Lake County got the chance to hear from applicants seeking to be the next Superior Court judge.
The vacancy was created when Judge Stephen Scheele was appointed to the Indiana Court of Appeals. The Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission is tasked with choosing a pool of five applicants for Governor Mike Braun to choose from. In this case, it didn't have to narrow down the list, since only five people applied, but the commission publicly interviewed the applicants Friday, as required by law.
Many of them highlighted the need for efficiency in the court system. Lake Superior Court Magistrate Katherine Garza said she's sped up proceedings in her courtroom.
"When I first took over my current courtroom, the wait time for an initial hearing was six to nine months," Garza told commission members. "With the help of my staff and the use of technology, we were able to shorten that to a two-month wait time for an initial hearing."
Attorney Angela Jones said cases often take far too long. Specifically, she pointed to the discovery process. "Why don't we have a uniform discovery practice?" Jones asked. "You have an auto accident, here's your generic discovery. You have a slip and fall, here's your generic discovery. Instead, we spend so much time doing written discovery and slowing down with depositions."
Some also discussed the importance of fairness, especially if litigants are representing themselves. Lake Superior Court Magistrate Shaun Olsen said he tries to make sure everyone knows the rules.
"I've had people come in, and they are expecting some angry person on a bench who might start yelling at them if things go bad or whatever. I don't want them to feel that way," Olsen said. "I want them to feel like they had the opportunity to come in, tell me what they wanted me to hear, and I'm going to make an honest decision based on what I've heard, applying that against the law."
Some applicants discussed their own temperament. Indiana Board of Tax Review Administrative Law Judge Natasha Ivancevich said she's grown and matured, in the years since what she acknowledged was a contentious exit from the prosecutor's office.
"Now, on the bench, if something frustrates me, I know, take a deep breath, just relax and calm down," Ivancevich said. "They're not necessarily frustrated with me. They're frustrated at the situation."
Lake Circuit Court Referee Daniel Burke Jr. was asked which part of the Constitution held the most resonance for him. He chose the First Amendment. "Without it, we lose so much of what makes America separate and different from the rest of the world where that is not an unabridgeable right: to associate with those of like mind, to publish the news even when it goes against the sitting government, or to speak freely," Burke said.
The commission formally voted to nominate all five candidates for the governor to review. While chairperson and Indiana Supreme Court Justice Mark Massa said state statute doesn't appear to allow the commission to rank nominees, member Alfredo Estrada argued that the commission is allowed to establish reasonable rules.
"This is the one time Lake County gets a voice in deciding our judges — that's all I'm saying — the one time we get our voice," Estrada said.
Estrada's motion to amend the rules to allow the commission to rank the nominees failed by a vote of four-to-three. Massa offered to include individual members' rankings with his evaluation, but Estrada opted to write to the governor himself. Governor Braun now has 60 days to make a selection.
