KILLING THE COURT

This Article is a short commentary on legal community news that appeared December 2, 2016 in the NWI TIMES’ online edition and then with front page ink in the December 3, 2016 print edition. Governor Pence’s parting gift to the City of Hammond was the appointment of a City Court Judge, the Honorable Amy Jorgensen, who seemed to have zero experience practicing law. Mayor McDermott wasted no time in criticizing the appointment in harsh terms. Still, the appointment was lawful and within the Governor’s discretion. To be appointed, Amy Jorgensen needed no more than a law license, which she has. If she chooses to run for office in 2019, she will have to become a resident of Hammond. Meanwhile, she is the Judge of the Hammond City Court for the remainder of the unexpired term of the late Judge Harkin. That term expires January 1, 2020 following the municipal election in November of 2019.

While the CLB has no inside information on the Governor’s choice, published accounts speculate that the Governor’s intent was payback to Mayor McDermott for his past criticism of Pence. While that speculation may be accurate, I hope that it is not. I would prefer to hope that the Governor saw a character and intellect in his appointee that would serve her well on the bench. If, however, Judge Jorgensen is the retribution appointee, the target would seem to be Mayor McDermott. So far, Mayor McDermott has shown no awareness of his role or responsibility in the controversy.

The latest news (as of this writing) is that Mayor McDermott (also a lawyer) is determined to kill the Hammond City Court. According to the published account of December 3, 2016, part one of the planned execution is to lessen the Court’s caseload starting next month by directing HPD officers to file their cases in the Lake Superior Court County Division. Fifth District Councilman Dave Woerpel is said to be sponsoring an ordinance to accomplish the filing of new cases in a venue other than City Court. However, the Mayor has always had the power that the Councilman offers. He is the head of the executive branch of City government. The HPD is a department under the Mayor’s control. If the Mayor wants Hammond’s traffic and misdemeanor filings to go to the Lake Superior Court County Division, all he need do is send a memo to the Chief of Police. The consent or complicity of the Common Council is not required. So long as County Prosecutor Bernard Carter elects not to oppose the practice (by sending Hammond cases back to the HCC), a case taken to a County Division intake deputy will be filed in the County Division and will be prosecuted there.

While a decreased caseload will not kill the City Court, it will set the stage for the actual kill shot. The statute in question is IC 33-35-1-1 granting municipalities the authority to establish or abolish city or town courts every fourth year. 2018 is the next available year for the abolition of the Hammond City Court. Such an abolition would require an ordinance passed by the Common Council, which consists of six district members and three at-large members.

Would killing the Court by way of 2018 ordinance shorten the term of Judge Jorgensen?…NO. An abolition of the Court in 2018 would not be effective until January 1, 2020. If the Court is not abolished in 2018, there is more than a probability that a Hammond resident of the Democratic Party will be elected to the City Court bench in November of 2019. Killing the Court in response to a controversial appointment would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Will it be so bad? The Mayor can do nothing to shorten the term of Judge Jorgensen, and she can likely do nothing to retain the seat in the 2019 municipal election. Those are the facts. Judge Jorgensen has an opportunity in the meantime to become an adequate municipal jurist. We should recall that Judge Harkin seized the City Court bench by appointment (after the ascension of Judge Stefaniak to a better job). I share here my assessment that Judge Harkin was never a legal scholar and seemed not to aspire to legal scholarship. He could be fair or not. And he was suspended for misconduct in office.

Without mentioning names I can recall another Judge of the Hammond City Court temporarily suspended for misconduct. “Operation Bar Tab” miscreants (and convicts) Nick Morfas and Stephen Goot both had jobs in the City Court at one time. Most of the close attention to law that I have seen in the City Court has come from Referees as opposed to elected judges. If Judge Jorgensen still has the Referees she inherited, she should try to keep them.

If Judge Jorgensen is simply honest, if she is willingly constrained by the law, and if she commits to knowing the law through a perpetual study of it, then she will be okay. I might even miss her after the next election.