By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
October 31, 2024
Although trial court judges are on the ballot in 59 Indiana counties for the November election, only seven counties have contested races, leaving most Hoosier voters without an alternative choice for judgeships.
Circuit courts in Clark, Delaware and Vanderburgh counties have competitive races while superior courts in Johnson, Porter and Vigo counties each have two candidates vying for the same seat. Also, the incumbent judge presiding over the St. Joseph County Probate Court resisted calls to resign this summer and is fending off a challenger this election.
Indiana varies its process for picking judges. The Hoosier state relies on merit selection for choosing Indiana Supreme Court justices or Court of Appeals of Indiana judges. Conversely, most trial court judges across the state are chosen through partisan elections.
Merit selection, in which a governor fills the judicial vacancy by tapping one of three candidates recommended by the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission, is often touted as better than elections. In particular, advocates say merit selection allows justices and appellate judges to stay above partisan politics and not worry about how their decisions may be perceived by voters in the next election.
However, Sonia Leerkamp, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Brown County and former Hamilton County prosecutor for 16 years, holds the opposite view. She said judicial elections are beneficial because they push the courts to be more transparent and communicate more with the public.
Leerkamp remembers arguing with her father, who believed judges should be appointed. She sees merit selection, instead, as creating “the opportunity for all kinds of cronyism and party politics,” as people jockey to get close to the governor who will make the appointment.
“I don’t believe it does allow for better judges,” Leerkamp said of merit selection. “I think that people in the community pay attention to what judges are doing and … when people are aware of important cases that a judge is handling that they don’t agree with how he handled it or if they feel that he doesn’t have the proper temperament towards the people he’s supposed to be serving or if they feel he’s just a lazy judge or an inconsistent judge, … I’ve seen people say, ‘Yeah, we need to get a new judge.’”
This election, Clark County voters have two contested local judicial races on their ballot. Magistrate Judge Lisa Reger, a Republican, and Democrat Dustin White, a public defender and private practitioner, are running for the open seat on Clark County Circuit Court No. 4 created by the pending retirement of Judge Vicki Carmichael. Also, Democrat Andrea Stemle, a public defender, is challenging incumbent Republican Judge Kyle Williams of Clark County Circuit Court No. 6.
The race for the open seat on Vanderburgh Circuit Court No. 1 is the only nonpartisan contest for trial judge. Magistrate Judge Molly Briles and state Rep. Ryan Hatfield, who previously announced he would not run for another term in the Indiana General Assembly, are competing for the seat being vacated by retiring Judge David Kiely.
In the remaining five counties with competitive judicial contests, all are partisan races with the candidates being either Republican or Democrat.
Leerkamp said convincing more people to run for elected office, so voters have more choices at the ballot box, is difficult. Lawyers have the additional concern that challenging a sitting judge, who they practice in front of, could bias that court against them and their clients, she said.
“All of that is very hard to get changed, particularly in the environment right now,” Leerkamp said, “although maybe the environment is exactly what we need to prompt people that they need to be participating.”
In addition to the challenge to Williams in Clark County, Delaware County Circuit Court No. 2 Judge Kimberly Dowling, Porter County Superior Court No. 6 Judge Jeffrey Thode and St. Joseph County Probate Court Judge Jason Cichowicz are all facing opponents this election.
Stemle, is running in Clark County on claims that Williams is moving through cases too slowly. The court was created by the Indiana General Assembly with Senate Enrolled Act 256, passed in 2020, and Williams was appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb in 2021. Stemle, in response to questions from the Jeffersonville News and Tribune, said the backlog includes cases filed when the court first opened.
“When an individual or business can’t get resolution, they can’t move on, which creates costs for everyone,” Stemle wrote in her response.
Williams responded in the News and Tribune that he started hearing cases on his first day as judge and has completed more than 10,000 cases, which includes about 20 trials. Also, in his response, he wrote none of his decisions have been reversed on appeal.
According to Indiana trial court statistics from the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration, Circuit Court No. 6 had 3,879 previously pending cases, the second lowest among the six courts. Also, the court had 5,326 new cases filed in 2023, the second highest.
Dowling, a Democrat, is seeking a third six-year term on the bench in Delaware County. In response to questions from the Muncie Star Press, she touted her experience presiding over a range of civil and criminal cases, her service on state committees and her work in the legislature to craft laws related to human trafficking.
Her opponent, Andrew Ramirez, a Republican, is a deputy prosecutor and trial attorney. He told the Star Press that he is running because “the time for change is now,” and he wants to ensure that the rulings from the court are based on the law as it is written and the facts in the case.
Thode, a Republican, was first elected judge in Porter County in 1995. According to his campaign website, his court operates with the smallest budget of all the Porter County courts and he has disposed of more than 289,000 cases since becoming a judge.
Robbin Trowbridge Benko, Democrat, is challenging him. She practices family law in her own law office.
The race for probate court in St. Joseph County has become very heated with Cichowicz, a Democrat, facing calls to step down following the shooting death of a 20-year-old this summer in South Bend and his opponent, Republican Loris Zappia, is being accused of an alleged altercation with his own brother, who serves in Cichowicz’s court.
Cichowicz is being blamed for the shooting because his judicial duties include overseeing the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center. An 18-year-old, who was monitored through the JJC and has been charged with the murder, escaped from custody while on an approved outing to a South Bend Cubs baseball game.
In 2023, the Indiana Supreme Court suspended Cichowicz from the bench for 45 days without pay for judicial misconduct.
The disciplinary sanction stemmed from his role as the sole trustee of a foundation created by his client’s father, according to court documents. Cichowicz appropriated at least $160,000 in funds from the foundation to build a new courtroom in the Juvenile Justice Center and purchase new vehicles, from a dealership owned by his father, for the Court Appointed Special Advocate program affiliated with the St. Joseph County Probate Court, the court documents said. Also, he convinced the Friends of the Juvenile Justice Center to pay $24,800 to a tile company, also owned by his father, to refurbish courthouse breakrooms.
Cichowicz, responding to an election questionnaire, said he focused on doing the best possible job and providing the highest quality service to individuals and families. Also, he asserted politics have been injected into the judicial race.
“This creates an environment where you have to learn to accept that your best intentions can easily be misinterpreted, twisted, or unfairly misconstrued and judicial rules severely limit a judge’s ability to provide clarity or response,” Cichowicz stated.
Loris Zappia, a deputy prosecuting attorney running against Cichowicz, was allegedly involved in an altercation this summer with his brother, Len, who works in the probate court, after an argument arising over Loris’ campaign for probate judge. According to the South Bend Tribune, officers from the St. Joseph County Police Department were dispatched to Len Zappia’s home on Aug. 9 following a 911 call. Even though the responding officers did not find anyone at home or any signs of a fight, the Tribune reported, they still listed the incident in police logs as an “assault.”
Loris Zappia later posted a statement on his Facebook page calling his brother “a hostile surrogate of the Cichowicz campaign,” and saying the incident was “an unfortunate private matter” that would be dealt with internally by the family, according to the Tribune.
In his response to the election questionnaire, Zappia he would avoid using his position as judge for his own benefit.
“A judge must uphold and promote independence, integrity and impartiality, while avoiding impropriety or the appearance of impropriety,” Zappia wrote. “If elected, I will instill trust and confidence in our judicial system for our community, taxpayers and voters.”
Barbara Williams, retired Evansville attorney and vice president of the League of Women Voters of Southwestern Indiana, noted that often judges retire before their terms are over, which allows the governor to fill the vacancy and bypass voters. She said she would like the voters to have the choice and be able to choose from two or more candidates whenever electing a judge or any other officeholder.
Williams pointed to the November races for judgeships in four Vanderburgh County Superior Courts where the presiding judges are all unopposed.
“I really wish more people were running,” Williams said, reiterating that she would like to see more competition for all elected positions. “I really think it’s important to have two candidates, or at least two candidates. That would be my preference even in a judicial race.”
Judicial retirements coming at the end of 2024 have led to contested races for Clark County Circuit Court No. 4, Vanderburgh County Circuit Court, Johnson County Superior Court No. 1 and Vigo County Superior Court No. 6.
In the nonpartisan race is for the Vanderburgh Circuit Court, the Evansville Bar Association conducted a poll of its members to collect their thoughts and impressions about the two candidates, Briles and Hatfield. The members rated Briles higher in all areas including legal experience, legal knowledge and ability to grasp and apply legal principles when making judicial decisions. However, asked if they would recommend either candidate for judicial office, the members were positive about both, with 66.7% of the respondents saying they would recommend Briles and 62.6% recommending Hatfield.
Williams was unsure if Briles had an advantage in the race since she is already a judicial officer.
“I don’t know. She’s also a woman, which I don’t know if that’s a leg up in Vanderburgh County or not,” Williams said. “I would think that it might be with some people and it may be a leg up for Mr. Hatfield that he’s been a legislator, because he’s well known.”
The Vigo County race is pitting two judicial officers against each other. Terre Haute City Court Judge Kenneth McVey, a Democrat, and Juvenile Magistrate Judge Daniel Kelly, a Republican, are running for the seat being vacated by Judge Michael Lewis, who joined the court in 2002.
In addition to the contest for Clark County Circuit Court No. 4 between Magistrate Judge Reger and attorney White, the Johnson County race for Superior Court Judge Kevin Barton’s seat also has a judicial officer running. Magistrate Judge Brandi Foster Kirkendall, a Republican, is running against private practitioner Gloria Danielson, a Democrat. Danielson told the Daily Journal that she decided to seek the judgeship to give voters a choice.
Although few Indiana voters are getting to choose their local judges this election, Leerkamp, of the League of Women Voters of Brown County, said she believes Hoosiers are educated and intelligent enough to understand all elected offices, including the courts, and make informed decisions when voting.
“People are paying attention to what their elected officials are doing,” Leerkamp said. “They know when somebody doesn’t really represent or make decisions the way they think they need to be made for the betterment of the community.”
Dwight Adams, a freelance editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.