Kelty-ites attempt smear campaign against Judge Scheibenberger
Posted by AWB in PoliticsThere was a writ filed with the Indiana election commission today that seeks to have Allen County Judge Kenneth R. Scheibenberger taken off the November ballot.
I’m writing this post based on the facts at hand. You can decide for yourself. I will editorialize with my closing remarks.
They claim that under Indiana Code 33-33-2-10, section 3:
(a) To qualify as a candidate for Allen superior court judge, a person:
(1) must be a citizen of the United States domiciled in Allen County;
(2) must have at least five (5) years active practice of law, including cases involving matters assigned to the division in which the person would serve as judge;
(3) may not previously have had any disciplinary sanction imposed upon the person by the supreme court disciplinary commission of Indiana or any similar body in another state; and
(4) may not previously have been convicted of any felony.
(b) If a person does not qualify under subsection (a), the person may not be listed on the ballot as a candidate. However, an individual who was a judge of the court on January 1, 1984, does not have to comply with subsection (a)(2).
To understand this, they claim that Judge Scheibenberger’s suspension in 2009, which was a result of his verbal attack on the person who had given or sold his son drugs is their basis for their claim. Judge Scheibenberger’s son had died a few months before the incident from a drug overdose.
Indiana code cites: may not previously have had any disciplinary sanction imposed upon the person by the supreme court disciplinary commission of Indiana
From their web site:
What is the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission?
The Disciplinary Commission is an agency of the Indiana Supreme Court. It is responsible for investigating and prosecuting claims of misconduct against lawyers licensed to practice law in Indiana and protecting lawyers against unwarranted claims of misconduct. The Indiana Supreme Court has exclusive power to take action against a lawyer’s license to practice law.
Judge Scheibenberger’s suspension was handed down by the Indiana Supreme Court Division of State Court Administration Commission on Judicial Qualifications, a different governmental body.
From their web site:
The purpose of the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications is to investigate complaints alleging judicial ethical misconduct, to prosecute violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct when warranted, and to advise judges and judicial candidates about their ethical obligations.
Sorry folks.
More than a dozen people purportedly signed the writ, and were organized by Sharon Kuhn, a local tea party organizer. Perfection Bakery owner John Popp notarized all of the signatures.
In the 10 guiding principles of The Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility are the following:
Reduce Fraud, Litigation… Widespread implementation of the Code will significantly reduce fraud and the volume of civil and criminal lawsuits resulting from frauds.
4. The Notary shall not execute a false or incomplete certificate, nor be involved with any document or transaction that the Notary believes is false, deceptive or fraudulent.
Apparently Mr. Popp either did not read IC 33-33-2-10, or took their word as the gospel truth.
I’m going to get one hell of a lot of hate mail over this post. Personally, I think this is nothing more than a witch hunt by the Kelty Klan seeking retribution for how Judge Scheibenberger handled Kelty’s case when he lied to the grand jury.
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Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard has built quite a protective shell in this state. Anyone seeking to pierce it must mind their step, landmines protect the status quo in every direction.
Run his name on the blog listed in this posting for info that will never be found in the flyby media.
John Popp is likely safe, not being an attorney himself. He is an honorable man, so certainly did not think his notarization was in furtherance of deception or fraud. And intent is key as to his part in this drama.
Dan:
I have no horse in this race, but I suspect you are playing judge and jury here. I am unsure where Matt Kelty comes into this action, but it seems to me that petitioning government for redress of grievances is the right of the dozen or so signers.
Further, differentiating among Supreme Court adjunct functions and services is again not the purpose of the petition. If the petition is wrongly drafted, then the election commission can so rule.
I understand your desire to support Judge Scheibenberger, but there are others, including those who issued the legal reprimand, that believe the judge used his position to wrongly harass a defendant.
As for John Popp, he fulfilled his legal requirement as a Notary when he attested to the signature of the petition submitter.
Yeah, that Kelty team never was very good at understanding election law details.
Gadfly,
The sanction was not issued against Judge Scheibenberger for harassing the defendent, per se. It was issued for disrespecting the Court. That is to say, if he had taken the same actions outside of the Courthouse, he probably never would have been sanctioned at all. Regarding the defendent, I expect there are a lot of people who think his treatment by Scheibenberger was well deserved.
So who are the dozen names? Or are they hiding? No news story so far has named the people on the petition…..
I think this goes back to when Ken was a lawyer and defended a "dirty book" store. A number of people were out for him then, again when he ran (distributing rather nasty flyers at the Chapel, and backing Mike McAlexander. I ran Ken's campaign at the time, but have since not had much to do with him. I think the same people are after him again. Perhaps the court action against Ken rises to the level necessary to remove his name from the ballot, perhaps not. As a judge he has been correct in his court room and tough on thieves, thugs and murders. He certainly let his emotions get the better of him concerning the death of his son, a matter of bad judgement when one expects good judgement always from a…judge…
As for John Popp, he may be an honorable guy, I know he has strong feelings. I also remember him as the guy who wanted the city to give him a street to improve profitability at his business,.
As things unwind in the present collapse cities will likely be giving streets away to keep employers around.
If Popp wants all the streets around his bakery then the Fort should give them to him. I would guess the situation would improve much.
Gad Fly,
The petition is indeed wrongly drafted. I've talked with 3 different attorneys that agree with my assessment.
This is nothing more than the Kelty Kook Klan attempting payback.
Think about it. It the petition was correct then anytime an elected judge was disciplined by the judicial commission it would be a career killer.
The provision the allege (and unsubstantiated) Kelty-ites seek to apply to this situation is in reality designed to keep disciplined attorneys from running as judges. If you are tagged with discipline as an attorney it is hardball. Unlikely on a first offense — or even second or third if drunk driving, child molesting or other such character faults seemingly excused by the present ruling junta in Indiana's Supreme Court. (Just do not be caught being pro-life or anti-gay rights!)
Best spin for the state court — they are just keeping Hoosier Justice above reproach and all that rot by keeping disciplined attorneys out of judicial elections.
Continued from post below …
Judges, once elected, are given kitchen passes. The closer the power to the Emperor (Chief Judge) the greater the kitchen pass.
This judge lost it when he came across the one he considered to be his son's killer soon after the event. He was disciplined, but the disciplinary authority did not intend it to be the death of his career, since no statute or rule so holds.
Those who attempted to use the law to affect what they consider to be a protection of the community simply misread it. Their lawyer bears the most blame there. Whoever that was. I do not know.
Does seem to be a common theme among the Kelty-ites, bad legal advice. Probably a byproduct of a lack of empowerment.
If only they were leftists! Then they could suborn perjury, advocate the sucking of baby brains out, show themselves ideologues in every conceivable way — and still enjoy the favor of the greatest powers on earth.
The Resistance fights on. There may be a need, however, to study anew the wise as serpents verses. Or just get a better serpent on their team.
Dan:
If the petition is without merit for whatever reason, I would expect the process in place at the election commission will crush it. That is what I was trying to say, but I guess that I did so badly.
Having read Kevin Leininger's account in the N-S, I suspect that he read your post before organizing his story. I do ,however, believe that KL's background comments were very damaging to the judge, especially those about 2002 encounters where he interfered with a trial involving his son and a second incident in a bar where Allen county judges required that he attend counseling for alcohol abuse.
I don't know the judge, but on the surface, it appears that he has made some colossal conduct errors in the past. If he is your friend, then I bow to your judgement regarding the goodness in the man.
Having lived all over the country, I am struck by the nastiness that accompanies our election rituals here in Allen County.
The petition is a red herring, rabbit trail unfortunately. Judge Davis is emminently qualified and holds fast to a proper understanding of what Judges should do and should not do (Judges should not legislate, Judges should not throw out the will of 7 million California voters, Judges should not play God, Judges should interpret and apply the law–what a novel and unique idea but some would consider it "unevolved"). No one had to point out that Judge Schiedenberger abused the judicial robes in the heat of passion. It is well known and it is unacceptable behavior as well. But the acceptability of that behavior is left to the better judgment of the voters, best, and not some bueracrat at the Secretary of States office. Respecting the will of the voters is the highest and best thing anyone could do in supporting a Judicial candidate. After all, we would all like the Judge to respect the voters when he or she is elected.
As a taxpayer, why would I want a judge that has a history of showing bad judgement? Besides, he has hit the point in his career where he no longer tries A,B or C felonies, only D felonies(the mildest). Although he started drug court 15 years ago, he no longer runs it, Judge Gull does. Why shouldn't the citzens paying their salaries hold elected officials responsible when they are not productive? Would you want this track record from the president of your company? It's time for a change!
I wish I could say he was still my friend. He let me down. I will, however, vote for him this fall. I think he is a caring, compassionate and down-to-earth man who has made us proud day in and day out, with those notable exceptions. He screwed up, as you note, in the heat of passion. Someone killed his son. I think I would express myself, too. Ken had a drinking problem and smoked way too much. He abused himself. He is over that. Redemption and forgiveness. This effort to embarrass him is simply nasty business. I might have voted for Mrs. Davis on the issues, but now I am solidly in Ken's corner. He has paid a considerable price and does his job daily to our benefit. He is a tough judge.
Jim:
I think at one time Judge S. did a good job. Would you hire someone who could only perform half of the requirements (at most) of a job you are looking to fill? Doing a bad job for a long time is not reason enough for retention. I have known 2 men who have lost sons of various ages. It is a tragedy. They did not exhibit unprofessional behavior following their horrible event. To excuse 10 years of documented poor choices is not in the best interest of Allen County. If you want to vote for him because he is your friend- it is a free country. But I must disagree that he is serving us well.
Jim: Why would you "guess Mrs. Davis authorized her self-inflicted wound"? Just asking.
Let's set the record straight. The judge did not interfere with his son's trial. His son had not filled out the paperwork for pretrial diversion on a speeding ticket and the judge inadvertently continued the case for w eek for the paperwork. Nothing was gained by his son. As for doing only half the job, the judge is handling the caseload of 1.45 judges, according to State surveys. That means he is doing the work of almost 1 1/2 judges. He chooses to do D felonies and all drug cases because of his EXPERIENCE with these cases. He made a mistake in the courtroom and was punished for it. I wonder if Guest's friends kids were killed and if so, did they encounter the killer?? During his time on the bench Judge Scheibenberger has exhibited compassion when necessary and extreme punishment when required. He is dedicated to his job and does it well. Who among us can say that they have done things that they are not ashamed of? Judges are human, too, especially when it comes to family. Jim. How did the judge let you down?
Oh, by the way, the Judge does handle A, B and C felonies. I guess this is another example of the misinformation that gets handed out in a campaign!
I see the other judges doing murder trials. When is the last time Judge S. did a murder trial? (not a retrial back from the Appellate Court). Also, the Judicial Commission in 2002 did find enough reason to admonish Judge S. BTW- I think he has the right to run in the race if no rules were broken. But, why would anyone think that voters do not care about a judges' behavior? Would we be having these discussions if Gull or Surbeck were in an election?
Just because Judge S. misused his judiical robes to interfere with a Criminal Defendant's hearing and demonstrably show that justice is not blind, instead of handling personal matters personally, is no reason not to vote for him. Why we need to forgive Judges running around in their judicial robes interfering with trials and chewing out Defendants. That is blind justice right? Mr. Ashamed Judge should have took the robe off, met the Defendant outside the Courthouse and punched him in the nose, then I would have a hell of a lot more respect for him than I do now. I have made mistakes in the heat of passion but I sure as hell wasn't wearing Judicial robes and it sure as hell wasn't in the middle of a sentencing hearing. Actions have consequences.
The names of the petitioners are in Lanka's column this AM in the Journal. They are presented with minimal comment. Last night, Leininger cast a raised eyebrow in their direction when he wondered in print if it was retaliation for the sentence the Judge handed to candidate Kelty a couple years back. This grip, however, goes back a lot further. That "dirty bookstore" Attorney Scheibenberger defended on free speech grounds in the 80s, if my memory serves me, was across the street from Perfection Biscuit where John Popp is in charge. I guess we have a feud going on. Armstrong, our weakest of mayor's in long memory, sicked his Redevelopment Commission on knocking down as many buildings in that area as possible due to "blight." They were the sorts of 19th century warehouses and brick buildings that would be great clubs and night spots now, the sort the current ReDev Commission would love to have in the center. Parking lots, now. Nice work, Bob.
Jim-Everyone is entitled to have opinions and make guesses but there is absolutely no evidence or truth to your guess that"Mrs Davis authorized her self inflicted wound" !! She has publicly stated that she is running on her qualifications and experience and not against anyone. Unles you have evidence that Mrs Davis authorized the petition it is blatently unfair and character assassination to state such an opinion on a public blog.If you or any responsible jounalist would ask Mrs Davis she would tell you she did not authorize the petition and thinks it was a mistake. I have known Mrs Davis since childhood ,have seen her perform capably as an attorney and assistant prosecutor and know her to be an honest and truthful individual. My opinion of you has just taken a nosedive!!
Lmarine,
While both Davis and Scheibenberger are qualified, I can tell you this. Davis' supporters have been running a disgusting smear campaign against Scheibenberger from the onset. That included a loon that setup shop outside of Germanfest to tell lies and mis-truths about the judge, and this same person, and others have spread lies about the judge on Facebook.
While I'm certain Davis does not condone this, she also has done nothing to stop it. Shame on her. Scheibenberger has ran a clean campaign and NONE of his supporters are slinging mud. Davis' people are. Why hasn't Wendy stepped up and condoned their actions????
Judge Scheibenberger recently presided over muder case, but recused himself because of threats made by the defendant. He has presided over many drug dealing cases(Class A and B felonies) He is qualified to handle any case before the Superior Court and has a good affirmance rate with the Court of Appeals. The fact that he CHOOSES to handle drug cases displays his passion to deal with addicted offenders, not his lack of qualifications.
Judge Schiedenberger had no "right"moral or otherwise to walk into a Criminal Defendant's sentencing hearing with his robes on and chew out that Defendant on behalf of any family matter. That is not a good Judge. Pravda action in support of Judge Schiedenberger. Yep, the Judicial Disciplinary committee disciplined him and I am NOT voting for him too, period. The robes deserve a lot more respect than what is going on here!
There is no doubt that Davis knew about this. It has been posted at least twice on her Facebook site as well as on the "loon's site as well. Also, when people ask her why to vote for her, she directs them to Google the Judge's name, knowing that the disciplinary matter appears early there, but not on other internet search sites. SHE KNEW!!
Let the record also be straight. The Judge did no " ranting and raving" in the courtroom. In fact the discussion with the defendant's parents, not the defendant, can barely be heard on the tape of the hearing. The sentencing was over and Judge Gull's calendar was complete, so there was no disruption of court. He made a mistake in a moment of grief, paid the price and has continued to be a fair and effective judge, keeping our streets safe!!!
What was he doing in Judge Gull's courtroom with his Judicial robes on? I don't care if he was whispering. He was wrong, the Judicial Disciplinary commission said so, even though you attempt to minimalize that (or rather outright ignore it) and it does effect how I vote.
You are entitled to your opinion. Further discussion, or as you prefer to call it "miniminalize of outright ignore it," with you is a waste of time.
WOW. We all have strong opinions about our candidates. Mark L.– You make some strong comments-lets look at facts. The "loon" you and guest 2 refer to is one person who made a comment to a voter at Greekfest and was verbally attacked by the Judge for his trouble. (not sure why the Judge was eavesdropping on a private conversation). According to what I found written about this encounter by both men- the young man said Judge S. had "several reprimands" and the Judge corrected him- "I only have 2 reprimands"– semantics? The man did post the reprimand on his Facebook site as well as Mrs. Davis'. I saw that it was promptly deleted from her site without comment.
As far as mudslinging– I defy you to find a reference to Judge S. on her Facebook site or website. In contrast, check out the derogatory "fun facts" or references to "my part-time prosecutor opponent" on his Facebook. His website states that she does collections work- totally untrue (he misquotes her on his website as well, I'll let you figure that out). I have never been directed to google, but what is wrong with voters actually thinking and researching the candidates– what a concept. Is it a smear campaign when you are talking about publically documented facts?
Each candidate has many supporters and it is irresponsible to assume that the candidates control all the actions of such.
Guest 2– I assume she knew of the reprimand- we all do. It was all over the papers for the last few years- do you think everyone forgot? That does not mean she had anything to do with actions last week.
This is Abby Scheibenberger and I was there when the encounter went down at Greekfest. The person in question approached my fiance and started telling him to vote for Wendy Davis and my fiance asked why – so he told him that Judge Scheibenberger has 3 Supreme Court violations. That is an incorrect statement. No one has yet to see all of the private messages this person sent the Judge and myself over the course of that weekend. As God as my witness, no one attacked him. He was approached, we asked that if he were going to make comments, he could make them correctly and that we would be happy to answer any questions. There was no scene as we are being accused of – matter fact we said that then walked away and enjoyed the festival for a few hours, COMPLETELY ignoring him.
To answer "Guest 2– I assume she knew of the reprimand- we all do. It was all over the papers for the last few years- do you think everyone forgot? That does not mean she had anything to do with actions last week." John Popp who notorized the writ is on her list of endorsers. Enough said.
Abby Scheibenberger
I as once a witness in an attempted murder trial presided over by Judge Scheibenberger. It went quietly and properly forward the day I testified with then prosecutor Fran Gull the one who had called me to testify and who had explained the process to me. The perpetrator, a fellow who had eluded punishment for other despicable crimes in other jurisdictions, did not escape justice here. …And, he will be in jail until he is an old, old man.
Why don't we just stop all this bickering? It does no good and will change no one's opinions. My supporters will believe what they want, as will hers. Let's just deal with the issues of experience, compassion, knowledge of the law and integrity to determine the best person for the job.
My opinion does not carry the weight of Judge Scheibenberger these days, but can't we all just get along?
If candidate Davis did not know of this before it appeared I will apologize to her immediately.
I concur with rehnquist—can't we all just get along?
Wendy needs to shut down this idiot, who is behind most of the smear campaign. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/photo.php?pid…
Confirmed kill for Mark L, So who was the idiot? Oh, good to hear from you Ruth. Hope to see you soon.
Nice sense of humor.
Prove how he handles A, B, and C felonies then. Cause on his own website he says he only handles Drug court and D felonies. This is his OWN website.
Kevin Leininger weighs in tonight in his News Sentinel column. It is well work the effort to buy the NS or to go on line, http://www.fortwayne.com. Happy reading.
Mark L. and Justice Rehnquist. His name is Townsend. He spoke at a hearing last week at council, didn't add anything to the discussion, but rambled on a bit. Candidate Davis is known by the company she keeps.