Category Archives: Judges

Common Law: Terms of probation

Tuesday9:23 a.m.

We’ve received several questions about what happens to people getting probation. As we’ve explained before, it’s not a free walk. While people don’t stay locked up, their life is restricted. Most of the people we’ve seen receive probation get standard terms they must follow. Judge David Kaufman went through those limitations in the recent sentencing of a bar bouncer. It took Kaufman 18 minutes to fully explain the terms of probation. We’ve condensed it to 2 minutes. (Watch video after the jump)

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Kansas judge says “cram down” mortgage bill will help troubled homeowners

Jan. 28, 20092:12 p.m.

The chief bankruptcy judge in Kansas says he and his colleagues are in the best position to help troubled homeowners, if they’re given the authority they need by a new bill going through Congress.

The bill, which Tuesday passed the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, would allow judges to reduce, or “cram down,” mortgages to meet market values for homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth.

“For 30 years bankruptcy judges have been denied the power to modify secured loans on primary residences,” said Judge Robert Nugent of Wichita. “But I think it makes sense. We have the power to do it with commercial debtors and we adjust the value of other assets all the time.”

Previous attempts to get judges the power to alter mortgages, which proponents said could help curb foreclosures, has faced fierce fights from the banking industry. But this time, lending giant Citigroup is supporting the measure.

Watch Kansas.com for more details on this story.

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A packed courtroom says farewell to Judge Pilshaw

Jan. 5, 200910:44 p.m.

The cake was decorated to look like law books with a gavel on top. The books carried the dates of Judge Rebecca Pilshaw’s reign on the Sedgwick County District Court bench: 1993-2008.

A courtroom packed with lawyers, fellow judges, police and court staff ate the cake and sipped punch in a farewell reception for Rebecca Pilshaw today, who leaves after this year’s election defeat and a turbulent end to a long career of public service.

“I served 15 years in woman years, and those count for more because we have to work harder for everything,” said Pilshaw, whose departure leaves the Sedgwick County district bench all male.

The five women who ran for judge in this past election were all defeated.

Pilshaw presided over many high-profile cases with a reputation for a boisterous sense of humor and a heavy gavel. Her laugh boomed across the courtroom and she was known for pushing sentencing guidelines to their limits to give the most prison time for the toughest offenders. Pilshaw’s sentencing practices are a reason why reversal rates by appeals courts aren’t always an accurate measure of an elected judge’s worth. Some of the cases she had reversed were for being too tough on crime.

The tough persona also ultimately cost her a seat on the bench, after being reprimanded for losing her temper in court. That toughness also drew criticism from the lawyers who stood before her. Both were issues in the election.

But there was no sign of hard feelings by anyone at today’s reception. There were smiles, hugs and tears. In court, lawyers and judges are used to heated disputes, then walking away friends.

Pilshaw said she plans to return to private practice, where she’ll take cases defending the rights of those accused of crimes.

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Fleetwood named new chief judge for Sedgwick County district court

Nov. 25, 200812:05 p.m.

James Fleetwood will become the new chief judge for Sedgwick County District Court, the Kansas Supreme Court announced this morning.

Judge Fleetwood

Judge Fleetwood

Fleetwood will oversee the administration and other activities in the courthouse. He takes over for Michael Corrigan, who is retiring in January. Fleetwood will fill out the final year of Corrigan’s appointment, then be eligible for reappointment to two-year terms.

“I hear it’s even more stressful,” Fleetwood said from his office this morning. “There’s just so many employee issues and making sure everything runs smoothly.”

Fleetwood was elected to the Sedgwick County bench in 1997, after serving two years in general private practice. He began his career in the environmental law section of Koch Industries Inc. He’s a 1989 graduate of Washburn University School of Law.

For the past year, Fleetwood has served as the presiding judge of the civil courts.

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Former Sedgwick County judge in line for Kansas Supreme Court

Nov. 14, 20086:13 p.m.

Tom Malone, a former Wichita lawyer and Sedgwick County District judge, is among three finalists announced today for the Kansas Supreme Court.

Malone’s name was sent to Gov. Kathleen Sebilius, along with Overland Park attorney Dan Biles and Douglas County Chief District Judge Robert Fairchild. Sebelius will have 60 days to make her appointment.

Sebelius’ choice will fill the opening left by Chief Justice Kay McFarland, who is retiring after 31 years on the state’s highest court.

The replacement will serve as justice. Robert E. Davis will become chief justice as the next senior person on the current Kansas Supreme Court bench.

Malone practiced with the Wichita law firm of Redmond and Nazar from 1979 to 1990, when he was appointed to the Sedgwick County district bench. He served there until being appointed to the Kansas Court of Appeals in 2003.

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Langston pays for recount in tight Sedgwick County judicial race

Nov. 12, 20086:03 p.m.

Karen Langston isn’t ready to give up just yet on regaining a seat on the Sedgwick County district court bench.

Langston trailed incumbent Warren Wilbert by only 444 votes Monday, after provisional ballots were counted. This afternoon, Langston asked for a recount of the paper ballots at a cost of $15,000, county election commissioner Bill Gale said.

Kansas law provides for free recounts only for statewide and national offices. The county will absorb the cost if the recount shows Langston the winner. Otherwise, she’ll have to pay.

After election day last week, Wilbert had a 1,067-vote advantage. But the Republican saw that lead more than cut in half as provisional ballots were counted.

Wilbert has been a judge since 1995 but faced his first contested election this year after being publicly disciplined by the state judicial ethics commission in 2006.

Langston served as district court judge from 2000 to 2004 as a Republican before switching parties to run against Wilbert. If she prevails, she would be the only woman to win a race for the Sedgwick County bench in this election.

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Women judge Kansas appeals on anniversary of suffrage

Aug. 26, 200810:34 p.m.

From left: Melissa Taylor Standridge, Nancy Caplinger, Christel Marquardt

From left: the Hon. Melissa Taylor Standridge, Hon. Nancy Caplinger, Hon. Christel Marquardt

The judges say the date was merely a coincidence. But on the 88th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in America, the first three-woman panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals convened today in Wichita.

Melissa Taylor Standridge, Nancy Caplinger and Christel E. Marquardt looked out in the gallery of lawyers waiting to argue their appeals and saw nothing but men.

“I said at the beginning this was an historic occasion, and I saw Christel out of the corner of my eye, thinking I was going to talk about her birthday,” joked Caplinger. “But this was the first time we’d had a three-woman panel of the Court of Appeals in Kansas, and we looked out and saw 13 men waiting to argue. How often does that happen?”

Not very often now. But it might have reminded Judge Marquardt of when she graduated Washburn Law School in 1974 and went to work as the only woman in private practice in Topeka.

“It’s like the end of a dream,” Marquardt said, “that we have a three-woman panel on the Court of Appeals. But it took too long to happen.”

Marquardt said the only difference in having three women on the panel, “When we get together, we can talk about things we wouldn’t ever do in front of the guys,” she said.

After they sat together for the first time in the second-floor courtroom at the historic federal courthouse in downtown Wichita, the city’s legal community marked the historic event with a reception at Bradley Fair.

On their journey, they’ve heard their colleagues on the Court of Appeals call them “girls.” And one nervous lawyer today addressed the judges as “ma’am.”

“Your honor” would be the appropriate term.

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Featured: Discussion on the election, retention and appointment of judges

Aug. 1, 200812:45 p.m.

This election season has brought quite a discussion on bringing back judges who have been previously defeated. In case you’ve missed it, here’s the latest comment posted by Cindy:

“Give me a choice between two candidates and I might believe both to be good, yet I can vote for only one. A sitting judge can lose an election for a myriad of reasons. While some people may perceive losing an election to be like getting fired, that doesn’t make it so.”
What do you think about the way we select judges in Sedgwick County? Do you favor elections? Or would you rather see judges chosen as nearly half the districts in Kansas do, by non-partisan merit selection?

Judges are welcome to comment, too. We’d like to hear from everyone.

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Defendant who spit in deputies eye launches tirade at sentencing

July 17, 20085:05 p.m.

Note to defendants: If you want a judge to give you less than the maximum prison time, don’t call her a b****.

Michael Gaines, 50, didn’t heed that advice while facing Judge Rebecca Pilshaw today. Gaines, who is HIV-positive, was convicted last month by a jury of spitting in a deputy’s eye while in the county jail.

Prosecutor Kevin O’Connor had recommended 10 years, a hefty sentence, but not the max. Gaines lost his temper and swore at the judge, prompting Sedgwick County Sheriff’s deputies to remove him from the courtroom. Gaines continued to yell at O’Connor, calling him “a maggot who was stillborn at birth.”

Pilshaw borrowed Judge Eric Yost’s courtroom, where he does first appearances from the jail via closed-circuit television. Pilshaw concluded the sentencing via video, giving Gaines the maximum of 164 months (more than 13 years).

O’Connor’s argument had been that Gaines couldn’t control his temper.

Updates: Video[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/5v9Jxz-9vU8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Also, Judge Pilshaw blogged about her account of the sentencing.

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Judge: Number of jail beds don’t impact court decisions

July 17, 20084:10 p.m.

Whether or not the county builds new jail space into its budget, business in the criminal courts division will go on as usual.

Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost, chief of the criminal courts division, said jail space doesn’t figure into decisions on sentencing or bail. We asked Yost if County Manager Bill Buchanan’s recommendation to not put a $54 million jail expansion into next year’s budget would affect the courts.

“We are all well aware of the problem, of course,” Yost said, “but we need to do what we think is appropriate with each case, and hope there is a place to house those who get incarcerated.”

Bond is set by the severity of the crimes and the risk that a defendant will flee.

“Thus, most low-level felony cases and misdemeanors will be able to bond out easily anyway,” Yost said. “Defendants in the more serious cases probably won’t.”

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