After listening to people argue all day, judges enjoy the opportunity to hear people say, “I do.” Most judges in Sedgwick County perform marriages outside of regular court business for a $40-$50 honorarium. Jerry Chebultz, 64, of Wichita and Nadiya Hryhorenko, 42, of Ukraine were among those deciding on a courthouse wedding.
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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.
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.
A federal judge in Wichita who turned 101 this week denied a request today to delay prison for a 76-year-old former doctor who underwent surgery this week to install a pacemaker in his heart.
U.S. Senior District Judge Wesley Brown ordered Wilbur Hilst to report to prison Monday to begin serving a 33-month sentence for illegally distributing prescription drugs over the Internet. Hilst had pleaded guilty to conspiracy for selling drugs online from his Red Mesa pharmacy in Wichita.
Hilst’s lawyers said in his motion that he was scheduled to have a pacemaker installed this week. Prosecutors argued Hilst could get the aftercare he needed in prison.
Brown turned 101 on June 22.
David Kennedy, defeated for re-election in 2006, will return to the bench on temporary assignment in Sedgwick County District Court.
Kennedy, who served as a judge for 28 years, has been assigned as “pro-tem” to preside over juvenile jury trials expected to begin next month. Chief Judge Michael Corrigan announced that Kennedy will be called to help with jury trials for juveniles until two new judges’ positions are filled in January.
It’s not the first time a judge has lost an election in Sedgwick County and returned to the courthouse in the black robe. Carol Bacon currently handles protection from abuse and stalking dockets on a pro-tem basis.
Judge Michael Corrigan managed one major change in the juvenile justice system in 1976. As the juvenile judge of the county court, Corrigan led the transition when the Kansas Supreme Court folded his job into a division of the district court.
“But this is probably the biggest change I’ve seen,” Corrigan, now chief judge of Sedgwick County District Court, told me this morning about the recent ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that grants juveniles the right to a jury trial.
Corrigan spent Monday talking to his judges about how they were going to manage what could be as many as 100 new trials a year. He spent Tuesday talking to the County Commission about how it’s going to be funded.
The new juvenile courts facility, just completed, doesn’t have room for juries — yet. Plans originally called for a jury courtroom in the juvenile facility, but the county didn’t approve that expense. After all, until last week juveniles didn’t have jury trials.
Two new judge positions approved by the Supreme Court and funded by state lawmakers won’t take effect until January. But the first jury trial in a juvenile criminal case could come as soon as next month. Corrigan said for the first six months, juvenile jury trials will be managed from the adult courthouse. More summonses will be sent each week and jury clerk Linda Marvin will continue to oversee all jury trials.
Judges from the main courthouse will handle the cases. Corrigan said he may appoint a “pro-tem,” or temporary judge to handle the extra caseload until January.
“That’s if we have one extra jury trial,” Corrigan said. “If we have two, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
Meanwhile, Corrigan said judges and lawyers who have been handling juvenile cases have some college-style cramming to do. Jury trials operate under different rules than cases where the trial is decided by a judge.
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot has taken senior status, but his caseload hasn’t changed. Some judges take senior status to lighten their workload or as a precursor for retirement. But not in Wichita.
“How could I ever get away with working less when Judge Brown still works full-time?” Belot asked.
Wesley E. Brown, also on senior status, still hears a full caseload. He turns 101 on June 22. Belot, 65, once worked as a law clerk for Brown.
Belot’s senior status also opens up a district court vacancy in Wichita. President Bush could nominate someone for the position before he leaves office. Current U.S. Attorney for Kansas Eric Melgren, a Bush appointee, has been mentioned as a possibility, but he’s not talking.
There may not be any hurry. As Belot continues to handle his full caseload, there are 16 other judicial vacancies around the country rated as “emergencies” by administrators of the U.S. courts. One has been vacant for 14 years.
When a judge asks a lawyer for exhibits to support an argument, it helps to return the judge’s phone call.
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot said he didn’t get that call, or the documents he was seeking, after his staff phoned a lawyer for Linda Schneider.
Linda Schneider and her husband, former doctor Stephen Schneider, face more than 30 charges stemming from the prescribing of painkillers at their Haysville clinic.
“Let me make something clear to all counsel: when a member of my staff calls, the call will be returned the same day it is received,” Belot wrote in a letter dated today. “My staff will not deal with your confusing and unresponsive telephone answering systems. If the call is not returned, I will dispatch a U.S. marshal to bring to the courthouse the lawyer who did not return the call.”
Marshals typically escort people to the courthouse in handcuffs.
Kansas earned only a C- grade for the way it keeps track of judicial ethics in a report card issued by a legal watchdog group.
HALT stands for “Help Abolish Legal Tyranny” and describes itself as “a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest group.” Its report on judicial ethics graded each state in seven areas, including transparency, gift restrictions and meaningful sanctions.
Kansas received a failing grade in gift restrictions. “The state does not place meaningful limitations on the reimbursements and compensation that judges may accept in connection with corporate and special interest funded trips,” the report said.
Lawmakers approved funding for two new judges positions in Sedgwick County District Court, which may make the ballot in time for the fall primary.
Timing is the key. The funding has passed the House and the Senate but has to go through an omnibus committee, which doesn’t meet until next month. The budget then needs to be approved by the Governor. To get on the ballot, the Kansas Supreme Court would have to certify the positions by April 15. Judges are hoping the Supreme Court could go ahead and certify the positions with a provision that the funding must pass.
Still, it’s a tight race to make the June 10 filing deadline to run for one of the new offices.