Hammond City Court Judge Jeffrey Harkin passed away April 22, 2016, two days after publication of his appointment of a special judge and one day after my posted Article analyzing that action. While I speculated what might follow a prolonged disability, my speculation was rendered moot by death and the consequent vacancy in the Office of Hammond City Court Judge. The temporary appointment of Gerald Kray as special judge appears to have expired with Judge Harkin’s passing. The Indiana Supreme Court is expected to name a judge pro tempore to serve until Governor Pence fills the vacancy by appointment. It is presently unclear (to me) whether a special election will follow after Governor Pence’s appointment or whether the appointee will serve the entire unexpired term of Judge Harkin. Without a special election, the electorate would not have a voice in the matter until 2019 when the next scheduled municipal elections will take place.
Now for my unsolicited advice to Governor Pence. Your appointee to the Hammond City Court bench should be selected with little regard to politics. The Lake County Republican Party Chairman is likely to submit one name in nomination. Whoever owns that name may or may not be qualified by experience, knowledge of the law, and temperament. If your appointee is not so qualified, there will be no likely consequences for you while defendants and civil litigants in Hammond suffer. An appointee to the bench having (limited) criminal jurisdiction should be a true believer in the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendment rights (applicable to the States) tempering the power of the State in favor of individual liberties and due process in criminal prosecutions. I note that Lake County Sheriff was quoted as calling the late Judge Harkin a “friend” to law enforcement. I would prefer to be tried by a judge who is respected by law enforcement but less cherished by law enforcement. I urge you, Governor Pence, to withhold appointment of any nominee who lacks commitment to impartiality on the bench. Finally, the next judge of the Hammond City Court should be a perpetual student of the law with an appreciation for that which is new, nuanced, or complex. No trial court judge should be bewildered by a three-step argument or loathe to refer to a well-worn Indiana Code beside him. Please, Governor Pence, insist on quality.
Consider, if you will, the cautionary tale of the late James J. Krajewski beginning with the indictment of the disgraced and disgraceful Judge Orval Anderson who was suspended from his bench on the Lake County Court (n/k/a Lake Superior Court County Division) on the occasion of his federal indictment. Barely more than two years after his admission to practice in late 1983, Krajewski was the (unlikely?) interim appointee of the Indiana Supreme Court to Anderson’s seat. Following Anderson’s conviction, Republican Governor Bob Orr followed suit and appointed Krajewski to the judgeship for Anderson’s unexpired term. Apart from his short-term experience as an interim appointee of the Indiana Supreme Court, Krajewski’s most obvious “qualification” at the time of Governor Orr’s appointment was the circumstance of being the nephew of Lake County Republican Party Chairman Joe Kotso. Though gifted with a fair intellect, Krajewski lacked the maturity and temperament to administer his court. Two of three fired public defenders won their political firing suits against Krajewski. The political firing litigation (sadly but not surprisingly) included a finding of contempt in the U.S. District Court for Krajewski’s violation of an order of reinstatement of the fired pubic defenders. When the County balked at paying the judgments rendered personally against Krajewski, his inelegant response was that he refused to be “the first” Lake County office-holder to pay such personal judgment from his personal funds. On the bench Krajewski exhibited the distracting desperation (and then anger) of a judge fated to lose his seat in the next partisan election. The electorate failed in choosing the corrupt Orval Anderson. The Indiana Supreme Court and Governor Orr failed in choosing James J. Krajewski. Governor Pence, you have the opportunity to choose more wisely by weighing qualifications over politics.
Addendum. My best guess is that Governor Pence is not a reader of the Calumet Law Blog. Accordingly, I will email a message to Governor Pence with a link to the Calumet Law Blog and to this Article.
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