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City by the Lake.org, The Voice of Michigan City, Indiana _ City Talk _ Jennifer Evans found "not guilty" in her case
Posted by: Tom Burns Dec 24 2008, 07:16 AM
Investigation underway, few details. We are updating report as more becomes available.
Posted by: southsider2k7 Dec 24 2008, 07:47 AM
Wow. We are praying she is OK!
Posted by: Tom Burns Dec 24 2008, 09:02 AM
QUOTE(southsider2k7 @ Dec 24 2008, 07:47 AM) 
Wow. We are praying she is OK!
She is apparently out of danger. We kept hearing about this including from CitybytheLake folk but it was difficult to get confirmation and we did not want to be premature.
Posted by: JHeath Dec 24 2008, 09:24 AM
Oh my...my thoughts are with her.
Posted by: eric.hanke Dec 24 2008, 09:47 AM
From WSBT - http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/36668169.html
QUOTE
LAPORTE — A deputy LaPorte County prosecutor who has worked on some of the county's biggest trials was shot early Tuesday morning.
County Prosecutor Robert Beckman confirmed to WSBT News that Jennifer Evans was shot in her home.
Beckman would not release any other information, saying only Evans' injuries are not life threatening.
Evans is married, but Beckman would not say whether her husband was home at the time of the shooting.
Evans worked on the Richard Dobeski child pornography case and helped prosecute the Kathy Phillips murder trial.
In November, she was elected to be the judge of Superior Court 3.
Posted by: southsider2k7 Dec 24 2008, 03:27 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=19884
QUOTE
Husband says wife's shooting accidental
Deputy Prosecutor Evans grazed in head
LAPORTE, Ind. (AP) - A LaPorte County deputy prosecutor who was elected as a judge last month accidentally shot herself while handling a gun she didn't think was loaded, her husband said.
Jennifer Evans, 34, was grazed in the head by the shot late Monday at her home, her husband, Stephan, told WNDU-TV on Wednesday. She remained hospitalized, but was expected to return home soon, he said.
LaPorte city police referred all questions about the shooting to county Prosecutor Rob Beckman. A message seeking comment was left Wednesday at Beckman's office by The Associated Press.
On Tuesday, Beckman would only disclose that Evans had been shot and that her injuries were not life-threatening. He declined to give any additional details.
Evans was elected in November as a Superior Court judge in the county just west of South Bend after handling many of the county's highest-profile cases in recent years.
In the past year, she prosecuted a woman who was acquitted of murder and neglect charges in the death of a newborn girl whose body was found in a field near her home.
She also prosecuted a man sentenced to 11 years in prison for molesting a 7-year-old boy and for possession of child pornography. That man had previously spent almost 40 years in prison for murdering two young children.
Evans has been a deputy prosecutor since graduating from Valparaiso University law school in 1999. She has also been the city attorney for Michigan City and had a private law practice dealing with non-criminal matters.
An announcement of her candidacy said Evans and her husband have two children.
Deputy Prosecutor Evans grazed in head
LAPORTE, Ind. (AP) - A LaPorte County deputy prosecutor who was elected as a judge last month accidentally shot herself while handling a gun she didn't think was loaded, her husband said.
Jennifer Evans, 34, was grazed in the head by the shot late Monday at her home, her husband, Stephan, told WNDU-TV on Wednesday. She remained hospitalized, but was expected to return home soon, he said.
LaPorte city police referred all questions about the shooting to county Prosecutor Rob Beckman. A message seeking comment was left Wednesday at Beckman's office by The Associated Press.
On Tuesday, Beckman would only disclose that Evans had been shot and that her injuries were not life-threatening. He declined to give any additional details.
Evans was elected in November as a Superior Court judge in the county just west of South Bend after handling many of the county's highest-profile cases in recent years.
In the past year, she prosecuted a woman who was acquitted of murder and neglect charges in the death of a newborn girl whose body was found in a field near her home.
She also prosecuted a man sentenced to 11 years in prison for molesting a 7-year-old boy and for possession of child pornography. That man had previously spent almost 40 years in prison for murdering two young children.
Evans has been a deputy prosecutor since graduating from Valparaiso University law school in 1999. She has also been the city attorney for Michigan City and had a private law practice dealing with non-criminal matters.
An announcement of her candidacy said Evans and her husband have two children.
Posted by: Dave Dec 24 2008, 05:01 PM
I'm glad to hear she's going to fully recover.
That said, however, I have to wonder about a loaded firearm being in a house with two young children. To me that seems like a recipe for unpleasantness, seeing as an adult (who I would presume has a gun due to her holding office as a deputy prosecutor, for use as a personal defense weapon, and should presumably has had some gun safety training) managed to injure herself with it.
Posted by: Dave Dec 25 2008, 06:08 PM
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/36707259.html
QUOTE
Questions still unanswered in deputy prosecutor shooting
by Sarah Rice (srice@wsbt.com)
LaPorte County Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Evans. (Photo provided)
By WSBT News1
Story Created: Dec 24, 2008 at 5:53 PM EST
Story Updated: Dec 25, 2008 at 2:08 PM EST
LAPORTE COUNTY — Police say LaPorte County Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Evans was injured in her home after a bullet grazed the top of her head.
The county prosecutor would not say whether her husband was home at the time of the shooting, and officials are keeping very quiet about the case.
Even public information about the shooting is being withheld. It's frustrating for both the media and neighbors.
"I would like to know what really happened," said neighbor Dorothy Sadler.
"How did it happen? I mean what happened?" asked Donna Rudnick, also a neighbor to Evans. “It just does not make any sense to me, because I know both of them and they are just lovely people."
Prosecutor Robert Beckman would only say her injuries are not life-threatening. On Wednesday morning WSBT went to Beckman's office to get more information, but didn't get very far.
Even a public document, like the case report, was not available. Officials with the LaPorte Police Department say the prosecutor's office is keeping the information private.
With so many unknowns, Rudnick admits she's a bit uneasy.
"But I noticed last night, lying in bed, I kind of was listening and heard some noises,” she said. “And I thought ‘Okay, you're being paranoid.’"
As for Sadler —
"I'm just glad she's going to be okay,”
WSBT went to Evans' home, but no one answered the door. Police say the community's safety is not at risk.
In November, Evans was elected to be the judge of Superior Court 3.
Posted by: southsider2k7 Dec 29 2008, 07:41 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=118&ArticleID=19906&TM=31396.43
QUOTE
Too much undisclosed in shooting case
Dave Hawk
The News-Dispatch
La Porte County Prosector Rob Beckman must like to see rumors fly about his staff. Otherwise, it's hard to understand why he didn't see to it that more of the facts surrounding the shooting of Jennifer Evans were released to the public after the incident Monday night.
Evans, a deputy prosecutor who was elected judge of Superior Court 3 on Nov. 4, was struck by a bullet fired from a gun inside her home in La Porte.
La Porte police first told reporters they weren't investigating and there was no report, and they referred questions to Beckman. Slowly a few details came out, but even at the end of the week Friday, many questions remained about how this very public figure sustained a graze wound to her head.
This has left the public wondering what really happened, and rumors and speculation have been circulating. Rumors aren't fair to anyone, including Jennifer Evans and her husband, Stephan Koethe, and the best antidote is making all the facts available to the public. Beckman, as an officeholder, can interpret his role the way he likes, and he often chooses to say virtually nothing about investigations.
Other prosecutors in other counties see things differently, and the ones who keep the public informed on a timely basis don't seem to have problems with their cases being undermined or jeopardized because of too much publicity.
Beckman should have directed the police to release the details, which under law includes making public "the substance" of an incident. Yes, the law is vague and subject to interpretation. But not being forthcoming won't make the questions go away.
Openness isn't just to satisfy the public's curiosity. The Indiana Open Records statute says, "It is the public policy of the state that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees."
That's important to preserving open an honest government.
Beckman seems to be taking extra care to protect his deputy prosecutor, Evans, from public disclosure of all the facts. It's understandable that someone would want to help a friend.
But that raises an other question about potential conflict of interest. In this situation, it would have been better if Beckman had recused himself and invited an independent prosecutor to work with police in this investigation.
Unfortunately at this point the rumors are still flying.
Dave Hawk is managing editor. He can be reached at 874-7211, Ext. 443, or dhawk@thenewsdispatch.com
Dave Hawk
The News-Dispatch
La Porte County Prosector Rob Beckman must like to see rumors fly about his staff. Otherwise, it's hard to understand why he didn't see to it that more of the facts surrounding the shooting of Jennifer Evans were released to the public after the incident Monday night.
Evans, a deputy prosecutor who was elected judge of Superior Court 3 on Nov. 4, was struck by a bullet fired from a gun inside her home in La Porte.
La Porte police first told reporters they weren't investigating and there was no report, and they referred questions to Beckman. Slowly a few details came out, but even at the end of the week Friday, many questions remained about how this very public figure sustained a graze wound to her head.
This has left the public wondering what really happened, and rumors and speculation have been circulating. Rumors aren't fair to anyone, including Jennifer Evans and her husband, Stephan Koethe, and the best antidote is making all the facts available to the public. Beckman, as an officeholder, can interpret his role the way he likes, and he often chooses to say virtually nothing about investigations.
Other prosecutors in other counties see things differently, and the ones who keep the public informed on a timely basis don't seem to have problems with their cases being undermined or jeopardized because of too much publicity.
Beckman should have directed the police to release the details, which under law includes making public "the substance" of an incident. Yes, the law is vague and subject to interpretation. But not being forthcoming won't make the questions go away.
Openness isn't just to satisfy the public's curiosity. The Indiana Open Records statute says, "It is the public policy of the state that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees."
That's important to preserving open an honest government.
Beckman seems to be taking extra care to protect his deputy prosecutor, Evans, from public disclosure of all the facts. It's understandable that someone would want to help a friend.
But that raises an other question about potential conflict of interest. In this situation, it would have been better if Beckman had recused himself and invited an independent prosecutor to work with police in this investigation.
Unfortunately at this point the rumors are still flying.
Dave Hawk is managing editor. He can be reached at 874-7211, Ext. 443, or dhawk@thenewsdispatch.com
Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Dec 29 2008, 09:33 AM
QUOTE(southsider2k7 @ Dec 29 2008, 07:41 AM)
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=118&ArticleID=19906&TM=31396.43
Mr. Hawk,
Mme. Evans was not engaged in the affairs or acts of government; and as she was not, there is no inherent right of people to know the details of the story.
That being said, I am rather curious, even nosy, enough to want to know how this occurred.
I would further note that it appears that Evans and her current husband violated the first rule of safety with firearms, viz., to treat each one as if loaded and ready to fire.
As a last point, seeing as her noggin did not stop the bullet, one wonders where it went?
As ever,
rk
Posted by: Dave Dec 29 2008, 03:43 PM
Roger, I think an argument could be made that because this situation involved the police and a shooting that the police records should be available, i.e. on the basis that the people "engaged in the affairs or acts of the government" were the police officers who went out on the call, rather than Mme. Evans.
To tell the truth, I'm not prefectly clear on how available police records are. If I'm in a fender bender I can easily enough get a copy of a police report for my insurance company, but could someone unrelated to the event do the same? I have no idea.
Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Dec 29 2008, 04:33 PM
While I cannot admit to extensive experience, the few times I have needed a report from the po-po I had to show that I was the person mentioned or a minor child of mine was. I had the feeling that the records are not public and open.
Mr. Hawk cited sunshine rules to say that the details should be published or available to be published. That is what prompted my response.
Posted by: lovethiscity Dec 29 2008, 09:30 PM
QUOTE(Roger Kaputnik @ Dec 29 2008, 04:33 PM)
While I cannot admit to extensive experience, the few times I have needed a report from the po-po I had to show that I was the person mentioned or a minor child of mine was. I had the feeling that the records are not public and open.
Mr. Hawk cited sunshine rules to say that the details should be published or available to be published. That is what prompted my response.
Funny, If the Judge's name was Winski? Dave Hawk would have no trouble getting the information and then some.
Posted by: JHeath Dec 29 2008, 10:28 PM
QUOTE(lovethiscity @ Dec 29 2008, 09:30 PM)
Funny, If the Judge's name was Winski? Dave Hawk would have no trouble getting the information and then some.
Ouch.
Posted by: mox1981 Dec 30 2008, 01:28 AM
http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/36864914.html
QUOTE
St. Joe County prosecutor will investigate accidental shooting of LaPorte judge
Posted: 12:06 AM Dec 30, 2008
Last Updated: 12:06 AM Dec 30, 2008
A week ago, newly-elected LaPorte County Judge Jennifer Evans was involved in an accidental shooting.
On Monday night, we learned that the case is being turned over to a special prosecutor in St. Joe County.
LaPorte County Prosecutor Robert Beckman told NewsCenter 16 that it is policy to not investigate anyone else in the office.
The investigation will continue through the St. Joe County Prosecutor's Office.
Posted: 12:06 AM Dec 30, 2008
Last Updated: 12:06 AM Dec 30, 2008
A week ago, newly-elected LaPorte County Judge Jennifer Evans was involved in an accidental shooting.
On Monday night, we learned that the case is being turned over to a special prosecutor in St. Joe County.
LaPorte County Prosecutor Robert Beckman told NewsCenter 16 that it is policy to not investigate anyone else in the office.
The investigation will continue through the St. Joe County Prosecutor's Office.
Posted by: southsider2k7 Dec 30 2008, 06:53 AM
QUOTE(mox1981 @ Dec 30 2008, 01:28 AM)
http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/36864914.html
See how easy it is to recuse yourself where there is conflict of interest? There are some other lawyers in LPC who should be taking notes.
Posted by: southsider2k7 Dec 31 2008, 10:25 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=19978
QUOTE
A transcript of the 911 recordings in the Jennifer Evans shooting
KOETHE CALLING E911
E911: 911.
STEPHEN KOETHE: Yes, I need an ambulance immediately at 18 Victoria Circle.
E911: OK, what's going on.
KOETHE: We have a gunshot wound ... accidental ... in the household.
E911: OK, how old.
KOETHE: Uh, Uh, Uh 34.
E911: Conscious and breathing?
KOETHE: Uh, she's breathing.
E911: Where was she shot at?
KOETHE: Uh, looks like the head. She's bleeding. Oh, there's a lot of blood.
E911: OK, I'm getting everybody out.
KOETHE: Oh my God. Thank you.
E911: You're welcome.
(Koethe hangs up)
E911 CALLS KOETHE BACK
KOETHE: Hello.
E911: Hi this is 911.
KOETHE: Yes.
E911: How is she doing?
KOETHE: Um, we need help.
E911: I've got them all coming.
KOETHE: OK.
E911: Where's the weapon at?
KOETHE: Um, uh, we don't know, right now it's, it's, it wasn't in here. It was our weapon.
E911: OK.
KOETHE: It, it's in the house. It's, it's all good. We had the baby sitter earlier, we put all the weapons away and we were putting them back out to protect ourselves and, and, and it, it fired. There, there's no problem with the police.
E911: OK, so you don't know where the weapon's at in the house, though?
KOETHE: No, there are weapons in the house but the police have to get here.
E911: We've got, everybody's coming.
KOETHE: OK.
E911: I've got everybody coming, I just ...
KOETHE: Alright, alright.
E911: ... that's why I need to make sure, you know ...
KOETHE: Yes.
E911: And is she still breathing?
KOETHE: Yes.
E911: OK.
KOETHE: OK.
E911: That's why I just want to check on you, make sure. But I do have fire and medics and everybody else coming. OK?
KOETHE: Yes, please. Yes.
E911: OK, is it just you guys home alone with the kids?
KOETHE: No we have two children in the house and a dog. OK. And, and the dog is going to get wild right now.
E911: OK, can you put the dog away?
KOETHE: Um, no. No. Can, can I put you on with her right now?
E911: OK.
KOETHE: Hold on, hold on, hold on (inaudible).
E911: Maam. (Inaudible) do you have someone there? (Pause, inaudible). Do you have someone there?
(Inaudible)
POLICE: This is 45, I'm with her.
E911: OK, thank you.
KOETHE CALLING E911
E911: 911.
STEPHEN KOETHE: Yes, I need an ambulance immediately at 18 Victoria Circle.
E911: OK, what's going on.
KOETHE: We have a gunshot wound ... accidental ... in the household.
E911: OK, how old.
KOETHE: Uh, Uh, Uh 34.
E911: Conscious and breathing?
KOETHE: Uh, she's breathing.
E911: Where was she shot at?
KOETHE: Uh, looks like the head. She's bleeding. Oh, there's a lot of blood.
E911: OK, I'm getting everybody out.
KOETHE: Oh my God. Thank you.
E911: You're welcome.
(Koethe hangs up)
E911 CALLS KOETHE BACK
KOETHE: Hello.
E911: Hi this is 911.
KOETHE: Yes.
E911: How is she doing?
KOETHE: Um, we need help.
E911: I've got them all coming.
KOETHE: OK.
E911: Where's the weapon at?
KOETHE: Um, uh, we don't know, right now it's, it's, it wasn't in here. It was our weapon.
E911: OK.
KOETHE: It, it's in the house. It's, it's all good. We had the baby sitter earlier, we put all the weapons away and we were putting them back out to protect ourselves and, and, and it, it fired. There, there's no problem with the police.
E911: OK, so you don't know where the weapon's at in the house, though?
KOETHE: No, there are weapons in the house but the police have to get here.
E911: We've got, everybody's coming.
KOETHE: OK.
E911: I've got everybody coming, I just ...
KOETHE: Alright, alright.
E911: ... that's why I need to make sure, you know ...
KOETHE: Yes.
E911: And is she still breathing?
KOETHE: Yes.
E911: OK.
KOETHE: OK.
E911: That's why I just want to check on you, make sure. But I do have fire and medics and everybody else coming. OK?
KOETHE: Yes, please. Yes.
E911: OK, is it just you guys home alone with the kids?
KOETHE: No we have two children in the house and a dog. OK. And, and the dog is going to get wild right now.
E911: OK, can you put the dog away?
KOETHE: Um, no. No. Can, can I put you on with her right now?
E911: OK.
KOETHE: Hold on, hold on, hold on (inaudible).
E911: Maam. (Inaudible) do you have someone there? (Pause, inaudible). Do you have someone there?
(Inaudible)
POLICE: This is 45, I'm with her.
E911: OK, thank you.
Posted by: southsider2k7 Jan 2 2009, 11:35 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=20019
QUOTE
Evans sworn in as judge
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Jennifer Evans was sworn in Wednesday as judge of Superior Court 3, the position she was elected to in November.
Evans, 34, a former deputy prosecutor, declined to comment after the ceremony about the Dec. 22 incident in which she was grazed in the head by a gunshot.
Evans did not appear to have any physical mark from the wound.
She said only that she is doing just fine and suffered no permanent injuries.
The investigation into the case was moved to the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office earlier this week, after La Porte County Prosecutor Rob Beckman decided to step aside.
In the 911 call made by Evans' husband, Stephan Koethe, he said the shooting was accidental, but neither Evans or Koethe, nor authorities, have revealed what led to the shooting or any of the details.
Last year, Evans prosecuted Kathy Phillips, who was acquitted of murder and neglect charges in the death of a newborn girl whose body was found in a field near her home. Evans also prosecuted Richard Dobeski, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for molesting a 7-year-old boy and for possession of child pornography. He had previously spent almost 40 years in prison for murdering two young children.
Evans has been a deputy prosecutor since graduating from Valparaiso University law school in 1999. She has also been the city attorney for Michigan City and has a private law practice dealing with non-criminal matters.
Her term as judge is six years.
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Jennifer Evans was sworn in Wednesday as judge of Superior Court 3, the position she was elected to in November.
Evans, 34, a former deputy prosecutor, declined to comment after the ceremony about the Dec. 22 incident in which she was grazed in the head by a gunshot.
Evans did not appear to have any physical mark from the wound.
She said only that she is doing just fine and suffered no permanent injuries.
The investigation into the case was moved to the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office earlier this week, after La Porte County Prosecutor Rob Beckman decided to step aside.
In the 911 call made by Evans' husband, Stephan Koethe, he said the shooting was accidental, but neither Evans or Koethe, nor authorities, have revealed what led to the shooting or any of the details.
Last year, Evans prosecuted Kathy Phillips, who was acquitted of murder and neglect charges in the death of a newborn girl whose body was found in a field near her home. Evans also prosecuted Richard Dobeski, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for molesting a 7-year-old boy and for possession of child pornography. He had previously spent almost 40 years in prison for murdering two young children.
Evans has been a deputy prosecutor since graduating from Valparaiso University law school in 1999. She has also been the city attorney for Michigan City and has a private law practice dealing with non-criminal matters.
Her term as judge is six years.
Posted by: southsider2k7 Jan 8 2009, 08:16 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=20128
QUOTE
Evans mum on shooting as she takes the bench
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Jennifer Evans took the bench Monday as the newly elected Superior Court 3 judge fewer than two weeks after being wounded by a gunshot in her home.
The 34-year-old former La Porte County deputy prosecutor suffered a head wound when she was grazed by a bullet in the Dec. 22 shooting. Her husband, who was in the home at the time of the shooting, said Evans was handling a gun she did not think was loaded when it discharged.
The incident is being investigated by St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak because of Evans' position in the La Porte County prosecutor's office at the time of the shooting.
Dvorak will decide whether charges should be pursued.
Evans, who was elected in November and presided over her first criminal case Monday, would not discuss the details of the shooting, but told local media she will cooperate with the investigation in any way she can.
"At this point, since a special prosecutor has been appointed, it would be inappropriate for me to comment right now because there is an open investigation," Evans said.
As a deputy prosecutor, Evans said she understood police have an obligation to conduct an investigation, and the prosecutor's office has an obligation to review the investigation.
"I'm confident that this will be resolved very quickly," Evans said.
Superior Court 3 handles traffic infractions, misdemeanors, small claims and civil cases.
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Jennifer Evans took the bench Monday as the newly elected Superior Court 3 judge fewer than two weeks after being wounded by a gunshot in her home.
The 34-year-old former La Porte County deputy prosecutor suffered a head wound when she was grazed by a bullet in the Dec. 22 shooting. Her husband, who was in the home at the time of the shooting, said Evans was handling a gun she did not think was loaded when it discharged.
The incident is being investigated by St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak because of Evans' position in the La Porte County prosecutor's office at the time of the shooting.
Dvorak will decide whether charges should be pursued.
Evans, who was elected in November and presided over her first criminal case Monday, would not discuss the details of the shooting, but told local media she will cooperate with the investigation in any way she can.
"At this point, since a special prosecutor has been appointed, it would be inappropriate for me to comment right now because there is an open investigation," Evans said.
As a deputy prosecutor, Evans said she understood police have an obligation to conduct an investigation, and the prosecutor's office has an obligation to review the investigation.
"I'm confident that this will be resolved very quickly," Evans said.
Superior Court 3 handles traffic infractions, misdemeanors, small claims and civil cases.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 28 2009, 01:36 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=20623
QUOTE
Evans, Koethe issued drinking rules
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - A judge has ordered Stephan Koethe and his wife, Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans, to remove all firearms from their residence and to refrain from consuming alcohol right before or during the times when Koethe's two children are in their care.
The ruling comes five weeks after a shooting incident in the Koethe-Evans home in La Porte in which Evans, then a deputy prosecutor, was grazed on the head.
Walter Chapala, special judge in La Porte Superior Court 2, signed the order Tuesday following a Jan. 14 hearing in La Porte Circuit Court. He also ordered all parties, including the children and the children's mother, Megan Koethe, to participate in an evaluation by Gary Durak, Valparaiso. After a report on the evaluations is submitted, Chapala will hold another hearing to determine whether the existing custody and parenting time schedule should be maintained, according to the court order.
Megan Koethe, Stephan's former wife, hired Valparaiso attorney John Terpstra to file a request for changes in the custody and parenting time of their children, Dominique, 9, and Sam, 8, following the Dec. 22 shooting at the La Porte residence of Koethe and Evans. La Porte city police responded to a call placed at 11:24 p.m. by Koethe, who told the E911 operator Evans had been injured by a gunshot to her head. Koethe confirmed in the call that two children were in the residence at the time of the shooting.
In a transcript of the 911 call, the operator asked Koethe where the weapon was and he said, "We don't know, right now it's, it's, it wasn't in here. It was our weapon."
He told the operator the gun was in the house and said they had a baby sitter so they put away "all the weapons." Koethe said they were putting them back out for self-protection when one of them fired. Koethe never said who fired the gun, or how many guns were in the house.
Evans was taken to La Porte Hospital and treated for a head wound caused by a shot that reportedly grazed the top of her head. She attended the Dec. 31 swearing in ceremony to become judge of Superior Court 3 exhibiting no sign of the wound.
Right after the shooting, La Porte police turned the case over to Evans' then-boss, La Porte County Prosecutor Rob Beckman, who waited about a week before turning it over to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office for investigation. Beckman said he wanted to avoid any appearance of impropriety because Evans was a deputy prosecutor in his office for about 10 years.
Following the Jan. 14 court hearing, Evans refused to comment on matters involving the children and chastised The News-Dispatch for printing their names and ages. She refused to comment about the shooting investigation as well. Stephan Koethe did not return phone calls.
Megan Koethe has filed a request in the La Porte County Prosecutor's Office to receive back custody payments from Stephan, who had been a Realtor with Century 21 Long Beach but no longer works there, said owner Doug Waters.
Megan Koethe filed for divorce in November 2002 and Chapala was appointed as special judge. The divorce was finalized in November 2003.
Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - A judge has ordered Stephan Koethe and his wife, Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans, to remove all firearms from their residence and to refrain from consuming alcohol right before or during the times when Koethe's two children are in their care.
The ruling comes five weeks after a shooting incident in the Koethe-Evans home in La Porte in which Evans, then a deputy prosecutor, was grazed on the head.
Walter Chapala, special judge in La Porte Superior Court 2, signed the order Tuesday following a Jan. 14 hearing in La Porte Circuit Court. He also ordered all parties, including the children and the children's mother, Megan Koethe, to participate in an evaluation by Gary Durak, Valparaiso. After a report on the evaluations is submitted, Chapala will hold another hearing to determine whether the existing custody and parenting time schedule should be maintained, according to the court order.
Megan Koethe, Stephan's former wife, hired Valparaiso attorney John Terpstra to file a request for changes in the custody and parenting time of their children, Dominique, 9, and Sam, 8, following the Dec. 22 shooting at the La Porte residence of Koethe and Evans. La Porte city police responded to a call placed at 11:24 p.m. by Koethe, who told the E911 operator Evans had been injured by a gunshot to her head. Koethe confirmed in the call that two children were in the residence at the time of the shooting.
In a transcript of the 911 call, the operator asked Koethe where the weapon was and he said, "We don't know, right now it's, it's, it wasn't in here. It was our weapon."
He told the operator the gun was in the house and said they had a baby sitter so they put away "all the weapons." Koethe said they were putting them back out for self-protection when one of them fired. Koethe never said who fired the gun, or how many guns were in the house.
Evans was taken to La Porte Hospital and treated for a head wound caused by a shot that reportedly grazed the top of her head. She attended the Dec. 31 swearing in ceremony to become judge of Superior Court 3 exhibiting no sign of the wound.
Right after the shooting, La Porte police turned the case over to Evans' then-boss, La Porte County Prosecutor Rob Beckman, who waited about a week before turning it over to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office for investigation. Beckman said he wanted to avoid any appearance of impropriety because Evans was a deputy prosecutor in his office for about 10 years.
Following the Jan. 14 court hearing, Evans refused to comment on matters involving the children and chastised The News-Dispatch for printing their names and ages. She refused to comment about the shooting investigation as well. Stephan Koethe did not return phone calls.
Megan Koethe has filed a request in the La Porte County Prosecutor's Office to receive back custody payments from Stephan, who had been a Realtor with Century 21 Long Beach but no longer works there, said owner Doug Waters.
Megan Koethe filed for divorce in November 2002 and Chapala was appointed as special judge. The divorce was finalized in November 2003.
Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.
Posted by: Dave Jan 28 2009, 03:19 PM
QUOTE
Evans, 34, a former deputy prosecutor, declined to comment after the ceremony about the Dec. 22 incident in which she was grazed in the head by a gunshot.
Evans did not appear to have any physical mark from the wound.
Evans did not appear to have any physical mark from the wound.
I've been wondering how this can be. I suppose wearing a wig would cover it up?
Posted by: Homey Jan 28 2009, 03:34 PM
I wonder what kind of press I would get if this happened in my home? Do we get to circumvent what is released to the press?
Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Jan 28 2009, 04:23 PM
QUOTE(Dave @ Jan 28 2009, 03:19 PM)
I've been wondering how this can be. I suppose wearing a wig would cover it up?
I wondered, too. The only thing I could think of was that she was getting a .38 Special noogie and the injury is on the back of her noggin.
Posted by: Ang Jan 28 2009, 04:27 PM
They probably didn't shave hair to do the stitches. If so, then her hair would cover up any injuries. I'm sure she had a hair dresser do her coif to hide any injuries.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 29 2009, 01:18 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=20670&TM=52370.68
QUOTE
St. Joe still investigating Evans shooting
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
MICHIGAN CITY - The shooting incident that wounded La Porte Superior Court Judge 3 Jennifer Evans late Dec. 22 is still under active investigation by the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office.
La Porte County Prosecutor Robert Beckman said he made the decision Dec. 24 to turn the investigation over to St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak, but couldn't file the petition until Dec. 29 because of holiday closings. Evans was a deputy prosecutor in Beckman's office at the time of the incident, and had been in the position for about 10 years. She was sworn in as Superior Court judge on Dec. 31.
Once the investigation is completed, Dvorak will review the evidence and determine whether or not charges will be filed, according to Catherine Wilson, director of special projects and media relations for the St. Joseph County prosecutor.
A date for the announcement cannot be determined, Wilson said on Wednesday.
"We want to make sure to get it investigated properly and thoroughly," she said.
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
MICHIGAN CITY - The shooting incident that wounded La Porte Superior Court Judge 3 Jennifer Evans late Dec. 22 is still under active investigation by the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office.
La Porte County Prosecutor Robert Beckman said he made the decision Dec. 24 to turn the investigation over to St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak, but couldn't file the petition until Dec. 29 because of holiday closings. Evans was a deputy prosecutor in Beckman's office at the time of the incident, and had been in the position for about 10 years. She was sworn in as Superior Court judge on Dec. 31.
Once the investigation is completed, Dvorak will review the evidence and determine whether or not charges will be filed, according to Catherine Wilson, director of special projects and media relations for the St. Joseph County prosecutor.
A date for the announcement cannot be determined, Wilson said on Wednesday.
"We want to make sure to get it investigated properly and thoroughly," she said.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 29 2009, 01:20 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72&ArticleID=20645
QUOTE
Judge Evans
Full disclosure needed
Editorial
A court order made public Tuesday provides further evidence that authorities must release all the details about the incident in which Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans was wounded Dec. 22 at her house in La Porte.
The court order forbids Judge Evans and her husband, Stephan Koethe, from having firearms in their home or consuming alcohol before or during visits to the home by Koethe's two children. Evidence and testimony in the hearing that led to the judge's order is not available, but it's no great leap of logic to imagine that alcohol was involved.
If both alcohol use and the handling of firearms took place that night, while two children were present, that raises serious questions about the judgment of Judge Evans.
Unfortunately, the full details of what took place have been suppressed by authorities, and again it's no great leap of logic to imagine that the network of friends and colleagues in law enforcement closed ranks to protect Evans, who was a deputy prosecutor at the time of the incident. La Porte police were hesitant at first to release any information about the shooting, referring all inquiries to Prosecutor Rob Beckman, her boss.
Of course, Beckman had no business overseeing an investigation involving one of his deputy prosecutors, and after a week he yielded and the matter was assigned to the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office, which says the investigation isn't complete.
Evans has had no comment on the incident.
In the meantime, Evans was sworn in as judge, a position to which she was elected in November, to sit in judgment of others, including cases involving firearms, alcohol and the custody of children of divorced parents.
Authorities should never cover up matters of public interest - and this certainly is of public interest, with a public official involved. All the details should be disclosed.
Our Opinion:
The Issue:
Custody hearing results in order banning firearms, alcohol.
Our Opinion:
Authorities have covered up details of this investigation. Full disclosure is a must.
Full disclosure needed
Editorial
A court order made public Tuesday provides further evidence that authorities must release all the details about the incident in which Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans was wounded Dec. 22 at her house in La Porte.
The court order forbids Judge Evans and her husband, Stephan Koethe, from having firearms in their home or consuming alcohol before or during visits to the home by Koethe's two children. Evidence and testimony in the hearing that led to the judge's order is not available, but it's no great leap of logic to imagine that alcohol was involved.
If both alcohol use and the handling of firearms took place that night, while two children were present, that raises serious questions about the judgment of Judge Evans.
Unfortunately, the full details of what took place have been suppressed by authorities, and again it's no great leap of logic to imagine that the network of friends and colleagues in law enforcement closed ranks to protect Evans, who was a deputy prosecutor at the time of the incident. La Porte police were hesitant at first to release any information about the shooting, referring all inquiries to Prosecutor Rob Beckman, her boss.
Of course, Beckman had no business overseeing an investigation involving one of his deputy prosecutors, and after a week he yielded and the matter was assigned to the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office, which says the investigation isn't complete.
Evans has had no comment on the incident.
In the meantime, Evans was sworn in as judge, a position to which she was elected in November, to sit in judgment of others, including cases involving firearms, alcohol and the custody of children of divorced parents.
Authorities should never cover up matters of public interest - and this certainly is of public interest, with a public official involved. All the details should be disclosed.
Our Opinion:
The Issue:
Custody hearing results in order banning firearms, alcohol.
Our Opinion:
Authorities have covered up details of this investigation. Full disclosure is a must.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Apr 22 2009, 01:32 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=22655&TM=55872.07
QUOTE
Judges: Grand jury summons 'an oddity'
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - The grand jury investigation of the shooting incident involving La Porte County Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer (Evans) Koethe is a rare legal approach, according to area judges.
Circuit Court Judge Tom Alevizos said a grand jury investigation is "an oddity" in La Porte County. In the 20 years he's practiced law in the county, he said, the only grand jury investigation was in May 1998 regarding the murder of Rayna Rison, a 16-year-old who was abducted after leaving her job at a local veterinary clinic on March 26, 1993. Her body was found a month later in a rural Springfield Township pond.
Alevizos has summoned a six-member grand jury to hear evidence in the investigation of the Evans case. The grand jury hearing will be conducted in a courtroom in the La Porte County Courthouse by Michael Dvorak, prosecuting attorney for St. Joseph County, who requested Alevizos to convene the grand jury. No judge is present during the grand jury proceedings.
Alevizos said his role is limited to selecting jurors and receiving the jury's final report. He said grand jury members are selected at random from the same pool of potential jurors used for jury trials.
Jeffrey Thode, Porter County Superior Court 6 judge, agrees with Alevizos that a grand jury investigation is a rare thing at the county level. Thode is a member of the community relations committee of the Indiana Judicial Center.
"I have never empowered a grand jury," he said. "Almost always, the prosecutor issues charging information." With a charging information, or affidavit, a charge is filed in court at the discretion of the prosecuting attorney.
Thode said a grand jury takes the prosecutor out of the responsibility to make a decision whether there is probable cause to indict any of the parties involved. But the prosecutor controls the evidence presented, Thode said.
"In a nutshell, the grand jury is charged with the responsibility of determining if there's anything to this incident or not," Thode said.
"There's a difference between being charged with and being convicted of a crime," Thode added.
Dvorak will present evidence about the Dec. 22, 2008, shooting of Evans in the home she shares with husband Stephan Koethe. His two young children were in the home when the incident occurred.
Evans, a deputy prosecutor at the time, suffered a graze wound in the head when a gun was discharged. She subsequently was sworn in as Superior Court 3 judge on Dec. 31.
La Porte County Prosecutor Robert Beckman petitioned Superior Court 1 Judge Kathleen Lang to step aside to avoid a conflict of interest, and she turned the investigation over to Dvorak. Evans was a deputy prosecutor in Beckman's office for about 10 years.
According to Catherine Wilson, director of special projects and media relations for the St. Joseph Prosecuting Attorney's Office, grand jury proceedings are sealed and unauthorized disclosure of proceedings is a Class B misdemeanor.
The names of persons subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury are not made public, either, according to law.
Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - The grand jury investigation of the shooting incident involving La Porte County Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer (Evans) Koethe is a rare legal approach, according to area judges.
Circuit Court Judge Tom Alevizos said a grand jury investigation is "an oddity" in La Porte County. In the 20 years he's practiced law in the county, he said, the only grand jury investigation was in May 1998 regarding the murder of Rayna Rison, a 16-year-old who was abducted after leaving her job at a local veterinary clinic on March 26, 1993. Her body was found a month later in a rural Springfield Township pond.
Alevizos has summoned a six-member grand jury to hear evidence in the investigation of the Evans case. The grand jury hearing will be conducted in a courtroom in the La Porte County Courthouse by Michael Dvorak, prosecuting attorney for St. Joseph County, who requested Alevizos to convene the grand jury. No judge is present during the grand jury proceedings.
Alevizos said his role is limited to selecting jurors and receiving the jury's final report. He said grand jury members are selected at random from the same pool of potential jurors used for jury trials.
Jeffrey Thode, Porter County Superior Court 6 judge, agrees with Alevizos that a grand jury investigation is a rare thing at the county level. Thode is a member of the community relations committee of the Indiana Judicial Center.
"I have never empowered a grand jury," he said. "Almost always, the prosecutor issues charging information." With a charging information, or affidavit, a charge is filed in court at the discretion of the prosecuting attorney.
Thode said a grand jury takes the prosecutor out of the responsibility to make a decision whether there is probable cause to indict any of the parties involved. But the prosecutor controls the evidence presented, Thode said.
"In a nutshell, the grand jury is charged with the responsibility of determining if there's anything to this incident or not," Thode said.
"There's a difference between being charged with and being convicted of a crime," Thode added.
Dvorak will present evidence about the Dec. 22, 2008, shooting of Evans in the home she shares with husband Stephan Koethe. His two young children were in the home when the incident occurred.
Evans, a deputy prosecutor at the time, suffered a graze wound in the head when a gun was discharged. She subsequently was sworn in as Superior Court 3 judge on Dec. 31.
La Porte County Prosecutor Robert Beckman petitioned Superior Court 1 Judge Kathleen Lang to step aside to avoid a conflict of interest, and she turned the investigation over to Dvorak. Evans was a deputy prosecutor in Beckman's office for about 10 years.
According to Catherine Wilson, director of special projects and media relations for the St. Joseph Prosecuting Attorney's Office, grand jury proceedings are sealed and unauthorized disclosure of proceedings is a Class B misdemeanor.
The names of persons subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury are not made public, either, according to law.
Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Apr 23 2009, 11:10 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72&ArticleID=22672
QUOTE
Grand jury
Unusual step taken in case
Editorial
The various authorities who have handled the shooting that grazed the scalp of La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer (Evans) Koethe could not have made it more obvious that they wanted to protect her from the public learning exactly what happened that night in her home.
First, La Porte police said very little, and referred inquiries to the La Porte County Prosecutor's Office. The La Porte Herald-Argus pressed for and obtained the release of documents and information that rightly should be made public, including the 911 call from her La Porte house that night of Dec. 22.
Then Prosecutor Rob Beckman, who never should have been handling the case since Evans (a judge-elect) was a deputy prosecutor in his office, stepped aside. The handling of the investigation was then transferred to St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak in South Bend, who until last Saturday had released no information on the investigation in nearly 3 1/2 months.
Now Dvorak is not going to release any details of the investigation, and is instead going to turn the evidence over to a grand jury, a highly unusual move. Normally prosecutors decide for themselves if they have grounds to file a criminal charge, instead of leaving it to a panel of citizens.
Usually grand juries are considered to be easily persuaded, hence the old saying that a prosecutor could get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich."
Letting the grand jury make the "official" call gives the prosecutor cover, in case no one in the legal community wants to take responsibility for bringing a charge in a matter so close to one of their own.
On the other hand, since grand jury proceedings are secret and participants are forbidden from disclosing the nature or substance of grand jury testimony, if no charge is brought by the grand jury, Judge Koethe's friends may have succeeded in permanently wrapping the details in secrecy.
Our Opinion:
The Issue:
Details of the shooting that left Jennifer (Evans) Koethe wounded have been withheld.
Our Opinion:
Presenting the case to a grand jury might keep details secret forever.
Unusual step taken in case
Editorial
The various authorities who have handled the shooting that grazed the scalp of La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer (Evans) Koethe could not have made it more obvious that they wanted to protect her from the public learning exactly what happened that night in her home.
First, La Porte police said very little, and referred inquiries to the La Porte County Prosecutor's Office. The La Porte Herald-Argus pressed for and obtained the release of documents and information that rightly should be made public, including the 911 call from her La Porte house that night of Dec. 22.
Then Prosecutor Rob Beckman, who never should have been handling the case since Evans (a judge-elect) was a deputy prosecutor in his office, stepped aside. The handling of the investigation was then transferred to St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak in South Bend, who until last Saturday had released no information on the investigation in nearly 3 1/2 months.
Now Dvorak is not going to release any details of the investigation, and is instead going to turn the evidence over to a grand jury, a highly unusual move. Normally prosecutors decide for themselves if they have grounds to file a criminal charge, instead of leaving it to a panel of citizens.
Usually grand juries are considered to be easily persuaded, hence the old saying that a prosecutor could get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich."
Letting the grand jury make the "official" call gives the prosecutor cover, in case no one in the legal community wants to take responsibility for bringing a charge in a matter so close to one of their own.
On the other hand, since grand jury proceedings are secret and participants are forbidden from disclosing the nature or substance of grand jury testimony, if no charge is brought by the grand jury, Judge Koethe's friends may have succeeded in permanently wrapping the details in secrecy.
Our Opinion:
The Issue:
Details of the shooting that left Jennifer (Evans) Koethe wounded have been withheld.
Our Opinion:
Presenting the case to a grand jury might keep details secret forever.
Posted by: Ang Apr 23 2009, 11:18 AM
Hmmm....
Sounds like they're taking a lesson from MCAS
Posted by: Dave Apr 23 2009, 01:18 PM
I'm thinking the way the only way the facts behind this event are going to come to light is though action by the former Mrs. Koethe in court regarding child custody / visitation agreement modification.
I'm also thinking Mr. Bergerson these days is kicking himself for running against Judge Lang instead of going for Court 3 himself, but I digress...
Posted by: Dave May 8 2009, 12:35 PM
Well, this could be a game changer...
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=23062
QUOTE
Judge Koethe indicted
Superior Court 3 judge accused of attempted obstruction of justice
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
Friday, May 08, 2009
LA PORTE - A grand jury on Thursday indicted La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer (Evans) Koethe on a charge of attempted obstruction of justice.
The charge resulted from the investigation into a shooting in her house that left her with a graze wound on the head nine days before she was sworn into office.
The grand jury also indicted her husband, Stephan Koethe, on charges of false informing and criminal recklessness in the Dec. 22 shooting.
His indictment indicates he and his wife were intoxicated at the time of the shooting.
The charge against the judge is a class D felony, while the charges against her husband are less serious misdemeanors. He is charged with class A misdemeanor false informing and class B misdemeanor criminal recklessness.
Following the indictments, which were filed in the county clerk's office, warrants were issued for the Koethes, with bond set at $600 cash for her and $500 cash for him, according to a statement issued by Catherine Wilson on behalf of the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office, which handled the case.
The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday appointed Lake County Superior Court 4 Judge Thomas P. Stefaniak Jr. to serve as a special judge for the case involving Jennifer Koethe, according to Kathryn Dolan, public information officer for the Supreme Court.
Dolan said the court has the authority, in the case of a felony charge, to suspend the judge without pay, but no decision has been made on that matter.
Neither Jennifer nor Stephan Koethe answered phone messages or came to the door of their residence at 18 Victoria Circle, La Porte, on Thursday.
The indictment of Jennifer Koethe states on Dec. 23, the day after the shooting, she requested the disposal of a handwritten note that was evidence in an official investigation. Her action, the indictment said, "constituted a substantial step toward the commission of the crime of obstruction of justice."
The indictment didn't say who wrote the note or what it said, and did not identify the person asked to destroy it. The St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney's office didn't release any details, saying the records of a grand jury investigation are sealed.
The indictment of Stephan Koethe for false informing stated he knowingly provided a false description of the Dec. 22 events to La Porte city police, hindering the law-enforcement process. The indictment for criminal recklessness said he handled and loaded a firearm "while intoxicated, and during an argument with another intoxicated person." The reckless act "created a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person," the indictment stated.
The judge and her husband were the only adults present in the home at the time of the incident, according to the recording of Stephan Koethe's call to 911. Koethe's two children from a previous marriage were in another room at the time. Jennifer Koethe was taken to La Porte Hospital for treatment of the gunshot wound and was released after a brief stay.
Koethe was sworn in as Superior Court 3 judge on Dec. 31. Before her November election, she was a La Porte County deputy prosecutor for 10 years and went by the name Jennifer Evans.
To avoid a conflict of interest, La Porte County Prosecutor Robert Beckman stepped aside and the investigation was turned over to St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Dvorak.
The grand jury indictment of Judge Koethe was returned in La Porte Circuit Court, where Judge Tom Alevizos presides. Alevizos was responsible for selecting and convening the grand jury.
The indictments of Stephan Koethe were received in La Porte Superior Court 3, where Judge Koethe presides. The court clerk explained misdemeanors are filed in Superior Court 3.
The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office said it will issue more information when court dates have been set, and advised in a press release an indictment is "merely an accusation."
q
Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.
Posted by: Ang May 8 2009, 12:48 PM
Hm.
Posted by: lighter May 8 2009, 02:20 PM
http://www.nwi.com/articles/2009/05/08/updates/breaking_news/doc4a04979797075738053169.txt
Indiana Supreme Court suspends indicted LaPorte judge
INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana Supreme Court has suspended with pay a LaPorte Superior Court judge indicted on a charge of attempting to obstruct justice.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathryn Dolan says the high court suspended Judge Jennifer Evans Koethe on Friday. She was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on a charge of attempting to obstruct justice. She is accused of requesting that a handwritten note that was evidence be disposed of after she was grazed in the head by a gunshot in her home in December.
If convicted of the felony, she faces six months to three years in prison.
Senior Judge Paul Baldoni, whom she succeeded on Jan. 1, has been named to fill in during her suspension.
Posted by: Ang May 8 2009, 03:01 PM
Thanks for the update Lighter, and welcome to the board!
Posted by: eric.hanke May 9 2009, 10:32 AM
She should of been suspended without pay.QUOTEEvans Koethe Suspended
Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - The Indiana Supreme Court suspended with pay La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans Koethe and named former Superior Court 3 Judge Paul Baldoni as temporary judge.
Friday's decision came at the request of the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications following the grand-jury indictment of Evans Koethe, 34, on a class D felony charge of obstruction of justice. The judge's suspension is effective May 11 and will continue indefinitely. The announcement was made by Kathryn Dolan, Indiana Supreme Court public-information officer.
Warrants were issued for Evans Koethe and her husband, Stephan, on Thursday. At 10 a.m. Friday, they were individually booked into La Porte County Jail, photographed, fingerprinted and given an opportunity to post bond, said Maj. Gary Broling, La Porte County Sheriff's Department public-information officer.
Broling said Evans Koethe posted $5,005 surety bond and a $605 cash bond. Stephan Koethe posted a $7,000 surety bond and $500 cash bond. The indictment of Evans Koethe charges her with asking on Dec. 23 for a handwritten note to be destroyed, a note that was evidence in an official investigation of a shooting in her home Dec. 22, 2008. The action is seen as an attempt to obstruct justice.
Stephan Koethe was indicted for two misdemeanors: class A misdemeanor false informing and class B misdemeanor criminal recklessness. The false-informing charge was for knowingly providing a false description of the Dec. 22 events to La Porte police, hindering the law-enforcement process. The criminal recklessness charge was for handling a loaded firearm while intoxicated during an argument with another intoxicated person. The indictment stated that action created the risk of bodily injury to another person.
After the Dec. 22 shooting at about 11:30 p.m., Evans Koethe was taken to La Porte Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound, described as a grazing wound near the forehead. She was released after a brief stay and had no visible signs of the injury during the Dec. 31 ceremony, at which she was sworn in as Superior Court 3 judge. She was elected to the position in the November election and served just more than four months before her ouster from the bench Friday.
Posted by: Dave May 9 2009, 09:00 PM
QUOTE(eric.hanke @ May 9 2009, 11:32 AM)
She should of been suspended without pay.
I guess I may not be the only person who thinks "suspended with pay" sounds a lot like "paid vacation."
Posted by: Homey May 9 2009, 09:25 PM
Only for the chosen few. It takes connections!
Posted by: Ang May 10 2009, 01:05 AM
And a seat on the bench is about as connected as you can get.
Posted by: kharris May 10 2009, 07:01 AM
QUOTE(Dave @ May 9 2009, 10:00 PM)
I guess I may not be the only person who thinks "suspended with pay" sounds a lot like "paid vacation."
Unfortunately, it is state law that mandates the suspension with pay. It would be the same for a police officer being charged with a felony. Not saying it's right .. just saying what it is.
Posted by: southsider2k9 May 14 2009, 07:58 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72&ArticleID=23073&TM=36079.31
QUOTE
The Issue:
Judge Evans Koeth was suspended by the Supreme Court.
Our Opinion:
She deserves a chance to clear her name, but the court's reputation must be secured now.
Judge must resign
Suspension follows indictment
Editorial
La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans Koethe has been indicted, and now she has been suspended from her position as a judge by the Indiana Supreme Court. Now it is time for her to resign the judgeship.
Yes, an indictment is merely an allegation, and she is presumed innocent until after a trial. She deserves a chance to clear her name in court.
But whatever the outcome of the charge against her, which is attempting to obstruct justice, it will be very hard for her to remain as the officeholder in Superior Court 3.
Aside from the class D felony for which she was indicted, the events that led to her suspension from the bench Friday paint a picture of someone who should not be in that position.
While Koethe was the victim of a gunshot - the circumstances neither she nor her husband, Stephan, have explained publicly - evidence indicates that she and her husband were intoxicated and doing something with a gun in their house late in the evening of Dec. 22 while his two minor children were present, in their own bedroom. That anyone would bring out a gun, after drinking, with children in the home, shows a lack of judgment not befitting a judge.
The fact that she has chosen not to discuss the matter public is telling, too. The entire handling of the incident by the authorities has suggested that they closed ranks to protect this former deputy prosecutor, who was elected in November and sworn in Dec. 31. When authorities go to that length, it only increases the cloud of suspicion over everyone involved. That cloud should not extend to a Superior Court of La Porte County, and the surest way to quickly restore public confidence in this local court is for Jennifer Koethe to step aside, focus on her defense, and let someone else take charge.
Posted by: Dave May 14 2009, 08:41 AM
Wow!
Posted by: lighter Jul 16 2009, 08:14 PM
http://nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte/article_74a7fee3-2368-5dfc-a146-558db5324e4e.html
LaPorte County Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe, who is charged with trying to interfere with the investigation of her shooting, will have her case tried in Lake County.
Lake County Superior Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. on Thursday granted a motion by her attorney, Michael Tuszynski, of South Bend.
Evans-Koethe, 34, was placed on indefinite suspension May 11 by the Indiana Supreme Court after she was indicted by a grand jury on Class D felony obstruction of justice...
Posted by: eric.hanke Jul 17 2009, 01:19 PM
When are they going to suspend her pay? Does anyone know about how the pay works? If convicted, does she have to repay or is she on a paid vacation right now?
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jul 30 2009, 09:55 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=24856&TM=42887.59
QUOTE
Trial date set for Evans-Koethe
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
CROWN POINT, Ind. - The obstruction of justice case for La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe has a trial date for Jan. 4, 2010.
Lake County Superior Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr., the specially appointed judge, set the date Monday morning.
The case was moved from La Porte County when defense attorney Michael Tuszynski of the South Bend firm William P. Stanley & Associates successfully filed a change-of-venue request. He cited media coverage of the case and said Evans-Koethe could not get a fair jury in the county.
Stefaniak also set a final pretrial record date for Oct. 5.
The Indiana Supreme Court placed Evans-Koethe on indefinite suspension with pay May 8 following her grand-jury indictment on an obstruction of justice charge, a Class D felony. The indictment said she asked for a handwritten note - evidence in an investigation of a Dec. 22 shooting - to be destroyed Dec. 23.
She was grazed in the head with a bullet at her home late Dec. 22.
Evans-Koethe's husband, Stephen Koethe, has been indicted on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdemeanor.
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
CROWN POINT, Ind. - The obstruction of justice case for La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe has a trial date for Jan. 4, 2010.
Lake County Superior Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr., the specially appointed judge, set the date Monday morning.
The case was moved from La Porte County when defense attorney Michael Tuszynski of the South Bend firm William P. Stanley & Associates successfully filed a change-of-venue request. He cited media coverage of the case and said Evans-Koethe could not get a fair jury in the county.
Stefaniak also set a final pretrial record date for Oct. 5.
The Indiana Supreme Court placed Evans-Koethe on indefinite suspension with pay May 8 following her grand-jury indictment on an obstruction of justice charge, a Class D felony. The indictment said she asked for a handwritten note - evidence in an investigation of a Dec. 22 shooting - to be destroyed Dec. 23.
She was grazed in the head with a bullet at her home late Dec. 22.
Evans-Koethe's husband, Stephen Koethe, has been indicted on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdemeanor.
Posted by: Ang Aug 5 2009, 10:52 AM
So, she gets to sit at home earning a paycheck for a year? Hmmm..... That doesn't seem fair to the taxpayers, does it? How about not paying her and if it's deemed she is innocent, then pay her back wages for all the time she was suspended? That would seem more fair to the tax payers I would think.
One question I have, does she get to practice law during this suspension?
Posted by: Dave Aug 5 2009, 04:58 PM
QUOTE(Ang @ Aug 5 2009, 11:52 AM)
One question I have, does she get to practice law during this suspension?
I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think a sitting judge can have a legal practice on the side.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Dec 11 2009, 08:52 AM
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20091211/News01/912110310/-1/googleNews
QUOTE
Suspended judge in LaPorte County facing charges
Evans-Koethe accused of misrepresenting facts, asking to destroy evidence.
By ALICIA GALLEGOS
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND — More details have emerged about the strange case of a suspended LaPorte County judge and a gun incident that left her with a graze wound to the head.
Along with a pending criminal case, Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe now faces judicial conduct violations by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications.
Commission documents accuse Evans-Koethe of violating rules of professional judicial conduct by misrepresenting facts during a police investigation last year and requesting that officers destroy potential evidence.
A review of Evans-Koethe's behavior started Dec. 22 when police were called to her residence regarding a reported shooting. They found Evans-Koethe at the home, suffering from a superficial gunshot wound to the head, according to past reports.
Evans-Koethe first told police that she and her husband's personal handgun had accidentally discharged when she picked it up, but the couples' accounts repeatedly changed over the course of several months.
The seven-page disciplinary document filed Thursday by the commission states, in part, that Evans-Koethe:
Admitted to officers while at the hospital that she had put the gun to her head in an attempt to scare her husband into thinking she was committing suicide, but hadn't believed the gun was loaded.
Confided to another officer that she had written a handwritten suicide note located in the home.
Asked the officer to "make (the incident) go away," or "get rid of it,"
Later omitted these details from a December statement to police and further changed her account during a January statement in which she said the gun had discharged when she picked it up from a bed.
The commission is requesting that the Indiana Supreme Court conduct a public hearing on Evans-Koethe's case and impose the appropriate discipline.
Kathryn Dolan, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Supreme Court, said Thursday that the extent of possible judicial discipline Evans-Koethe faces varies.
"The range could be anything from dismissal to a reprimand to a permanent ban of holding a judicial license," she said.
Evans-Koethe, 35, was placed on indefinite suspension May 11 by the Supreme Court after being indicted by a grand jury on Class D felony obstruction of justice.
She is charged in LaPorte County with trying to interfere with the investigation of her shooting. She will have her case tried in Lake County after a change of venue. That case is still pending.
Evans-Koethe was a deputy LaPorte County prosecutor at the time of the shooting and took over as judge in LaPorte Superior Court 3 on Jan. 1 after her election in November.
Evans-Koethe could not be reached for comment Thursday. A call to a Michigan City phone listing for the judge said the phone mailbox was full and no more messages could be left.
Staff writer Alicia Gallegos:
agallegos@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6368
Evans-Koethe accused of misrepresenting facts, asking to destroy evidence.
By ALICIA GALLEGOS
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND — More details have emerged about the strange case of a suspended LaPorte County judge and a gun incident that left her with a graze wound to the head.
Along with a pending criminal case, Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe now faces judicial conduct violations by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications.
Commission documents accuse Evans-Koethe of violating rules of professional judicial conduct by misrepresenting facts during a police investigation last year and requesting that officers destroy potential evidence.
A review of Evans-Koethe's behavior started Dec. 22 when police were called to her residence regarding a reported shooting. They found Evans-Koethe at the home, suffering from a superficial gunshot wound to the head, according to past reports.
Evans-Koethe first told police that she and her husband's personal handgun had accidentally discharged when she picked it up, but the couples' accounts repeatedly changed over the course of several months.
The seven-page disciplinary document filed Thursday by the commission states, in part, that Evans-Koethe:
Admitted to officers while at the hospital that she had put the gun to her head in an attempt to scare her husband into thinking she was committing suicide, but hadn't believed the gun was loaded.
Confided to another officer that she had written a handwritten suicide note located in the home.
Asked the officer to "make (the incident) go away," or "get rid of it,"
Later omitted these details from a December statement to police and further changed her account during a January statement in which she said the gun had discharged when she picked it up from a bed.
The commission is requesting that the Indiana Supreme Court conduct a public hearing on Evans-Koethe's case and impose the appropriate discipline.
Kathryn Dolan, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Supreme Court, said Thursday that the extent of possible judicial discipline Evans-Koethe faces varies.
"The range could be anything from dismissal to a reprimand to a permanent ban of holding a judicial license," she said.
Evans-Koethe, 35, was placed on indefinite suspension May 11 by the Supreme Court after being indicted by a grand jury on Class D felony obstruction of justice.
She is charged in LaPorte County with trying to interfere with the investigation of her shooting. She will have her case tried in Lake County after a change of venue. That case is still pending.
Evans-Koethe was a deputy LaPorte County prosecutor at the time of the shooting and took over as judge in LaPorte Superior Court 3 on Jan. 1 after her election in November.
Evans-Koethe could not be reached for comment Thursday. A call to a Michigan City phone listing for the judge said the phone mailbox was full and no more messages could be left.
Staff writer Alicia Gallegos:
agallegos@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6368
Posted by: southsider2k9 Dec 13 2009, 03:39 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72&ArticleID=27582
QUOTE
Our Opinion:
The Issue:
Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe remains on salary while suspended.
Our Opinion:
At least this distressing situation is coming to an end.
Judge's hearing
Judicial misconduct latest charge
Editorial
Everyone deserves their day in court when they stand accused, and for La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe, this now means two such opportunities.
But it also means two times she may have to endure going through a public inquiry into what happened in her home last Dec. 22, and it means two times the taxpayers have to think about continuing to pay her approximately $120,000 a year salary while she is suspended from the bench.
In addition to a criminal trial set for Jan. 4, she now faces a hearing by the Indiana Supreme Court's Commission on Judicial Qualifications sometime in the next few months on charges of judicial misconduct, charges based on the shooting incident in which she was grazed on the scalp.
As we said in May after the Indiana Supreme Court suspended her after her indictment on a charge of attempted obstruction of justice, she should spare herself and the county and resign from the judgeship she hadn't even been sworn into yet when the incident occurred.
Little by little details have come out about the incident - including charges recounts this week by the commission that she allegedly told investigators conflicting stories, and that she tried to get a police officer to destroy evidence - a note she wrote to her husband before putting a gun to her head to scare him into thinking she was contemplating suicide.
The legal system must determine what the facts are and she is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But the mounting evidence that has become public, particularly in the May indictment and the commission's charges of judicial misconduct, paint a picture of someone who really should not serve as a judge.
At least we can hope that this distressing - and sad - situation is reaching, if slowly, a conclusion.
The Issue:
Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe remains on salary while suspended.
Our Opinion:
At least this distressing situation is coming to an end.
Judge's hearing
Judicial misconduct latest charge
Editorial
Everyone deserves their day in court when they stand accused, and for La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe, this now means two such opportunities.
But it also means two times she may have to endure going through a public inquiry into what happened in her home last Dec. 22, and it means two times the taxpayers have to think about continuing to pay her approximately $120,000 a year salary while she is suspended from the bench.
In addition to a criminal trial set for Jan. 4, she now faces a hearing by the Indiana Supreme Court's Commission on Judicial Qualifications sometime in the next few months on charges of judicial misconduct, charges based on the shooting incident in which she was grazed on the scalp.
As we said in May after the Indiana Supreme Court suspended her after her indictment on a charge of attempted obstruction of justice, she should spare herself and the county and resign from the judgeship she hadn't even been sworn into yet when the incident occurred.
Little by little details have come out about the incident - including charges recounts this week by the commission that she allegedly told investigators conflicting stories, and that she tried to get a police officer to destroy evidence - a note she wrote to her husband before putting a gun to her head to scare him into thinking she was contemplating suicide.
The legal system must determine what the facts are and she is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But the mounting evidence that has become public, particularly in the May indictment and the commission's charges of judicial misconduct, paint a picture of someone who really should not serve as a judge.
At least we can hope that this distressing - and sad - situation is reaching, if slowly, a conclusion.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 5 2010, 10:46 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=28003
QUOTE
Contents of the note
The contents of the note at issue in Jennifer Evans-Koethe's trial was never made public until Monday.
When a juror asked what the note said, La Porte County Sheriff's Sgt. Patrick Cicero was asked to read it aloud from the witness stand. Here is an abbreviated version of the note:
"I am done. I have tried so hard but you won't listen. You don't love me ... You lash out at me instead of listening to me ... You leave me to take care of the kids alone. I am alone. Alone ... to take care of the bills, to handle the pressure ... You leave me all by myself and I am alone."
Also, a March 1 trial date for Jennifer Evans-Koethe's husband, Stephan Koethe, was set Monday in Crown Point.
He has been indicted on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdemeanor.
Stephan Koethe sat in the audience during the first day of his wife's trial, and they left the building holding hands at the end of the day.
Focus of Evans-Koethe trial: 'Get rid of it'
Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
CROWN POINT, Ind. - "Get rid of it."
The outcome of suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe's trial will center on those four words, lawyers for both sides said Monday.
"We need to find out what does that phrase mean?" defense lawyer Michael Tuszynski said on the opening day of her trial in Lake County. "What was the intent behind it?"
Evans-Koethe is charged with attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony, for asking police to destroy an alleged suicide note during their investigation of how a bullet grazed her head Dec. 23, 2008. If what Tuszynski said at a hearing before the trial holds true, he intends to argue Evans-Koethe's capacity to knowingly tamper with evidence was affected by the bullet wound, as well as by her level of intoxication during the argument she had that night with her husband, Stephan Koethe.
"The jury needs to decide if this was just a drunken ramble, or if she was actually trying to deep-six this note," said Lake County Superior Court 4 Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr.
Evans-Koethe may take the stand sometime during the two-day trial, Tuszynski said. If she does, he expects her to testify to having great gaps in her memory, including about her conversation about the note with La Porte County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Patrick Cicero.
"She can explain to the jury why she cannot recall events as they happened," he said.
The jury, selected Monday morning, features four women and two men.
Just nine days before she was to be sworn in, she begged Cicero, also a staunch supporter of her election campaign, to hide the note, which was written on the top of a Carson Pirie Scott gift box, said special prosecutor Mark Roule, chief deputy prosecutor for St. Joseph County. The note was collected as evidence after the shooting.
"She chose to manipulate what would be found in her home that day," Roule said in his opening statements. "She chose to control, or attempt to control, what would be learned by officers."
Tuszynski painted a different picture of the scenario for the jury. Evans-Koethe and her husband were watching football at home when they got into an argument over family finances, he said. She wrote the "intensely personal" note to her husband about her feelings, he said, then lay beside it on the floor of their bedroom with a Glock 9mm handgun. Later that night in bed, she was holding the gun when it discharged.
"She was trying to get her husband's attention. She was emotional," Tuszynski said.
Tuszynski said he is confident the trial will fail to show Evans-Koethe tried to hide anything relevant from police.
"She very quickly and candidly accepted responsibility for what she termed as an accidental shooting," he said. "She cooperated to the best of her ability with police."
Three La Porte law-enforcement officials took the stand Monday afternoon to establish the facts of the case. La Porte police officer Nathan Thode, who was first on the scene the night of the shooting, testified Evans-Koethe seemed alert when he walked into their bedroom.
"Right away, she announced herself as Jennifer Evans. She said I'm a deputy prosecutor," Thode said. "I hadn't even asked her name."
Both Evans-Koethe and her husband told police they didn't know where the gun was that was used, although it was found later in a clothes basket in the closet, said La Porte County Capt. Clyde Crass, head of the department's detective bureau. Around 1 a.m., while she was at La Porte Hospital, she mentioned she didn't want her client files searched while police were at the home, Crass said. The conversation with Cicero took place about half an hour later, he testified.
"I could see she was emotional, she may have been crying when I walked in," Cicero said. "I held her hand and talked to her."
Cicero, a crime-scene technician, came to the hospital to collect evidence of her wound. But he also had an involved working relationship with her, he said, investigating several cases with her during the past six years. And, he was a close friend.
"We discussed what the incident could mean to her career. There was a degree of embarrassment," he said. "She kept saying 'It's not like I would do this on purpose, I wouldn't commit suicide.'...Then she brought up the note."
She told Cicero the note was in the bedroom, but nothing else, he testified. Then, he said, she asked him, "Can you get rid of it?"
"I didn't know what to say, I just sat there. I didn't answer," he said. "The medical team came in and was doing things, and from where I was standing I saw her mouth the word 'Please' to me a few times ... I took that as 'Please help me out here.'"
Cicero later told La Porte County Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer about her request and other officers after the note was found.
"If she had not said anything about the note, would you have collected it as evidence?" Roule asked Cicero.w
"Absolutely, because it's directly related to that conflict and it shows the frustration she was feeling," he replied.
Evans-Koethe was never advised of her rights before these statements were made, Tuszynski said. The officers also testified her head wound bled profusely, continuing to bleed even while in the hospital, and that she smelled of alcohol. Tuszynski said her blood-alcohol level was .16 percent, according to a blood test done at the hospital.
The trial is expected to continue today. Deliberation may extend into Wednesday if the jury needs more time.
The contents of the note at issue in Jennifer Evans-Koethe's trial was never made public until Monday.
When a juror asked what the note said, La Porte County Sheriff's Sgt. Patrick Cicero was asked to read it aloud from the witness stand. Here is an abbreviated version of the note:
"I am done. I have tried so hard but you won't listen. You don't love me ... You lash out at me instead of listening to me ... You leave me to take care of the kids alone. I am alone. Alone ... to take care of the bills, to handle the pressure ... You leave me all by myself and I am alone."
Also, a March 1 trial date for Jennifer Evans-Koethe's husband, Stephan Koethe, was set Monday in Crown Point.
He has been indicted on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdemeanor.
Stephan Koethe sat in the audience during the first day of his wife's trial, and they left the building holding hands at the end of the day.
Focus of Evans-Koethe trial: 'Get rid of it'
Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
CROWN POINT, Ind. - "Get rid of it."
The outcome of suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe's trial will center on those four words, lawyers for both sides said Monday.
"We need to find out what does that phrase mean?" defense lawyer Michael Tuszynski said on the opening day of her trial in Lake County. "What was the intent behind it?"
Evans-Koethe is charged with attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony, for asking police to destroy an alleged suicide note during their investigation of how a bullet grazed her head Dec. 23, 2008. If what Tuszynski said at a hearing before the trial holds true, he intends to argue Evans-Koethe's capacity to knowingly tamper with evidence was affected by the bullet wound, as well as by her level of intoxication during the argument she had that night with her husband, Stephan Koethe.
"The jury needs to decide if this was just a drunken ramble, or if she was actually trying to deep-six this note," said Lake County Superior Court 4 Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr.
Evans-Koethe may take the stand sometime during the two-day trial, Tuszynski said. If she does, he expects her to testify to having great gaps in her memory, including about her conversation about the note with La Porte County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Patrick Cicero.
"She can explain to the jury why she cannot recall events as they happened," he said.
The jury, selected Monday morning, features four women and two men.
Just nine days before she was to be sworn in, she begged Cicero, also a staunch supporter of her election campaign, to hide the note, which was written on the top of a Carson Pirie Scott gift box, said special prosecutor Mark Roule, chief deputy prosecutor for St. Joseph County. The note was collected as evidence after the shooting.
"She chose to manipulate what would be found in her home that day," Roule said in his opening statements. "She chose to control, or attempt to control, what would be learned by officers."
Tuszynski painted a different picture of the scenario for the jury. Evans-Koethe and her husband were watching football at home when they got into an argument over family finances, he said. She wrote the "intensely personal" note to her husband about her feelings, he said, then lay beside it on the floor of their bedroom with a Glock 9mm handgun. Later that night in bed, she was holding the gun when it discharged.
"She was trying to get her husband's attention. She was emotional," Tuszynski said.
Tuszynski said he is confident the trial will fail to show Evans-Koethe tried to hide anything relevant from police.
"She very quickly and candidly accepted responsibility for what she termed as an accidental shooting," he said. "She cooperated to the best of her ability with police."
Three La Porte law-enforcement officials took the stand Monday afternoon to establish the facts of the case. La Porte police officer Nathan Thode, who was first on the scene the night of the shooting, testified Evans-Koethe seemed alert when he walked into their bedroom.
"Right away, she announced herself as Jennifer Evans. She said I'm a deputy prosecutor," Thode said. "I hadn't even asked her name."
Both Evans-Koethe and her husband told police they didn't know where the gun was that was used, although it was found later in a clothes basket in the closet, said La Porte County Capt. Clyde Crass, head of the department's detective bureau. Around 1 a.m., while she was at La Porte Hospital, she mentioned she didn't want her client files searched while police were at the home, Crass said. The conversation with Cicero took place about half an hour later, he testified.
"I could see she was emotional, she may have been crying when I walked in," Cicero said. "I held her hand and talked to her."
Cicero, a crime-scene technician, came to the hospital to collect evidence of her wound. But he also had an involved working relationship with her, he said, investigating several cases with her during the past six years. And, he was a close friend.
"We discussed what the incident could mean to her career. There was a degree of embarrassment," he said. "She kept saying 'It's not like I would do this on purpose, I wouldn't commit suicide.'...Then she brought up the note."
She told Cicero the note was in the bedroom, but nothing else, he testified. Then, he said, she asked him, "Can you get rid of it?"
"I didn't know what to say, I just sat there. I didn't answer," he said. "The medical team came in and was doing things, and from where I was standing I saw her mouth the word 'Please' to me a few times ... I took that as 'Please help me out here.'"
Cicero later told La Porte County Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer about her request and other officers after the note was found.
"If she had not said anything about the note, would you have collected it as evidence?" Roule asked Cicero.w
"Absolutely, because it's directly related to that conflict and it shows the frustration she was feeling," he replied.
Evans-Koethe was never advised of her rights before these statements were made, Tuszynski said. The officers also testified her head wound bled profusely, continuing to bleed even while in the hospital, and that she smelled of alcohol. Tuszynski said her blood-alcohol level was .16 percent, according to a blood test done at the hospital.
The trial is expected to continue today. Deliberation may extend into Wednesday if the jury needs more time.
Posted by: Dave Jan 5 2010, 01:49 PM
QUOTE
Evans-Koethe was never advised of her rights before these statements were made, Tuszynski said.
I wonder why that's supposed to be relevant. If Tuszynski is referring to Miranda warnings ("You have the right to remain silent, etc."), it's pretty amusing that he'd put forth an argument that someone who had just been elected to sit as a criminal court judge wouldn't know their rights under the Fifth and Sixth amendments. Not to mention Miranda only applies to custodial interrogations after an arrest, and Evans wasn't under arrest at the time.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 6 2010, 07:35 AM
http://www.wndu.com/hometop/headlines/80762357.html
QUOTE
On Tuesday night, after about 6 hours of deliberation, a Lake County jury reached a 'not guilty' verdict in the case of a LaPorte County judge.
LaPorte Superior Court Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe was accused of lying about a shooting at her home in December of 2008.
According to our reporting partners at the LaPorte Herald-Argus, Evans-Koethe was charged with obstruction of justice for asking police to destroy an alleged suicide note during their investigation of how a bullet grazed her head.
Investigators said the judge and her husband, Stephan Koethe, had been drinking before she was struck by the bullet. At the time, Evans-Koethe claimed she was holding the gun when it went off.
But prosecutors said her husband loaded the gun and it went off while the pair argued.
Evans-Koethe's attorney claimed his client's capacity to knowingly tamper with evidence that night was affected by her bullet wound and level of intoxication. She also took the stand during the trial to talk for the first time publicly about what happened.
Evans-Koethe still faces three counts of judicial misconduct brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications related to this case that could still lead to her removal from the bench by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Stephan Koethe is set to go to trial March 1 on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdeameanor.
LaPorte Superior Court Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe was accused of lying about a shooting at her home in December of 2008.
According to our reporting partners at the LaPorte Herald-Argus, Evans-Koethe was charged with obstruction of justice for asking police to destroy an alleged suicide note during their investigation of how a bullet grazed her head.
Investigators said the judge and her husband, Stephan Koethe, had been drinking before she was struck by the bullet. At the time, Evans-Koethe claimed she was holding the gun when it went off.
But prosecutors said her husband loaded the gun and it went off while the pair argued.
Evans-Koethe's attorney claimed his client's capacity to knowingly tamper with evidence that night was affected by her bullet wound and level of intoxication. She also took the stand during the trial to talk for the first time publicly about what happened.
Evans-Koethe still faces three counts of judicial misconduct brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications related to this case that could still lead to her removal from the bench by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Stephan Koethe is set to go to trial March 1 on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdeameanor.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 6 2010, 08:56 AM
http://www.post-trib.com/news/1975845,koethe0106.article
QUOTE
Koethe acquitted in obstruction trial
Comments
January 6, 2010
BY RUTH ANN KRAUSE, POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT
Lake County jurors in Crown Point on Tuesday night acquitted former LaPorte County prosecutor Jennifer Koethe, who was on trial for obstruction of justice by asking an investigator to get rid of a note she'd written during a dispute at home.
Koethe, 35, of LaPorte, acknowledged she'd had been drinking on Dec. 22, 2008, before she called police to her home after accidentally shooting herself in the head with her 9 mm pistol.
Koethe said she and her husband, Stephan, whom she married in June 2007, had argued the previous night over family finances and the tension lingered.
She was working three jobs -- as a deputy prosecutor, city attorney for Michigan City and in private practice, and her husband hadn't earned any commissions as a real estate agent that year, said Koethe, who was set to be sworn in as LaPorte Superior Court judge.
Koethe said her pistol and her husband's .357-caliber Magnum revolver had been unloaded the previous night when they went Christmas shopping and left her husband's children with a baby sitter.
During an argument, her husband punched a hole in the kitchen wall.
Koethe said she was upset, felt her husband wasn't listening to her and went into the bedroom, where she wrote about her feelings on a gift box lid. "I wanted to get his attention," Koethe said.
After her husband came back inside from smoking, he saw her on the bedroom floor, the note on one side and her pistol on the other.
He picked up the gun, asked her what she was doing and more discussion followed. "We made up," she said.
Koethe didn't deny asking LaPorte County police Detective Sgt. Patrick Cicero to dispose of the note, which she did not consider evidence in the investigation. "I don't remember asking him to get rid of the note, but if he said I did I must have," she said.
In his closing argument, defense attorney Mike Tuszynski told jurors: "In her mind this wasn't evidence of anything.
"It wasn't her intent to break the law after a lifetime of upholding it," Tuszynski said.
St. Joseph County deputy prosecutor Mark Roule noted that despite Koethe's blood alcohol level being twice the legal limit for intoxication, she was concerned about appearances if the note was made public.
She had the presence of mind to suggest a gunshot residue test to prove she shot herself, and raised concerns about keeping her client files confidential during a police search of her home.
In addition, after asking Cicero to get rid of the note, she mouthed the word, "please," repeatedly when medical personnel were present in the trauma room at LaPorte Hospital.
Roule said he felt he'd proven that Koethe wanted the note removed with the intent to prevent it from being used as evidence in an official investigation.
Obstruction of justice, a felony, carries a maximum three-year sentence.
Comments
January 6, 2010
BY RUTH ANN KRAUSE, POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT
Lake County jurors in Crown Point on Tuesday night acquitted former LaPorte County prosecutor Jennifer Koethe, who was on trial for obstruction of justice by asking an investigator to get rid of a note she'd written during a dispute at home.
Koethe, 35, of LaPorte, acknowledged she'd had been drinking on Dec. 22, 2008, before she called police to her home after accidentally shooting herself in the head with her 9 mm pistol.
Koethe said she and her husband, Stephan, whom she married in June 2007, had argued the previous night over family finances and the tension lingered.
She was working three jobs -- as a deputy prosecutor, city attorney for Michigan City and in private practice, and her husband hadn't earned any commissions as a real estate agent that year, said Koethe, who was set to be sworn in as LaPorte Superior Court judge.
Koethe said her pistol and her husband's .357-caliber Magnum revolver had been unloaded the previous night when they went Christmas shopping and left her husband's children with a baby sitter.
During an argument, her husband punched a hole in the kitchen wall.
Koethe said she was upset, felt her husband wasn't listening to her and went into the bedroom, where she wrote about her feelings on a gift box lid. "I wanted to get his attention," Koethe said.
After her husband came back inside from smoking, he saw her on the bedroom floor, the note on one side and her pistol on the other.
He picked up the gun, asked her what she was doing and more discussion followed. "We made up," she said.
Koethe didn't deny asking LaPorte County police Detective Sgt. Patrick Cicero to dispose of the note, which she did not consider evidence in the investigation. "I don't remember asking him to get rid of the note, but if he said I did I must have," she said.
In his closing argument, defense attorney Mike Tuszynski told jurors: "In her mind this wasn't evidence of anything.
"It wasn't her intent to break the law after a lifetime of upholding it," Tuszynski said.
St. Joseph County deputy prosecutor Mark Roule noted that despite Koethe's blood alcohol level being twice the legal limit for intoxication, she was concerned about appearances if the note was made public.
She had the presence of mind to suggest a gunshot residue test to prove she shot herself, and raised concerns about keeping her client files confidential during a police search of her home.
In addition, after asking Cicero to get rid of the note, she mouthed the word, "please," repeatedly when medical personnel were present in the trauma room at LaPorte Hospital.
Roule said he felt he'd proven that Koethe wanted the note removed with the intent to prevent it from being used as evidence in an official investigation.
Obstruction of justice, a felony, carries a maximum three-year sentence.
Posted by: Dave Jan 6 2010, 03:01 PM
QUOTE
Evans-Koethe still faces three counts of judicial misconduct brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications related to this case that could still lead to her removal from the bench by the Indiana Supreme Court.
I'm pretty sure that the standard of proof for this kind of proceeding is not the same as that for a criminal proceeding. In a criminal proceeding, as I'm sure we all know, the standard is "beyond a reasonable doubt." In a judicial misconduct hearing, the standard is probably "the preponderance of the evidence," which is simply more likely than not.
So while Jennifer Evans apparently isn't going to jail, she may very well not be going back on her seat on the bench, either.
Hmm, upon reading the rules (which can be found here: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/ad_dis/index.html#_Toc241999449 ), the standard of proof is, well, read it for yourself:
QUOTE
Rule 25, § VIII K (6) The Commission shall have the burden to prove misconduct on the part of the judicial officer by clear and convincing evidence.
Given this, and other stuff I read on that page, I'd say her chances of getting back on the bench are probably about 75% / 25%.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 6 2010, 08:11 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=28034
QUOTE
Verdict: not guilty
Evans-Koethe takes stand in her own defense
Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
CROWN POINT - Braced for the unknown, Jennifer Evans-Koethe stood to hear the verdict.
Not guilty.
Immediately her husband, Stephan Koethe, and her mother burst into tears. Evans-Koethe, a suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge, mouthed two words back to the jury: Thank you. Then she also began to cry, collapsing on defense lawyer Michael Tuszynski's shoulder.
After a full day of testimony, it took six hours of deliberation Tuesday for the jury of four women and two men to find Evans-Koethe not guilty of attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony. She also took the stand to talk for the first time publicly about what happened Dec. 23, 2008, in her home when she ended up with a gunshot wound to the head.
Evans-Koethe still faces three counts of judicial misconduct brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications related to this case that could still lead to her removal from the bench by the Indiana Supreme Court. She and her family declined comment Tuesday night on what the verdict meant for them, but Tuszynski, of William P. Stanley & Associates, South Bend, said he was pleased.
"I think their conclusion was appropriate given the facts that were presented," he said. "Six hours to deliberate over a D felony is a long time, but they did their job."
Tuszynski could not say how this verdict may affect the judicial misconduct charges still pending.
The story Evans-Koethe related about the night in question, and how the note came to be involved, was an emotional one. She said she'd been doing paperwork that day, finishing up the duties of three jobs - Michigan City attorney, deputy La Porte County prosecutor and private practice - because in nine days, she'd be sworn in as judge.
She got home in time to make dinner that night, Evans-Koethe said, and the family planned to watch the Bears/Packers game. At half time, she put her two stepchildren, a girl, 10, and a boy, 9, to bed, and the Koethes started drinking vodka. Evans-Koethe said she took about five shots and some wine coolers.
The couple started arguing over their finances. Stephan Koethe, as a real estate agent, hadn't made a sale in 2008 and she said she wanted him to find another job until the economy recovered. When Stephan went outside to take a smoke break, she poured the rest of the vodka down the drain. He came inside, and after a continued argument, he punched a hole in the kitchen wall. That's when Evans-Koethe got so upset that she went upstairs, found the Carson Pirie Scott gift box top and, sitting on the floor, scribbled out her feelings.
"I wanted him to pay attention," she said. "I wanted to tell him his actions, by not listening to me, were hurting me."
Evans said she then took her 9mm Glock from their dresser and placed it on side, the note on her other side, and laid down on the floor. She said she knew it was unloaded at that time because the Koethes had a babysitter for the children the night before, and when a babysitter is in the home, the guns are always unloaded. The magazine was still missing when she took the gun out, she said.
Koethe found her laying on the floor and said, "What are you doing with this out? This is stupid." They made up, she said, and Evans-Koethe said she thought she'd put the gun away and went to bed.
When Evans was almost asleep, Koethe returned to the bedroom and they talked for awhile. Evans-Koethe said she didn't remember the topic. But she saw the gun in the middle of the bed. She picked it up, wondering what it was doing there, she said. She rolled over, and it went off. She said she felt warmth coming out of her head; it was blood.
"I really thought I was just gonna die," she said.
She doesn't remember specifics, but at the hospital she remembers speaking with La Porte Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer, La Porte police chief of detectives Clyde Crass and La Porte Sheriff's Sgt. Patrick Cicero.
"I tried to tell them as much as I could," Evans-Koethe said.
If she hadn't told Pat where it was, it might never have even been found, she admitted. But she was worried about it.
"It was difficult for me to share those feelings with my husband, let alone anyone else. I didn't want everyone to know I was having issues in my marriage and my financial difficulties," she said.
During her conversation with Cicero in the emergency room, she testified she didn't remember saying "Get rid of it," or anything else about the note.
"If he says I did, I must have," she said. "He wouldn't lie."
He testified Monday that she continued to mouth the word "please" to him as the medical team worked on her, but he never addressed the issue with her after he left. In fact, Tuszynski said, no law enforcement officer ever asked her about the note again, or whether she meant to have it destroyed, even in the final interview she had Jan. 9 with detectives and special investigator Sgt. Chris Hinton, St. Joseph County Special Victims Unit. At the trial, special prosecutor Mark Roule, St. Joseph County chief deputy prosecutor, played a five-minute clip of the interview at the La Porte police station. She brought up the note, saying she told Pat they'd find the note.
"I am so embarrassed. I wasn't trying to kill myself, but I know that's what it's going to look like," she said during the interview.
In closing arguments, Roule called Evans-Koethe's actions a "clear case" of an attempt to obstruct justice. She repeatedly begged Cicero to do something about the note. She waited to mention the note until Mollenhauer had left the hospital. She asked police not to search her personal client files at home.
"That's not someone so blasted out of their mind that they don't know what's going on," he said. "She wanted to control what people know, what people learn. But you can do that without talking to them. You can control what they know by not providing additional information. She knew it was going to be found, and she didn't want that to happen."
It doesn't matter why she didn't want them to find it, he said. Even if she was embarrassed, that doesn't matter. It was part of the investigation.
But Tuszynski countered Roule's claims, saying Evans-Koethe was emotional and upset. Doctors testified she may have had a concussion, and she suffered severe blood loss. Alcohol only exacerbates those kinds of injuries, doctors said.
"This is clearly the best circumstance to formulate a secret, evil plan to fool detectives," Tuszynski joked.
He claimed Evans-Koethe had "nothing to lose," and that she mentioned the note of her own free will. The whole situation was embarrassing enough, he said.
"What does the note mean in all of this? It doesn't mean anything," he said. "She stepped up immediately and said what happened was her fault. Maybe you can forgive her, if by doing that, she tries to maintain a little bit of her privacy, a little bit of her dignity. If she's unwilling to stand naked emotionally in front of her co-workers, that doesn't make her a felon."
Tuszynski also hinted that someone may have had ulterior motives in pursuit of the case.
"Nobody apparently gave a damn about that note until sometime after Jan. 9," he said. "Why is that?"
Stephan Koethe is set to go to trial March 1 on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdeameanor.
Evans-Koethe takes stand in her own defense
Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
CROWN POINT - Braced for the unknown, Jennifer Evans-Koethe stood to hear the verdict.
Not guilty.
Immediately her husband, Stephan Koethe, and her mother burst into tears. Evans-Koethe, a suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge, mouthed two words back to the jury: Thank you. Then she also began to cry, collapsing on defense lawyer Michael Tuszynski's shoulder.
After a full day of testimony, it took six hours of deliberation Tuesday for the jury of four women and two men to find Evans-Koethe not guilty of attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony. She also took the stand to talk for the first time publicly about what happened Dec. 23, 2008, in her home when she ended up with a gunshot wound to the head.
Evans-Koethe still faces three counts of judicial misconduct brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications related to this case that could still lead to her removal from the bench by the Indiana Supreme Court. She and her family declined comment Tuesday night on what the verdict meant for them, but Tuszynski, of William P. Stanley & Associates, South Bend, said he was pleased.
"I think their conclusion was appropriate given the facts that were presented," he said. "Six hours to deliberate over a D felony is a long time, but they did their job."
Tuszynski could not say how this verdict may affect the judicial misconduct charges still pending.
The story Evans-Koethe related about the night in question, and how the note came to be involved, was an emotional one. She said she'd been doing paperwork that day, finishing up the duties of three jobs - Michigan City attorney, deputy La Porte County prosecutor and private practice - because in nine days, she'd be sworn in as judge.
She got home in time to make dinner that night, Evans-Koethe said, and the family planned to watch the Bears/Packers game. At half time, she put her two stepchildren, a girl, 10, and a boy, 9, to bed, and the Koethes started drinking vodka. Evans-Koethe said she took about five shots and some wine coolers.
The couple started arguing over their finances. Stephan Koethe, as a real estate agent, hadn't made a sale in 2008 and she said she wanted him to find another job until the economy recovered. When Stephan went outside to take a smoke break, she poured the rest of the vodka down the drain. He came inside, and after a continued argument, he punched a hole in the kitchen wall. That's when Evans-Koethe got so upset that she went upstairs, found the Carson Pirie Scott gift box top and, sitting on the floor, scribbled out her feelings.
"I wanted him to pay attention," she said. "I wanted to tell him his actions, by not listening to me, were hurting me."
Evans said she then took her 9mm Glock from their dresser and placed it on side, the note on her other side, and laid down on the floor. She said she knew it was unloaded at that time because the Koethes had a babysitter for the children the night before, and when a babysitter is in the home, the guns are always unloaded. The magazine was still missing when she took the gun out, she said.
Koethe found her laying on the floor and said, "What are you doing with this out? This is stupid." They made up, she said, and Evans-Koethe said she thought she'd put the gun away and went to bed.
When Evans was almost asleep, Koethe returned to the bedroom and they talked for awhile. Evans-Koethe said she didn't remember the topic. But she saw the gun in the middle of the bed. She picked it up, wondering what it was doing there, she said. She rolled over, and it went off. She said she felt warmth coming out of her head; it was blood.
"I really thought I was just gonna die," she said.
She doesn't remember specifics, but at the hospital she remembers speaking with La Porte Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer, La Porte police chief of detectives Clyde Crass and La Porte Sheriff's Sgt. Patrick Cicero.
"I tried to tell them as much as I could," Evans-Koethe said.
If she hadn't told Pat where it was, it might never have even been found, she admitted. But she was worried about it.
"It was difficult for me to share those feelings with my husband, let alone anyone else. I didn't want everyone to know I was having issues in my marriage and my financial difficulties," she said.
During her conversation with Cicero in the emergency room, she testified she didn't remember saying "Get rid of it," or anything else about the note.
"If he says I did, I must have," she said. "He wouldn't lie."
He testified Monday that she continued to mouth the word "please" to him as the medical team worked on her, but he never addressed the issue with her after he left. In fact, Tuszynski said, no law enforcement officer ever asked her about the note again, or whether she meant to have it destroyed, even in the final interview she had Jan. 9 with detectives and special investigator Sgt. Chris Hinton, St. Joseph County Special Victims Unit. At the trial, special prosecutor Mark Roule, St. Joseph County chief deputy prosecutor, played a five-minute clip of the interview at the La Porte police station. She brought up the note, saying she told Pat they'd find the note.
"I am so embarrassed. I wasn't trying to kill myself, but I know that's what it's going to look like," she said during the interview.
In closing arguments, Roule called Evans-Koethe's actions a "clear case" of an attempt to obstruct justice. She repeatedly begged Cicero to do something about the note. She waited to mention the note until Mollenhauer had left the hospital. She asked police not to search her personal client files at home.
"That's not someone so blasted out of their mind that they don't know what's going on," he said. "She wanted to control what people know, what people learn. But you can do that without talking to them. You can control what they know by not providing additional information. She knew it was going to be found, and she didn't want that to happen."
It doesn't matter why she didn't want them to find it, he said. Even if she was embarrassed, that doesn't matter. It was part of the investigation.
But Tuszynski countered Roule's claims, saying Evans-Koethe was emotional and upset. Doctors testified she may have had a concussion, and she suffered severe blood loss. Alcohol only exacerbates those kinds of injuries, doctors said.
"This is clearly the best circumstance to formulate a secret, evil plan to fool detectives," Tuszynski joked.
He claimed Evans-Koethe had "nothing to lose," and that she mentioned the note of her own free will. The whole situation was embarrassing enough, he said.
"What does the note mean in all of this? It doesn't mean anything," he said. "She stepped up immediately and said what happened was her fault. Maybe you can forgive her, if by doing that, she tries to maintain a little bit of her privacy, a little bit of her dignity. If she's unwilling to stand naked emotionally in front of her co-workers, that doesn't make her a felon."
Tuszynski also hinted that someone may have had ulterior motives in pursuit of the case.
"Nobody apparently gave a damn about that note until sometime after Jan. 9," he said. "Why is that?"
Stephan Koethe is set to go to trial March 1 on charges of false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, and criminal recklessness, a Class B misdeameanor.
Posted by: Dave Jan 7 2010, 02:28 AM
QUOTE
Both Evans-Koethe and her husband told police they didn't know where the gun was that was used, although it was found later in a clothes basket in the closet, said La Porte County Capt. Clyde Crass, head of the department's detective bureau.
I think if I had been prosecuting this case, I would have hammered this point over and over, especially during cross examination.
"Do you remember identifying yourself to the police officers when they arrived? Do you remember offering to take a gunshot residue test? Do you remember concealing the gun in the closet before calling the police? Do you remember concealing the gun in the closet after calling the police? Etc."
And I bet the mother of Evans' step-children is really pleased about guns being in that house with at least one person who apparently has no clue as to gun safety.
Posted by: NDReporter Jan 7 2010, 12:19 PM
QUOTE(Dave @ Jan 7 2010, 02:28 AM)
I think if I had been prosecuting this case, I would have hammered this point over and over, especially during cross examination.
"Do you remember identifying yourself to the police officers when they arrived? Do you remember offering to take a gunshot residue test? Do you remember concealing the gun in the closet before calling the police? Do you remember concealing the gun in the closet after calling the police? Etc."
And I bet the mother of Evans' step-children is really pleased about guns being in that house with at least one person who apparently has no clue as to gun safety.
Mark Roule did reiterate those points, over and over again -- that she was coherent enough to immediately identify herself, requesting things etc. I wish I could have gotten a response from the jurors as to why they made the decision they did, but I had to rush back to Michigan City on deadline and couldn't wait. Jurors names aren't included in the court files in Lake County, so now I can't follow up at all.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 7 2010, 01:13 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72&ArticleID=28072
QUOTE
Our Opinion:
The Issue:
The judge still
faces judicial misconduct charges.
Our Opinion:
The acquittal doesn't mean she should be returned to the bench.
Evans-Koethe
Acquittal isn�t end of case
Editorial
Suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe was acquitted Tuesday of a charge of attempted obstruction of justice, which was a major victory for her in her legal troubles.
However, Evans-Koethe still faces judicial misconduct charges, and in the coming weeks will have to defend herself to regain her judgeship and keep her law license. Those charges were based largely on the same evidence that a jury decided didn't warrant a guilty verdict, so the acquittal in a Lake Superior Courthouse on Tuesday night was an essential step to her being restored to the bench. She was suspended from the judgeship last May after she was indicted following an investigation into an incident in which she was wounded by gunfire in her La Porte home Dec. 22, 2008, during a disagreement with her husband, Stephan, a week before she was sworn in as judge.
But her future as judge lies with the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission, which for now is keeping the misconduct charges pending.
Regardless of the outcome of the trial and whatever recommendation the Qualification Commission makes to the Indiana Supreme Court, which then makes the final decision, Evans-Koethe will remain tarred by the evidence in the case. That includes statements she made to police and her testimony at trial. She did not dispute a police officer's testimony that she asked him to get rid of a note she wrote the night of the shooting, which was the basis for the obstruction of justice charge. Moreover, she said she had been drinking that night and couldn't remember asking the officer to get rid of the note. Nor could she explain how the gun that fired and grazed her scalp became loaded.
We have said we don't think she can carry out the duties of judge effectively. Despite her acquittal, we still don't think she should return to the bench.
The Issue:
The judge still
faces judicial misconduct charges.
Our Opinion:
The acquittal doesn't mean she should be returned to the bench.
Evans-Koethe
Acquittal isn�t end of case
Editorial
Suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe was acquitted Tuesday of a charge of attempted obstruction of justice, which was a major victory for her in her legal troubles.
However, Evans-Koethe still faces judicial misconduct charges, and in the coming weeks will have to defend herself to regain her judgeship and keep her law license. Those charges were based largely on the same evidence that a jury decided didn't warrant a guilty verdict, so the acquittal in a Lake Superior Courthouse on Tuesday night was an essential step to her being restored to the bench. She was suspended from the judgeship last May after she was indicted following an investigation into an incident in which she was wounded by gunfire in her La Porte home Dec. 22, 2008, during a disagreement with her husband, Stephan, a week before she was sworn in as judge.
But her future as judge lies with the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission, which for now is keeping the misconduct charges pending.
Regardless of the outcome of the trial and whatever recommendation the Qualification Commission makes to the Indiana Supreme Court, which then makes the final decision, Evans-Koethe will remain tarred by the evidence in the case. That includes statements she made to police and her testimony at trial. She did not dispute a police officer's testimony that she asked him to get rid of a note she wrote the night of the shooting, which was the basis for the obstruction of justice charge. Moreover, she said she had been drinking that night and couldn't remember asking the officer to get rid of the note. Nor could she explain how the gun that fired and grazed her scalp became loaded.
We have said we don't think she can carry out the duties of judge effectively. Despite her acquittal, we still don't think she should return to the bench.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 7 2010, 01:16 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=28054
QUOTE
Evans-Koethe's fate now rests with commission
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe remains suspended, even after her acquittal on a criminal charge late Tuesday night, according to the Indiana Supreme Court.
She still faces separate charges from the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications for alleged judicial misconduct.
"The Judicial Qualifications Commission alleges suspended Judge Koethe committed judicial misconduct, and that investigation and prosecution will continue," Supreme Court Public Information Officer Kathryn Dolan said in an e-mail.
A Lake County jury found her not guilty of attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony.
According to the commission's findings, Evans-Koethe, then a deputy prosecutor, grazed herself in the head with a bullet at her home on Dec. 22, 2008. At the scene, she told police she did not know the location of a gun, and officers later located two guns under a laundry hamper. She later told a police officer she knew about a note she wrote on the back of a box and asked him to "Get rid of it," according to the commission's findings. Her husband, Stephan, later told police he hid the gun and note in the closet while Evans-Koethe was in the room.
The commission charges Evans-Koethe with one count of misconduct and centers on her "conduct in deliberately withholding or misrepresenting pertinent information." The other two counts relate to her request to a police officer that he destroy a note that was potential evidence.
Evans-Koethe's answer to the commission's charges is due to the Supreme Court on Monday. Within 30 days after the answer is submitted, the court will appoint three masters (judges) to hear the case. Those masters will hear the evidence and submit a fact finding to the Supreme Court.
"Ultimately, it is the Supreme Court that will determine what, if any, discipline is appropriate for Judge Koethe," Dolan wrote.
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe remains suspended, even after her acquittal on a criminal charge late Tuesday night, according to the Indiana Supreme Court.
She still faces separate charges from the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications for alleged judicial misconduct.
"The Judicial Qualifications Commission alleges suspended Judge Koethe committed judicial misconduct, and that investigation and prosecution will continue," Supreme Court Public Information Officer Kathryn Dolan said in an e-mail.
A Lake County jury found her not guilty of attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony.
According to the commission's findings, Evans-Koethe, then a deputy prosecutor, grazed herself in the head with a bullet at her home on Dec. 22, 2008. At the scene, she told police she did not know the location of a gun, and officers later located two guns under a laundry hamper. She later told a police officer she knew about a note she wrote on the back of a box and asked him to "Get rid of it," according to the commission's findings. Her husband, Stephan, later told police he hid the gun and note in the closet while Evans-Koethe was in the room.
The commission charges Evans-Koethe with one count of misconduct and centers on her "conduct in deliberately withholding or misrepresenting pertinent information." The other two counts relate to her request to a police officer that he destroy a note that was potential evidence.
Evans-Koethe's answer to the commission's charges is due to the Supreme Court on Monday. Within 30 days after the answer is submitted, the court will appoint three masters (judges) to hear the case. Those masters will hear the evidence and submit a fact finding to the Supreme Court.
"Ultimately, it is the Supreme Court that will determine what, if any, discipline is appropriate for Judge Koethe," Dolan wrote.
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 12 2010, 01:31 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=75&ArticleID=28161&TM=51720.7
QUOTE
Evans-Koethe shouldn't return
A superior court judge should not be a dingbat, but if so, the person should not be judging and/or sentencing anyone in a court of law, especially those who may have committed criminal acts such as misuse of a firearm, attempts to conceal pertinent evidence, falsifying a criminal report, or being drunk or disorderly.
A superior court judge should be well respected, a pillar of society, able to handle their personal lives with a degree of decorum devoid of excessive alcohol use, and trustworthy in all courtroom decisions.
The three master judges and Supreme Court members should take into consideration that Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe has already raked in thousands of unearned dollars, and her return to the courtroom would be an injustice in itself.
Nancy Innes
Michigan City
A superior court judge should not be a dingbat, but if so, the person should not be judging and/or sentencing anyone in a court of law, especially those who may have committed criminal acts such as misuse of a firearm, attempts to conceal pertinent evidence, falsifying a criminal report, or being drunk or disorderly.
A superior court judge should be well respected, a pillar of society, able to handle their personal lives with a degree of decorum devoid of excessive alcohol use, and trustworthy in all courtroom decisions.
The three master judges and Supreme Court members should take into consideration that Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe has already raked in thousands of unearned dollars, and her return to the courtroom would be an injustice in itself.
Nancy Innes
Michigan City
Posted by: southsider2k9 Jan 14 2010, 02:09 PM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/01/14/news/local/doc4b4ea8042419e398929910.txt
QUOTE
Evans-Koethe requests charges be dismissed
In response to commission, suspended judge says she has ‘no recollection’ of events
By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010 4:17 AM CST
LA PORTE — Jennifer Evans-Koethe, the suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 judge, claims to have “no recollection” of many events cited in three judicial misconduct charges against her, asking in her response to have the charges dismissed.
Her response to the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications’ charges was due Jan. 11, days after a Lake County jury found her not guilty of attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony.
The commission filed its judicial misconduct charges against Evans-Koethe last month, accusing her of deliberately withholding or misrepresenting pertinent information during taped statements and asking a police officer to destroy a handwritten note, which was potential evidence. In doing so, Evans-Koethe violated rules of conduct for judges and attorneys that require them to “avoid impropriety and to act at all times in a manner promoting the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary,” and “to not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” the commission wrote.
In her response, Evans-Koethe denies being asked about the whereabouts of her Glock 9mm handgun when police came to her home in response to a shooting Dec. 22, 2008, saying she had no recollection of being questioned there. Evans-Koethe told officers she accidentally shot herself after an argument with her husband, Stephan Koethe.
At Evans-Koethe’s trial, La Porte police officer Nathan Thode testified both she and her husband said they “didn’t know” where the gun was, although it was found later in a clothes basket in their bedroom closet.
Evans-Koethe claims her knowledge of the events of the night of Dec. 22 was affected by her “head trauma,” and that her statements about the incident changed only after her husband told her things she didn’t know, including that he reloaded the gun without her knowledge. She said at trial he “must have forgotten to put it away” after reloading it. She told police she thought it was unloaded when she picked it up.
The criminal charge of attempted obstruction of justice, of which she was acquitted, was filed because she allegedly asked police to “get rid of” a note she wrote to her husband before the shooting. Both in trial and her response to the judicial misconduct charges, Evans-Koethe said she did not remember saying that.
“However, she has been informed and believes, and therefore admits, that she spoke words such as those attributed to her,” her response states.
She also denies deliberately omitting disclosure of the note in a recorded statement.
Evans-Koethe was suspended as La Porte Superior Court 3 judge by the Supreme Court effective May 11, with pay, which is about $120,000 a year.
Within 30 days, the Indiana Supreme Court will appoint three masters (judges) to hear the case. Those masters will hear the evidence and submit a fact finding to the court.
“Ultimately, it is the Supreme Court that will determine what, if any, discipline is appropriate for Judge Koethe,” said Kathryn Dolan, Indiana Supreme Court public-information officer.
If charges in the three counts of judicial misconduct are affirmed, that could lead to her removal from the bench by the Indiana Supreme Court, the loss of her attorney’s license or both.
In response to commission, suspended judge says she has ‘no recollection’ of events
By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010 4:17 AM CST
LA PORTE — Jennifer Evans-Koethe, the suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 judge, claims to have “no recollection” of many events cited in three judicial misconduct charges against her, asking in her response to have the charges dismissed.
Her response to the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications’ charges was due Jan. 11, days after a Lake County jury found her not guilty of attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony.
The commission filed its judicial misconduct charges against Evans-Koethe last month, accusing her of deliberately withholding or misrepresenting pertinent information during taped statements and asking a police officer to destroy a handwritten note, which was potential evidence. In doing so, Evans-Koethe violated rules of conduct for judges and attorneys that require them to “avoid impropriety and to act at all times in a manner promoting the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary,” and “to not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” the commission wrote.
In her response, Evans-Koethe denies being asked about the whereabouts of her Glock 9mm handgun when police came to her home in response to a shooting Dec. 22, 2008, saying she had no recollection of being questioned there. Evans-Koethe told officers she accidentally shot herself after an argument with her husband, Stephan Koethe.
At Evans-Koethe’s trial, La Porte police officer Nathan Thode testified both she and her husband said they “didn’t know” where the gun was, although it was found later in a clothes basket in their bedroom closet.
Evans-Koethe claims her knowledge of the events of the night of Dec. 22 was affected by her “head trauma,” and that her statements about the incident changed only after her husband told her things she didn’t know, including that he reloaded the gun without her knowledge. She said at trial he “must have forgotten to put it away” after reloading it. She told police she thought it was unloaded when she picked it up.
The criminal charge of attempted obstruction of justice, of which she was acquitted, was filed because she allegedly asked police to “get rid of” a note she wrote to her husband before the shooting. Both in trial and her response to the judicial misconduct charges, Evans-Koethe said she did not remember saying that.
“However, she has been informed and believes, and therefore admits, that she spoke words such as those attributed to her,” her response states.
She also denies deliberately omitting disclosure of the note in a recorded statement.
Evans-Koethe was suspended as La Porte Superior Court 3 judge by the Supreme Court effective May 11, with pay, which is about $120,000 a year.
Within 30 days, the Indiana Supreme Court will appoint three masters (judges) to hear the case. Those masters will hear the evidence and submit a fact finding to the court.
“Ultimately, it is the Supreme Court that will determine what, if any, discipline is appropriate for Judge Koethe,” said Kathryn Dolan, Indiana Supreme Court public-information officer.
If charges in the three counts of judicial misconduct are affirmed, that could lead to her removal from the bench by the Indiana Supreme Court, the loss of her attorney’s license or both.
Posted by: southsiderMMX Jan 15 2010, 10:03 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/01/15/news/opinion/guest_editorials/doc4b4f90c964281601939396.txt
QUOTE
Evans-Koethe delusional to try to keep judgeship
Published: Friday, January 15, 2010 4:16 AM CST
Timothy Stabosz
In her decision to not let go of “her” judgeship, Jennifer Evans-Koethe reveals a profound and breathtaking contempt for the people of La Porte County. How can she deem to sit on a respected rostrum, presenting herself as a judge, an agent for forthrightness that is the foundation of our legal system, asking people if they will swear to tell the whole truth, when she has been nothing if not deceptive and dissembling with regard to her personal family tragedy — and unaccountable over how that deception bears on her character and qualifications as a judge?
Ms. Evans-Koethe needs to face the fact that the truth will set her free, emotionally, morally and spiritually. But, in this case, the truth also will set free the citizens of La Porte County, whose trust and faith Ms. Evans-Koethe has profoundly abused. This is something that Ms. Evans-Koethe, if she has any self-respect, should care about!
It seems to me that Jennifer Evans-Koethe’ decision-making process has been ruled by the psychology of desperation, a profound fear that her life will be “ruined” if she simply opens up, reveals and faces the truth of what happened, and what it, on its very face, means about her. Does her incapability of being strong, of being honest, not reflect, fundamentally, on her capability and qualifications of serving as a judge?
Once she is seated on the bench, by what moral right does she deem to demand that we, as citizens, answer to some presumed “authority” she has? Will she, merely by right of the ceremonial robes she wears, demand that we, as citizens, “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” that is blatantly evident for all to see?
Kicking and screaming, running away from reality, she is going to get that judgeship, regardless of the fact that there is no honor, no decency and no respect for the public trust in what she is selfishly trying to achieve. We need only look at the personal hubris, and the tragic lessons of secrecy, evasion and personal destruction that previous politicians ingloriously visited upon us, whether it is Richard Nixon’s paranoia-induced Watergate cover-up, or Ted Kennedy’s “panic” at Chappaquiddick, with the resulting self-loathing that these men struggled with for the rest of their lives.
This sham, this pattern of deception that is being perpetrated on the citizenry, by one who would deem to call herself “judge,” makes for a bizarre and painful public spectacle. Fortunately, I am convinced the Indiana Supreme Court will look at the evidence, as good judges do, and realize that we cannot countenance the fundamental evil that would result in seating Ms. Evans-Koethe. The members of the court are not stupid; they understand that Evans-Koethe’s being seated would be a travesty of the highest proportions, and make a mockery out of the concept of justice in La Porte County.
In the meantime, may I suggest to Ms. Evans, that if she faces reality, and tells the whole truth, the arms of the community will be waiting to embrace her and support her without hesitation or judgment.
But, if she continues to deem to “pull one over on the people,” there is only shame, disgrace and ignominy awaiting her. She has, no doubt, been through a lot, and is otherwise entitled to our utmost sympathy over that. But how on God’s green earth could any self-respecting person put the public through what she has, and, with a straight face expect that her current reputation justifies maintaining the trust of the public to serve us on the bench? This is sheer unmitigated delusion. And she knows that.
So why is she sitting on her hands? Does she somehow expect to be vindicated in the eyes of the public, or her own eyes, for that matter, if she lets herself be appointed as a “fraudulent” judge?
q
Timothy Stabosz was a La Porte City Councilman from 2004 to 2007.
Published: Friday, January 15, 2010 4:16 AM CST
Timothy Stabosz
In her decision to not let go of “her” judgeship, Jennifer Evans-Koethe reveals a profound and breathtaking contempt for the people of La Porte County. How can she deem to sit on a respected rostrum, presenting herself as a judge, an agent for forthrightness that is the foundation of our legal system, asking people if they will swear to tell the whole truth, when she has been nothing if not deceptive and dissembling with regard to her personal family tragedy — and unaccountable over how that deception bears on her character and qualifications as a judge?
Ms. Evans-Koethe needs to face the fact that the truth will set her free, emotionally, morally and spiritually. But, in this case, the truth also will set free the citizens of La Porte County, whose trust and faith Ms. Evans-Koethe has profoundly abused. This is something that Ms. Evans-Koethe, if she has any self-respect, should care about!
It seems to me that Jennifer Evans-Koethe’ decision-making process has been ruled by the psychology of desperation, a profound fear that her life will be “ruined” if she simply opens up, reveals and faces the truth of what happened, and what it, on its very face, means about her. Does her incapability of being strong, of being honest, not reflect, fundamentally, on her capability and qualifications of serving as a judge?
Once she is seated on the bench, by what moral right does she deem to demand that we, as citizens, answer to some presumed “authority” she has? Will she, merely by right of the ceremonial robes she wears, demand that we, as citizens, “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” that is blatantly evident for all to see?
Kicking and screaming, running away from reality, she is going to get that judgeship, regardless of the fact that there is no honor, no decency and no respect for the public trust in what she is selfishly trying to achieve. We need only look at the personal hubris, and the tragic lessons of secrecy, evasion and personal destruction that previous politicians ingloriously visited upon us, whether it is Richard Nixon’s paranoia-induced Watergate cover-up, or Ted Kennedy’s “panic” at Chappaquiddick, with the resulting self-loathing that these men struggled with for the rest of their lives.
This sham, this pattern of deception that is being perpetrated on the citizenry, by one who would deem to call herself “judge,” makes for a bizarre and painful public spectacle. Fortunately, I am convinced the Indiana Supreme Court will look at the evidence, as good judges do, and realize that we cannot countenance the fundamental evil that would result in seating Ms. Evans-Koethe. The members of the court are not stupid; they understand that Evans-Koethe’s being seated would be a travesty of the highest proportions, and make a mockery out of the concept of justice in La Porte County.
In the meantime, may I suggest to Ms. Evans, that if she faces reality, and tells the whole truth, the arms of the community will be waiting to embrace her and support her without hesitation or judgment.
But, if she continues to deem to “pull one over on the people,” there is only shame, disgrace and ignominy awaiting her. She has, no doubt, been through a lot, and is otherwise entitled to our utmost sympathy over that. But how on God’s green earth could any self-respecting person put the public through what she has, and, with a straight face expect that her current reputation justifies maintaining the trust of the public to serve us on the bench? This is sheer unmitigated delusion. And she knows that.
So why is she sitting on her hands? Does she somehow expect to be vindicated in the eyes of the public, or her own eyes, for that matter, if she lets herself be appointed as a “fraudulent” judge?
q
Timothy Stabosz was a La Porte City Councilman from 2004 to 2007.
Posted by: southsiderMMX Feb 19 2010, 07:55 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/02/19/news/local/doc4b7e1a3d06b6f040880216.txt
QUOTE
Evans-Koethe hearings set
Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 4:17 AM CST
LA PORTE — Suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe is set to face three judicial misconduct charges against her at two hearings in April.
The Indiana Supreme Court has appointed three masters (judges) to hear the case April 12 and April 19 in the Indiana Supreme Court courtroom in Indianapolis, said Supreme Court public information officer Kathryn Dolan. The hearings are open to the public.
The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed its judicial misconduct charges against Evans-Koethe in December, following an investigation into an incident in which she was wounded by gunfire in her La Porte home Dec. 22, 2008. It happened during a disagreement with her husband, Stephan, a week before she was sworn in as judge.
The commission accused Evans-Koethe of deliberately withholding or misrepresenting pertinent information during taped statements and asking a police officer to destroy a handwritten note, which was potential evidence. In doing so, she violated rules of conduct for judges and attorneys that require them to “avoid impropriety and to act at all times in a manner promoting the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary,” and “to not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” the commission wrote.
Evans-Koethe was suspended with pay from the judgeship last May after she was indicted on a charge of attempted obstruction of justice in connection to the investigation. She was acquitted on that charge last month in Lake County Court.
Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 4:17 AM CST
LA PORTE — Suspended La Porte Superior Court 3 Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe is set to face three judicial misconduct charges against her at two hearings in April.
The Indiana Supreme Court has appointed three masters (judges) to hear the case April 12 and April 19 in the Indiana Supreme Court courtroom in Indianapolis, said Supreme Court public information officer Kathryn Dolan. The hearings are open to the public.
The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed its judicial misconduct charges against Evans-Koethe in December, following an investigation into an incident in which she was wounded by gunfire in her La Porte home Dec. 22, 2008. It happened during a disagreement with her husband, Stephan, a week before she was sworn in as judge.
The commission accused Evans-Koethe of deliberately withholding or misrepresenting pertinent information during taped statements and asking a police officer to destroy a handwritten note, which was potential evidence. In doing so, she violated rules of conduct for judges and attorneys that require them to “avoid impropriety and to act at all times in a manner promoting the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary,” and “to not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” the commission wrote.
Evans-Koethe was suspended with pay from the judgeship last May after she was indicted on a charge of attempted obstruction of justice in connection to the investigation. She was acquitted on that charge last month in Lake County Court.
Posted by: lighter Mar 11 2010, 06:35 PM
http://nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_8bd7ec9b-76ec-5853-b185-180f6308104c.html
LaPorte Co. judge suspended for 60 days
Judge Jennifer Koethe violated rules for judges by trying to destroy evidence, Supreme Court says
By Dan Carden - dan.carden@nwi.com, (317) 637-9078 | Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:15 pm | No Comments Posted
INDIANAPOLIS | A LaPorte County judge was suspended without pay for 60 days by the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday for her role in the attempted destruction of evidence relating to a shooting in her home.
Judge Jennifer L. Koethe was found not guilty of obstruction of justice for allegedly asking a detective to discard a note she'd written to her husband before accidentally shooting herself. Koethe was acquitted in a criminal trial held in Lake County in January.
However, the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications accused Koethe of violating rules for the behavior of judges by asking police to destroy potential evidence in a crime.
As a result, the court ordered Koethe suspended from the bench without pay for 60 days beginning Friday. Koethe will also not be allowed to preside over trials involving the police officers that testified in her criminal trial. She must also meet certain treatment requirements...
Posted by: edgeywood Mar 11 2010, 08:47 PM
QUOTE(lighter @ Mar 11 2010, 06:35 PM)
http://nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_8bd7ec9b-76ec-5853-b185-180f6308104c.html
LaPorte Co. judge suspended for 60 days
Judge Jennifer Koethe violated rules for judges by trying to destroy evidence, Supreme Court says
However, the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications accused Koethe of violating rules for the behavior of judges by asking police to destroy potential evidence in a crime.
As a result, the court ordered Koethe suspended from the bench without pay for 60 days beginning Friday. Koethe will also not be allowed to preside over trials involving the police officers that testified in her criminal trial. She must also meet certain treatment requirements...
Wow, I'll bet her wrists are still stinging from that slap.
Posted by: Ang Mar 11 2010, 11:42 PM
QUOTE(edgeywood @ Mar 11 2010, 08:47 PM)
Wow, I'll bet her wrists are still stinging from that slap.
I was thinking the same thing. I wonder how long the red marks will last?
Posted by: southsiderMMX Mar 12 2010, 08:39 AM
http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/03/12/news/local/doc4b99c80a584aa419832628.txt
QUOTE
60-day suspension for Judge Evans-Koethe
Suspension, without pay, begins today
By Matt Field
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, March 12, 2010 4:18 AM CST
LA PORTE — Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe has finally put a night of drinking that left her with a minor gunshot wound and facing allegations of misconduct behind her.
The Indiana Supreme Court has accepted the proposed terms of punishment that Evans-Koethe reached with the state commission charged with investigating her, according to the Supreme Court decision.
According to court documents, the agreement calls for Evans-Koethe to be suspended without pay for 60 days, seek treatment for personal problems and recuse herself from cases where certain witnesses will appear.
The suspension will begin today. When it ends, Evans-Koethe can take the bench of La Porte County Superior Court 3.
According to the documents, Evans-Koethe’s saga began in December 2008 shortly before she was sworn in. After a night of drinking, she suffered a minor gunshot wound she said was self-inflicted.
She said after arguing with her husband, Stephan Koethe, she brought out a gun to make him think she was contemplating suicide. She thought the gun was unloaded and accidentally shot herself.
She was taken to the hospital, and when a La Porte County Sheriff’s Department sergeant came to take photos of her injury, she told him she wrote a note to her husband and asked the sergeant to get rid of it to avoid embarrassment. According to the Supreme Court decision, she said she did not think it was relevant evidence.
A La Porte County grand jury indicted her in May 2009 for attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony. Shortly thereafter in May, she was suspended from the bench with pay and has remained so until today.
A jury acquitted her of the criminal charges in January, but the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications already had filed charges against her, alleging she interfered with a police investigation.
The Supreme Court document said Evans-Koethe and the investigating commission have agreed that by asking the officer to throw out the note, she engaged in improper conduct for a judge.
The two parties in the conflict also noted several mitigating factors: She suffered head trauma that might have affected her judgement; she cooperated with the commission’s investigation; she was remorseful; and she has taken steps to address the personal problems.
When reached for comment, Evans-Koethe said she soon would be releasing a statement in the next few days. She thanked a News-Dispatch reporter for congratulating her on putting the matter to rest.
For one year after Evans-Koethe begins hearing cases again, she will have to recuse herself from cases in which Capt. Clyde Crass and Sgt. Paul Brettin of the La Porte City Police Department and Sgt. Patrick Cicero of the La Porte County Sheriff’s Department appear as a party or a witness.
Suspension, without pay, begins today
By Matt Field
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, March 12, 2010 4:18 AM CST
LA PORTE — Judge Jennifer Evans-Koethe has finally put a night of drinking that left her with a minor gunshot wound and facing allegations of misconduct behind her.
The Indiana Supreme Court has accepted the proposed terms of punishment that Evans-Koethe reached with the state commission charged with investigating her, according to the Supreme Court decision.
According to court documents, the agreement calls for Evans-Koethe to be suspended without pay for 60 days, seek treatment for personal problems and recuse herself from cases where certain witnesses will appear.
The suspension will begin today. When it ends, Evans-Koethe can take the bench of La Porte County Superior Court 3.
According to the documents, Evans-Koethe’s saga began in December 2008 shortly before she was sworn in. After a night of drinking, she suffered a minor gunshot wound she said was self-inflicted.
She said after arguing with her husband, Stephan Koethe, she brought out a gun to make him think she was contemplating suicide. She thought the gun was unloaded and accidentally shot herself.
She was taken to the hospital, and when a La Porte County Sheriff’s Department sergeant came to take photos of her injury, she told him she wrote a note to her husband and asked the sergeant to get rid of it to avoid embarrassment. According to the Supreme Court decision, she said she did not think it was relevant evidence.
A La Porte County grand jury indicted her in May 2009 for attempted obstruction of justice, a Class D felony. Shortly thereafter in May, she was suspended from the bench with pay and has remained so until today.
A jury acquitted her of the criminal charges in January, but the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications already had filed charges against her, alleging she interfered with a police investigation.
The Supreme Court document said Evans-Koethe and the investigating commission have agreed that by asking the officer to throw out the note, she engaged in improper conduct for a judge.
The two parties in the conflict also noted several mitigating factors: She suffered head trauma that might have affected her judgement; she cooperated with the commission’s investigation; she was remorseful; and she has taken steps to address the personal problems.
When reached for comment, Evans-Koethe said she soon would be releasing a statement in the next few days. She thanked a News-Dispatch reporter for congratulating her on putting the matter to rest.
For one year after Evans-Koethe begins hearing cases again, she will have to recuse herself from cases in which Capt. Clyde Crass and Sgt. Paul Brettin of the La Porte City Police Department and Sgt. Patrick Cicero of the La Porte County Sheriff’s Department appear as a party or a witness.
Posted by: lighter Mar 12 2010, 10:27 AM
Huh?
-snip-
When reached for comment, Evans-Koethe said she soon would be releasing a statement in the next few days. She thanked a News-Dispatch reporter for congratulating her on putting the matter to rest.
-snip-
Did i just read the reporter congradulated her? Is that their job?
Posted by: Dave Mar 12 2010, 11:55 AM
QUOTE(lighter @ Mar 12 2010, 10:27 AM)
Did i just read the reporter congradulated her? Is that their job?
Not their job, but there isn't anything about being a reporter that says they can't be civil.
The weird thing is the mention of it in the article.
So, she's got her job back -- after another 60 days of {this time} unpaid suspension.
I'd imagine her chances of reelection are rather slim, but then again, Carol McDaniel got reelected after getting caught in her petty cash debacle, so you never know.
Posted by: Tim Mar 13 2010, 12:56 AM
One picture is worth.....
Attached image(s)
Posted by: lovethiscity Mar 13 2010, 06:36 AM
QUOTE(Ang @ Mar 11 2010, 11:42 PM)
I was thinking the same thing. I wonder how long the red marks will last?
They are gone now
Posted by: southsiderMMX Mar 13 2010, 08:34 AM
http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/03/13/news/local/doc4b9b24cbd750e020260269.txt
QUOTE
In a press release, Judge Jennifer Koethe apologizes for what has transpired, saying:
'I am truly sorry for those actions'
By Matt Field
Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, March 13, 2010 4:16 AM CST
Judge Jennifer Koethe apologized to La Porte County residents Friday in a press release and said she looks forward to resuming judge duties after her court-ordered 60-day suspension.
The Indiana Supreme Court accepted an agreement Thursday between Koethe and the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications and suspended the judge for 60 days for misconduct and stipulated other provisions as well.
“I am truly sorry for those actions and apologize to the citizens of La Porte County for any conduct of mine that has not promoted the public’s confidence in the judiciary,” Koethe said in the statement.
Koethe’s troubles began in December 2008, shortly before she was to be sworn in as judge. After a night of drinking, Koethe and her husband, Stephan Koethe, got into an argument. She said she accidently shot herself after retrieving a gun to make her husband think she was contemplating suicide.
Later, at the hospital, she told a La Porte County Sheriff’s Department sergeant she wrote a note to her husband and asked him to dispose of it because is was embarrassing.
Although a grand jury indicted her for attempted obstruction of justice, she was acquitted by a jury in January.
“Although I was found not guilty of a crime by a jury of my peers, I am accepting responsibility for the actions that have not reflected the standard of conduct that a judge is required to uphold,” Koethe said in the statement.
Koethe had been suspended with pay until the Supreme Court decision Thursday.
In addition to the unpaid suspension, the agreement Koethe made with the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications stipulates that for a year after she resumes her judgeship, she will recuse herself when certain witnesses that had been involved in the investigation into her are to appear in court. She also will also seek to address underlying personal issues.
“Upon the completion of my suspension, I look forward to moving on with my life, resuming my duties as judge and restoring the public’s confidence in my position,” Koethe said.
'I am truly sorry for those actions'
By Matt Field
Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, March 13, 2010 4:16 AM CST
Judge Jennifer Koethe apologized to La Porte County residents Friday in a press release and said she looks forward to resuming judge duties after her court-ordered 60-day suspension.
The Indiana Supreme Court accepted an agreement Thursday between Koethe and the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications and suspended the judge for 60 days for misconduct and stipulated other provisions as well.
“I am truly sorry for those actions and apologize to the citizens of La Porte County for any conduct of mine that has not promoted the public’s confidence in the judiciary,” Koethe said in the statement.
Koethe’s troubles began in December 2008, shortly before she was to be sworn in as judge. After a night of drinking, Koethe and her husband, Stephan Koethe, got into an argument. She said she accidently shot herself after retrieving a gun to make her husband think she was contemplating suicide.
Later, at the hospital, she told a La Porte County Sheriff’s Department sergeant she wrote a note to her husband and asked him to dispose of it because is was embarrassing.
Although a grand jury indicted her for attempted obstruction of justice, she was acquitted by a jury in January.
“Although I was found not guilty of a crime by a jury of my peers, I am accepting responsibility for the actions that have not reflected the standard of conduct that a judge is required to uphold,” Koethe said in the statement.
Koethe had been suspended with pay until the Supreme Court decision Thursday.
In addition to the unpaid suspension, the agreement Koethe made with the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications stipulates that for a year after she resumes her judgeship, she will recuse herself when certain witnesses that had been involved in the investigation into her are to appear in court. She also will also seek to address underlying personal issues.
“Upon the completion of my suspension, I look forward to moving on with my life, resuming my duties as judge and restoring the public’s confidence in my position,” Koethe said.
Posted by: southsiderMMX Mar 15 2010, 09:05 AM
http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/03/14/news/opinion/nd_editorials/doc4b9abda01cfd4979891800.txt
QUOTE
Judge Koethe
Long saga is over
Published: Sunday, March 14, 2010 4:17 AM CDT
The Issue:
The Indiana Supreme Court decided on a two-month unpaid suspension.
Our Opinion:
The court has spoken. It’s time to move on. Those who disagree can vote against her if she runs again.
Judge Jennifer Koethe has endured more than a year of pain in her personal life — brought on by herself — because of an incident in her home just days before she was sworn in at the end of 2008 as judge of La Porte Superior Court 3.
Now, her legal battles are over, but questions about her suitability to be a judge continue in some people’s’ minds. Her future as a judge will be up to the voters, should she choose to run for re-election when her six-year term is up.
We have said she should have resigned because she has lost credibility as a judge and has damaged the institution of the court. However, the Indiana Supreme Court has spoken and ruled she can return to the bench after two months unpaid suspension. Of course, she will keep her law license.
The state’s highest court made a point of saying she must continue treatment for personal problems that brought about the incident in which she was grazed on the scalp by a bullet Dec. 22, 2008. The gun was fired after a night of drinking by her and her husband, she said she wanted her husband to think she was contemplating suicide, and afterward she asked a police officer to destroy a note she wrote.
Subsequently she was charged with attempting to obstruct justice, but a jury acquitted her. Then she faced charges of improper conduct for a judge. The Indiana Supreme Court agreed to her offer to accept the terms announced Thursday.
Many people experience personal problems, just as the judge has, and the right course of action is to repair those problems and move on.
Friday Judge Koethe issued a public apology for her conduct and said she looks forward to moving on with her life and “restoring the public’s confidence in my position.”
It is time to move on.
Long saga is over
Published: Sunday, March 14, 2010 4:17 AM CDT
The Issue:
The Indiana Supreme Court decided on a two-month unpaid suspension.
Our Opinion:
The court has spoken. It’s time to move on. Those who disagree can vote against her if she runs again.
Judge Jennifer Koethe has endured more than a year of pain in her personal life — brought on by herself — because of an incident in her home just days before she was sworn in at the end of 2008 as judge of La Porte Superior Court 3.
Now, her legal battles are over, but questions about her suitability to be a judge continue in some people’s’ minds. Her future as a judge will be up to the voters, should she choose to run for re-election when her six-year term is up.
We have said she should have resigned because she has lost credibility as a judge and has damaged the institution of the court. However, the Indiana Supreme Court has spoken and ruled she can return to the bench after two months unpaid suspension. Of course, she will keep her law license.
The state’s highest court made a point of saying she must continue treatment for personal problems that brought about the incident in which she was grazed on the scalp by a bullet Dec. 22, 2008. The gun was fired after a night of drinking by her and her husband, she said she wanted her husband to think she was contemplating suicide, and afterward she asked a police officer to destroy a note she wrote.
Subsequently she was charged with attempting to obstruct justice, but a jury acquitted her. Then she faced charges of improper conduct for a judge. The Indiana Supreme Court agreed to her offer to accept the terms announced Thursday.
Many people experience personal problems, just as the judge has, and the right course of action is to repair those problems and move on.
Friday Judge Koethe issued a public apology for her conduct and said she looks forward to moving on with her life and “restoring the public’s confidence in my position.”
It is time to move on.
Posted by: Dave Mar 15 2010, 02:47 PM
QUOTE
The court has spoken. It’s time to move on. Those who disagree can vote against her if she runs again.
Heck, even if one agrees that it is time to move on, one can still not only vote against her in the next election, but actively campaign for another candidate.
Six year term. A lot of people forget things over that much time. Most likely her primary challengers won't, though.
Posted by: Tim Mar 15 2010, 06:31 PM
QUOTE(Tim @ Mar 13 2010, 01:56 AM)
One picture is worth.....
Not ONE comment on this moment of hilarity?
"One of the things that separates us from the animals is the ability to kick people when they're down".
Author unknown
Attached image(s)
Posted by: Dave Mar 15 2010, 06:39 PM
QUOTE(Tim @ Mar 15 2010, 07:31 PM)
Not ONE comment on this moment of hilarity?
Oh, I think we're going to see copies of that in the next judicial election cycle if she runs for re-election.
QUOTE
"One of the things that separates us from the animals is the ability to kick people when they're down".
Author unknown
Author unknown
Your unknown author has never seen an ostrich in action!
Posted by: southsiderMMX Mar 19 2010, 07:52 AM
http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/03/19/news/opinion/anvil_chorus/doc4b9fb8e9d01d5378533164.txt
QUOTE
Koethe should have gracefully resigned
Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:18 AM CDT
Judge Koethe, your behavior was indistinguishable from countless other drunken folks who will undoubtedly appear before you. A prompt and graceful resignation would have saved many people from wasting their valuable time on you and your unseemly personal life. You may move on and resume the bench, but you most certainly will not restore confidence in the position you will occupy.
It is a pity that we will not be rid of you for five more years, and even a greater pity that you will be three quarters of a million dollars richer from it.
Jean Dalenberg
Michigan City
Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:18 AM CDT
Judge Koethe, your behavior was indistinguishable from countless other drunken folks who will undoubtedly appear before you. A prompt and graceful resignation would have saved many people from wasting their valuable time on you and your unseemly personal life. You may move on and resume the bench, but you most certainly will not restore confidence in the position you will occupy.
It is a pity that we will not be rid of you for five more years, and even a greater pity that you will be three quarters of a million dollars richer from it.
Jean Dalenberg
Michigan City
Posted by: southsiderMMX May 14 2010, 07:56 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/05/14/news/local/doc4beb748d8c6b9190896166.txt
QUOTE
Koethe back on the bench
Matt Fritz/For The N-D Jennifer Koethe
By Craig Davison
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, May 13, 2010 4:14 AM CDT
LA PORTE — Judge Jennifer Koethe on Tuesday returned to the bench in Superior Court 3 following her court-ordered suspension.
The Indiana Supreme Court placed her on 60-day suspension without pay March 11. The court accepted an agreement between Koethe and the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission that included the suspension and other provisions.
Koethe said she’s looking to putting the past behind her and moving forward.
“I’m very happy to be back,” she said, adding she is “looking forward to going on and resuming all my duties.”
Superior Court 3 handles civil cases and misdemeanor criminal cases.
Before the unpaid suspension, she was suspended with pay.
Koethe’s problems began before she was sworn in as judge in December 2008. She said she later accidentally shot herself in the head following a night of drinking. She and her husband, Stephan, got into an argument, and the gun fired after she picked it up to make her husband think she was considering suicide.
At the hospital, she told police officers about a note she wrote to her husband and asked him to destroy it because the contents were embarrassing.
Koethe was indicted by grand jury, but later acquitted of obstruction of justice charges in January.
Besides the suspension, she will have to recuse herself when witnesses appear in court who were involved in her investigation for one year.
She said she looks to continue to implement changes she started before being suspended, including changes in scheduling and working with the other judges in regards to adopting local court rules.
Matt Fritz/For The N-D Jennifer Koethe
By Craig Davison
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, May 13, 2010 4:14 AM CDT
LA PORTE — Judge Jennifer Koethe on Tuesday returned to the bench in Superior Court 3 following her court-ordered suspension.
The Indiana Supreme Court placed her on 60-day suspension without pay March 11. The court accepted an agreement between Koethe and the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission that included the suspension and other provisions.
Koethe said she’s looking to putting the past behind her and moving forward.
“I’m very happy to be back,” she said, adding she is “looking forward to going on and resuming all my duties.”
Superior Court 3 handles civil cases and misdemeanor criminal cases.
Before the unpaid suspension, she was suspended with pay.
Koethe’s problems began before she was sworn in as judge in December 2008. She said she later accidentally shot herself in the head following a night of drinking. She and her husband, Stephan, got into an argument, and the gun fired after she picked it up to make her husband think she was considering suicide.
At the hospital, she told police officers about a note she wrote to her husband and asked him to destroy it because the contents were embarrassing.
Koethe was indicted by grand jury, but later acquitted of obstruction of justice charges in January.
Besides the suspension, she will have to recuse herself when witnesses appear in court who were involved in her investigation for one year.
She said she looks to continue to implement changes she started before being suspended, including changes in scheduling and working with the other judges in regards to adopting local court rules.
Posted by: southsiderMMX May 21 2010, 08:16 AM
http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/05/21/news/opinion/anvil_chorus/doc4bf5963db7380672813995.txt
QUOTE
Judge shouldn’t be on bench
Published: Friday, May 21, 2010 4:13 AM CDT
I am astonished that Judge Jennifer Koethe was allowed to return to the bench following her court-ordered suspension. She threatened suicide, then accidentally shot herself in the head during a drunken brawl with her husband. It seems obvious the woman has problems.
I hope I never have the misfortune of standing before her, as I would certainly have “contempt of court” added to my charges. Would you want to have her judge you?
Kinda like the winning primary candidate for assessor in Lake County. She had both Indiana and Michigan driver’s licenses and her vehicles plated in Michigan (cheaper). She used the address of a vacant lot there that she didn’t even own. Do you want her to tell you what you owe?
This is just a bit more evidence for the two-term limit. One term in office and a second in jail.
Bob Kolasa
Westville
Published: Friday, May 21, 2010 4:13 AM CDT
I am astonished that Judge Jennifer Koethe was allowed to return to the bench following her court-ordered suspension. She threatened suicide, then accidentally shot herself in the head during a drunken brawl with her husband. It seems obvious the woman has problems.
I hope I never have the misfortune of standing before her, as I would certainly have “contempt of court” added to my charges. Would you want to have her judge you?
Kinda like the winning primary candidate for assessor in Lake County. She had both Indiana and Michigan driver’s licenses and her vehicles plated in Michigan (cheaper). She used the address of a vacant lot there that she didn’t even own. Do you want her to tell you what you owe?
This is just a bit more evidence for the two-term limit. One term in office and a second in jail.
Bob Kolasa
Westville
Posted by: MCRogers1974 May 21 2010, 09:49 AM
One does wonder how this woman can sit in judgement of others when she clearly has an array of issues. I believe I read where she got into law school on some sort of "set aside" program - I understand she got into law school simply because she is a female even though she had far less credentials than the typical applicant.
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