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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Ind. Decisions - "Clark County judge publicly discusses Knight case for first time"

Larry Thomas of the Clark County News and Tribune reports this afternoon that: "Nearly seven years after then-IU President Myles Brand fired basketball coach Bob Knight, a judge involved in one of the lawsuits related to Knight’s dismissal publicly discussed her role in the case for the first time." Some quotes from the two-part story:

In December 2000, Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard asked Clark Superior Court 2 Judge Cecile Blau to serve as special judge in a Monroe County suit filed by 46 IU basketball fans who claimed Brand lacked the authority to fire Knight without a vote of the IU Board of Trustees, and that Brand’s meeting with groups of trustees to discuss his decision to fire Knight on Sept. 9, 2000, represented a violation of Indiana’s open-door meetings law. * * *

During an address to the Jeffersonville Rotary Club on Tuesday at Clarksville’s Holiday Inn Lakeview, Blau recalled with some amusement the message to call Dave Remondini, Shepard’s legal counsel.

Blau said her staff puts urgent phone messages on her chair to ensure that she will see them, and that when she saw that Remondini had phoned her, she became concerned that a complaint had been filed against her.

“This call may change your life,” Blau recalled Remondini as saying.

She said Remondini told her that Shepard wanted her to serve as special judge in a case. While the appointment of special judges is a common practice in Indiana courts, Shepard is only involved in such appointments a few times a year, and those generally relate to high-profile murder or other criminal cases.

Then, Remondini told Blau about the case.

“He said, ‘It’s the Bobby Knight case.’

‘I thought, ‘Maybe a murder case would be better,’” Blau said.

When Blau accepted the assignment a day later, the first call she received — even before the case’s lawyers had been notified of her appointment — was from her son in Australia.

“Mom, you’re on ESPN,” Blau recalled her son as saying.

Check here for Part 2.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 5, 2007 06:41 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions