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Monday, February 11, 2008
Ind. Courts - "Delaware Circuit Court 3 Judge Robert Barnet Jr. has decided to call it a career"
Douglas Walker reports today in the Muncie Star-Press:
After spending nearly half his life on the bench, Delaware Circuit Court 3 Judge Robert Barnet Jr. has decided to call it a career.Barnet, 61, won't be a candidate for a sixth six-year term as judge in the May 6 Democratic primary, and will retire when his present term expires at year's end.
"I pondered it for quite a while," the judge said. "I always like to finish what I start, and I don't want to be doing this until I'm 69 years old. ... And I want to go fishing."
At age 32, the Democrat was among the youngest men to be elected Delaware County judge when he won his first term to what was then the Superior Court 1 bench in November 1978.Through an act of the Indiana Legislature, Delaware County's four Superior Courts became Circuit Courts in 2000. That move in part was to allow two incumbent judges to avoid a rule prohibiting Superior Court judges from beginning a new term after age 70.
The opportunity to remain on the bench through his golden years did not appeal to Barnet, however.
Asked about future plans, the judge said, "That's the nice part about it. I don't have any."
A former chief deputy prosecutor and public defender, Barnet said he had no plans to return to the practice of law.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 11, 2008 07:50 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts