Kentucky's Legal Headlines for March  2002

• Links to Recent Courier-Journal Legal Stories (3.23 -3.31)

  • Bankrupt doctor fails to pay $1.2 million

  • 2nd will may have been forged

  • Bullitt County school-bus driver is fired after allegations of misconduct

  • Man claims priest molested him in 1968

  • Jurors deadlock in double murder case

  • Double-murder case still before jury

  • Federal judge upholds Kentucky election laws

  • Ragland convicted of killing DiGiuro

  • Arrest could jeopardize court cases

  • Plans seek to improve jails' mental-health care

  • Ragland's attorneys abruptly close defense

  • City officer arrested on robbery charge

  • Jury hears Ragland deny he knew DiGiuro

  • Child-support defendant challenges no-sex clause in plea agreement

  • Jefferson schools won't add protection for gays to code

  • Indicted detectives had drawn praise

  • DeSales sex abuse alleged

  • Bourbon judge's DUI is ruled a first offense

  • Minister accused of distributing porn

• Links to Recent Courier-Journal Legal Stories (3.17 -3.23)

  • Bullitt cities sue over redistricting

  • Justices restore death sentence in 1983 slayings

  • Provision on domestic violence ruled out in case

  • Witnesses try to tie ammo, gun to killing

  • Suspect's pay stub used as note in robbery

  • Man is charged with murder, DUI in wreck

  • Arrest is part of FBI probe of child porn

  • Judge sets April 11 sentencing hearing for Camm

  • Campaign to preserve (Bullitt) courthouse fails

  • Teacher accused of sexual abuse sues student, school district

  • Woman who gave students drugs gets probation

  • Former girlfriend testifies Ragland admitted murder

  • Jail's phone-call recording policy challenged

  • Former coach gets 5-year term for abusing child

  • Camm guilty of killing family

  • ACLU official calls profiling a waste

  • DUI counseling programs given poor ratings

  • Police- Train operator not at fault in fatal crash

  • $5.5 million paid by criminals will aid state's crime victims

  • Jury still out in Camm murder trial

  • Jurors indict man on sex counts

• Links to Recent Stories Posted @ www.Courier-Journal.com  (2.25 - 3.16.2002)
  • Theft of court pay articles in CJ
    • Two Jefferson detectives plead innocent
    • Prosecutors begin working to dismiss charges, convictions
    • 2 narcotics detectives indicted
    • Detective sought extra pay without going to court
    • Court sign-in setup may be resurrected
    • Woman says prosecutors were quiet about suspensions
    • Signatures on warrants may have been forged
  • Man gets 37 years in beating death of boy, 2
  • Bill forbids disclosure of ethics complaints
  • Ex-Lebanon Junction officer sues over firing
  • Jury deadlocks on road-rage sentence
    • Dixie Highway road-rage case brings reckless homicide verdict
  • State agency's top lawyer didn't have state license
  • Mother of 11-year-old kicked off bus sues
  • Louisville man accused of murder, attempted murder
  • Ex-officer who sued over firing gets $20,000
  • Jelsma to stay in race for Denton's Senate seat
  • Grant will allow Jefferson attorney's office to add four gun-crimes
  • Neighbors sue to stop subdivision
  • FBI's top Kentucky agent to oversee Philadelphia office
  • Arbitrators cannot be sued over decisions, court affirms
  • Narcotics officers take drug tests
  • Company fined $58,800 in trench collapse
  • Rapist who posed as officer sentenced
  • ACLU challenges funding for projects
  • Murder case will go to the grand jury
  • Jefferson drug courts honored, hailed as 'national model'
  • City worker accused of embezzling
  • Protesters see racial bias in sentencing
  • Jefferson officer suspended in pay review
  • Jefferson officer suspended in pay review
  • Deleting victims' names, addresses OK in sex cases
• Shane Ragland Murder Trial - Lexington, KY
  • Police reveal ex-suspect in Ragland trial
  • Police tell how they think sniper shot UK athlete in 1994
  • Former girlfriend testifies Ragland admitted murder
  • Ragland jurors see rifle found in room
  •  
  • Jury hears Ragland deny he knew DiGiuro
  • Ragland's attorneys abruptly close defense
  • Ragland convicted of killing DiGiuro

   

• 2001 Judicial Evaluations
   
  Only two judges get low ratings in recent bar survey. Courier-Journal Story 2/7/02.  

  "Twenty-five of the 27 Jefferson district and family court judges reviewed in a Louisville Bar Association survey received mostly favorable overall ratings from lawyers who practice before them.

  Only District Judge Paula Fitzgerald and Family Court Judge Juda M. Hellmann received a majority of unfavorable rankings from lawyers who participated in the survey released yesterday.

  Hellmann received favorable ratings from 46 percent of the 158 lawyers who answered the question of whether she did a good overall job, while Paula Fitzgerald received favorable ratings from 38 percent of 189 lawyers who answered that question about her.

  All of the other judges in the survey received favorable ratings on overall performance from at least 75 percent of the attorneys commenting on them. Family Court Judge Stephen M. George received favorable rankings from 97 percent, the highest in the survey."

  Click here for the rest of the Courier-Journal story on 2/7/02.

  Click here for last two Courier-Journal stories on Judicial Evaluations:

  2000 - 'Lawyers rate state, federal judges highly' 2/2001

  1999 - 'All but one judge in Jefferson survey get favorable marks' 2.26.00
  
  Please note - Paula Fitzgerald is no   relation to Family Court Judge          Patricia Walker-FitzGerald or Retired  Family Court Judge Richard FitzGerald 
   

• 2002 Judicial Evaluations
  Only two judges get low ratings in recent bar survey. Courier-Journal Story 2/7/02. 

  "Twenty-five of the 27 Jefferson district and family court judges reviewed in a Louisville Bar Association survey received mostly favorable overall ratings from lawyers who practice before them.

  Only District Judge Paula Fitzgerald and Family Court Judge Juda M. Hellmann received a majority of unfavorable rankings from lawyers who participated in the survey released yesterday.

  Hellmann received favorable ratings from 46 percent of the 158 lawyers who answered the question of whether she did a good overall job, while Fitzgerald received favorable ratings from 38 percent of 189 lawyers who answered that question about her.

  All of the other judges in the survey received favorable ratings on overall performance from at least 75 percent of the attorneys commenting on them. Family Court Judge Stephen M. George received favorable rankings from 97 percent, the highest in the survey."

  • Click here for the rest of the Courier-Journal story on 2/7/02.
  • Click here for last two Courier-Journal stories on Judicial Evaluations:
    • 2001 - Lawyers rate state, federal judges highly 2.21.2001.
    • 2000 - All but one judge in Jefferson survey get favorable marks 2.26.00
      

•  94% of Web-Voters Think Voters Should Have A Right To Know the Positions of Judicial Candidates On Controversial Issues   

  • Does a candidate for judge surrender his/her right to free speech by running for judicial office?

  • Do voters have a right to know something
    more about candidates for judge?

  • Kentucky's Position?

    • J.C.J.D. v. R.J.C.R., 803 S.W.2d 953, Ky.,1991

    • Judicial endorsements by retired judges?

  • From the Fayette County Prosecutor's Office Web Site 
      

  • Epilogue to this story (Jan. 16, 2002)(Editorial)
    
    Last week I read an editorial from Betty Baye in the Courier Journal (click here for editorial). Without addressing all of the putative ethical and legal arguments on campaigning by the judiciary, I thought about it from the electorate's perspective.  She addressed a skit by Jay Leno, host of NBC's "Tonight Show," when he went out into the streets to test passersby's knowledge of people in the news. The anecdotal evidence from this skit was that in the heart of New York City in the middle of this Information Age with hundreds of cable tv channels, the Internet, Newspapers, magazines, etc., that Jay was able to readily find people who were unable to identify pictures of Osama bin Laden, Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
    
    Now what does that have to do with judicial elections?  A lot.  The Kentucky Constitution mandates judges will be elected by the people, but what do the people have to base that selection or election on?  

    • Issues?  NO.  Can't talk about them.

    • Partisanship or judicial party (for some idea of the candidates affiliation and views)? NOPE. Can't talk or disclose that either.

    • Name recognition?  Yes.  That's about it.  If the voter has heard the name some where, some time, some place, some how, then that may very well be the only basis for making that vote in local elections.  

    • Take a look at the local Jefferson County judges. How many - 

      • Are related to each other?  

      • Have the same names of others (without being related)?  

      • Are related to non-judicial public officials? 

      •  Have the same name or are related to former judges or politicians?  

    • Is this a judicial election, selection, or coronation?

    • Judicial elections with no discussion of issues, limitations on fund raising, failure to have media and other events to get the candidates before the public result in nothing more than popularity contests.  Why can't you let the folks know the candidate is a democrat, republican, etc.?  It gives them more information than they have now which is nice name, nice face, etc.

• Suit seeks aid for mentally retarded

• Suit- Shelby County teacher abused students

• Senator's son indicted; drug ring alleged

• New trial denied in roadside killings

• Supreme Court justice admits DUI

• Imprisoned molester gets second sentence

• Man, 69, gets jail time for fatal DUI wreck

• Senate committee supports Bunning for U.S. judgeship

• Bill defining fetus as person in homicides passes Senate

• Chief clears officers in fatal shooting

• House approves higher caps for city officials' salaries

• Only 2 judges get low ratings in bar survey

• DNA specialist testifies in Camm case

• Greater Louisville candidate to plead guilty

• Woman charged with murder of ex-boyfriend in La Grange

• Line that killed men wasn't fixed because of communication breakdown

• Coping with the commute

• Lawsuit links harassment, job loss at WHAS radio

• Bard convicted of manslaughter

• New government stirs new candidates

• Lawyer Jelsma files for Denton's seat in state Senate

• Bard convicted; jury urges 20-year sentence

• Domestic violence order upheld for couple not living together

• Man charged with murder in Monday shooting

• Jury in deputy's slaying deliberates 9 hours without verdict

• Indictments accuse 3 of repair scams

• Police 'cold case' unit clears 1995 homicide at car wash

• Chemical chases pesky courthouse starlings

• 2 men plead guilty to shooting at police, civilian last summer

• Maze will have foe in primary

• Camm described as calm, rational in call after murders

• Worker sues over prison medical exam

• Return to top of page

View your CLE credits online