, the judges are open to new opportunities and grateful for the ones that came their way.

"The county can be proud of this crop of judges, I think," Blau said.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 23, 2008 12:37 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts