Howard County Superior Court 4 opens

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January 6, 2006

Additional court prompts “drastic” reorganization.

By AMBER RIGGIN The Kokomo Tribune Fri Jan 06, 2006, 07:49 AM EST

Howard County Superior Court 4 is open for business.

Kokomo resident George Hopkins, was sworn in as judge this morning and begin accepting cases.

Superior Court 4, officially termed a court of general jurisdiction, will accept largely lower felony, mental health and civil cases under reorganization guidelines established by a vote of county judges.

It’s not the only change in the courthouse, however.

One of the biggest changes the courts will see in the coming year is the transition of Superior Court I, under Judge William Menges, into a drug court.

Superior Court 2 Judge Stephen Jessup said a judge’s vote has resulted in a petition to the Indiana Supreme Court to dedicate Superior Court 1 to handle only drug-related cases.

Superior Court 3 will no longer file criminal domestic cases and driving felonies of Class C and higher, Menges said.

“That’s the action taken by the judges. I voted against it,” Jessup said.

Although he called the changes “drastic,” Menges said a drug court has been a goal for some time.

“That was one of the things we wanted to do with the establishment of another court,” he said.

Menges said all drug-related crime cases will now be filed under his court and will increase efficiency for the judge involved and for the prosecutor’s office as well.

“Instead of me handling one third of the drug cases, I’m going to be handling all of them,” Menges said. “For the most part, I am not going to be handling other criminal cases.”

Although he was against the vote, Jessup said he will sign the petition to be presented to the state.

He said he expects the measure will be passed.

Menges said the judges have approved the measure “in principal at this point,” but the filing process began Tuesday. In fact, he said he already has had his first initial hearing.

The general public may not notice the changes for some time, because old cases will continue to filter through their assigned court.

“It’s not going to be very visible for some time because cases that I had before I’ll still hear,” Menges said, adding he and Prosecutor Jim Fleming have pushed for the dedication of court space to all drug-related crimes as the first step in establishing a formal “drug court” program.

“This was the preliminary step that had to be taken,” Menges said. “Jim has been adamant ... if we were going to do a drug court, we needed to have all the drug cases in one court.”

He said the filing of drug-related charges in one court also might benefit the prosecutor’s office by reducing the number of personnel.

Auditor Ann Wells said the prosecutor’s office will lose three deputy prosecutors this year due to county council action cutting matching funds for a grant.

“By putting all of the drug cases in one court [Fleming] can probably eliminate two deputy prosecutor positions,” Menges said.

Fleming declined to comment.

The treatment-focused drug court program is in the planning stage, Menges said, and treatment providers and funding sources have yet to be finalized.

He hopes to have everything in place in the next couple of years, sooner if possible.

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