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Friday, June 26, 2009

Ind. Courts - Two odd stories involving Indiana courts

Shawntaye Hopkins has a report in the Lexington Herald-Leader headed "Central Ky. family court judge faces misconduct charges." Some quotes:

GEORGETOWN — The state's Judicial Conduct Commission has charged a family court judge with misconduct in relation to three incidents in Scott and Woodford counties.

Family Court Judge Tamra Gormley, who was appointed in 2007 to a district that covers Scott, Woodford and Bourbon counties, is scheduled to appear in Fayette Circuit Court for a hearing at 9 a.m. Sept. 28.

The three sets of charges could result in separate or collective penalties including public or private reprimand, suspension without pay or removal or retirement from judicial office, according to documents obtained from the Judicial Conduct Commission. The commission, which investigates and reviews complaints against judges, is the only entity authorized to discipline a sitting Kentucky judge, according to state law. * * *

The commission's third charge stems from a child-custody hearing on Sept. 24, 2008 in Scott Family Court, during which a mother was in an Indiana courtroom with her attorney, and the child's paternal grandmother and paternal step-grandfather were in Gormley's court with their attorneys and with the child's father.

The commission says that not all communication was shared with the Indiana court, including instances when the people in Indiana were unaware that documents or notes were presented to the judge.

The Indiana court had audio from Scott Family Court, but no video.

The commission says that the Indiana court had continuing exclusive jurisdiction and that Gormley disregarded jurisdictional requirements by entering custody orders.

Gormley said in her response that the third charge was inaccurate. She also said that "whether the Indiana Court had or has continuing exclusive jurisdiction is clearly a matter for the Court of Appeals, not the Commission."

The response also says that Gormley had concluded before the hearing that there was no continuing Indiana jurisdiction and Kentucky could appropriately enter custody orders.

"Judge Gormley's decision was not erroneous, but if it were, it would clearly be a good-faith error of law," the response says.

Bridget Freeland has a story today in the Courthouse News Service about Hal Turner, the NJ blogger charged with murder threats to federal judges, about which the ILB had this entry yesterday. It appears from today's story that there may have been some confusion in Turner's mind between the Indiana Court of Appeals and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals - see this paragraph near the end of today's story (which I reluctantly quote):
In January this year, after an Indiana appeals court ruled that "sexual misconduct with a minor requires that the victim actually be a minor," Turner wrote: "folks in Indiana who have been planning ... for our national cleansing of government filth - scheduled for the not-so-distant future - had better go out and buy more rope. It appears we have to add 2 more judges to a list of filth that needs to 'swing,'" according to the affidavit.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 26, 2009 08:22 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts