[Dave]

Wow!

[lighter]

http://nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte/art...8db5324e4e.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...

[eric.hanke]

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?

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=42887.59

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.

[Ang]

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?

[Dave]

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.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20...0/-1/googleNews

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

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=27582

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.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=28003

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.

[Dave]

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.

This post has been edited by Dave: Jan 5 2010, 01:50 PM

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.wndu.com/hometop/headlines/80762357.html

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.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.post-trib.com/news/1975845,koethe0106.article

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.

[Dave]

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/i...l#_Toc241999449 ), the standard of proof is, well, read it for yourself:

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%.

This post has been edited by Dave: Jan 6 2010, 03:14 PM

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=28034

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.

[Dave]

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.

[NDReporter]

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.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=28072

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.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=28054

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.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...&TM=51720.7

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

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http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...9e398929910.txt

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.