Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook
Welcome to 'Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook', a heartening podcast where embracing vulnerability is the key to success. Join your host, Kevin, as he dives into the stories of remarkable individuals who have transformed their lives by opening up, facing challenges, and finding strength in their most vulnerable moments. Each episode features inspiring conversations with guests from various walks of life. Kevin's journey of embracing vulnerability has led him to meet amazing people, and now he brings their wisdom, laughter, and insights to you. Tune in and discover how embracing your vulnerabilities can lead to your greatest victories in life, both personally & professionally.
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Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook
Stepping Up to the Bench: Ron Moore on His Judicial Aspirations and Indiana's Bail Reform Insights
When a vacancy opens on the Wayne County Superior Court bench, it's a call to service that few can ignore. Today, I'm joined by Ron Moore, a seasoned attorney with a passion for justice, who's answering that call. We explore his journey from seasoned attorney to a judicial candidate, as he shares the personal moment he knew it was time to take his commitment to the community to the next level. Ron's rich experience in the legal field promises to bring a fresh perspective to the bench, and his drive to serve paints a hopeful picture for the future of our local justice system.
Transitioning to the inner workings of the court, we unravel the complexities of judicial decision-making and the crucial role bail reform is playing in Indiana. The 'truth in bonding' reforms are reshaping the legal landscape, ensuring judges have the comprehensive background information they need to make delicate decisions. Ron and I delve into the balance between upholding individual rights and protecting community safety, dissecting the challenges faced by judges in setting bail conditions. Our conversation provides a rare and insightful look into the meticulous considerations judges must weigh, offering a deeper understanding of the judicial process that governs our society. Join us for a thought-provoking episode that's sure to leave you with a greater appreciation for the intricacies of our judicial system.
Life Inscripted with Kevin Schuch.
Speaker 2:When you are the judge. I want to do a spin off of Night Court, the television show. I love that show. That's like one of my favorite. It's like on no, not prime peacock. Yeah, On streaming Peacock.
Speaker 1:Catch Life Inscripted with Kevin Schuch on YouTube Bus Sprout, Spotify and Apple Podcast.
Speaker 3:Candidacy is one of those things that you know. It started from the whole process. It started from the idea that I could be the best judge. You know, and I think that when we get to we get to the level that we're at in our lives, in our professional practice, that it becomes almost a mission to really show people what it's like to be an attorney, to deal with the day in and day out, and people ask me a lot of questions about what it's like to be an attorney and why, ultimately, I want to be a judge. So I appreciate the opportunity to come talk with you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I'm glad we could do this and I know before this we've been friends and I think we've met at the club and at the country club and so it's been cool seeing you around. And then I'm really excited about tonight and getting to know you more and ask you some questions, mostly questions based on your campaign.
Speaker 3:So you're running for, yeah, I'm running for judge of Wayne County Superior Court Number One. Judge Todd announced his retirement at the end of December twenty twenty three and when that happened we were all really taken back a back by it. We weren't really sure that he was, that he was serious. And then, you know, when we we got that email and we're just thinking, you know, gosh, what a surprise. He's so young, he has such a vibrant courtroom that we thought that he had a lot more time. We had a lot more time with him.
Speaker 3:But you know, when that came out I knew that I was going to run immediately, that it was one of those things where, yeah, I can help this community, I can help be a good judge. In fact, when, judge, when Judge Colger retired and Circuit Court came available, that became a gubernatorial appointment. So the governor came in and made an appointment for that. I ran for that position. April Drake, who was the chief deputy prosecuting attorney, got that position. Now she's the honorable judge of Wayne Circuit Court.
Speaker 3:And when, when Judge Dola Haney decided to retire, that's a different court, downstairs court that handles things like family court and traffic court, small claims court, those kinds of things very administrative, very detailed, detail oriented in some specific areas that came available and I decided that that wasn't for me. And when Judge Todd announced his retirement, I decided, yeah, that's that's my, that's my niche, that's the areas that I practice in and it fits really well with with the things that I do. So when that, when he announced that, I think we were all taken back based on his age and things that we thought we had. He had an opportunity to continue being a judge, but we certainly want to honor his time there and appreciate it. But for me, you know, it was a real moment for me to say, yeah, I'm, I'm going to run and this is my, this is my, my moment.
Speaker 2:OK. So backing up a little bit, you've mentioned so you're running for Supreme Court, superior Superior Court. Ok, and that's why I'm asking you this Supreme I'm thinking about pizza, that's right Superior Court one, but then you mentioned Circuit Court and a few others. So how many judges do is Wayne County have?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have. We actually have four judges. One is one is a judge of Circuit Court and then we have three Superior Courts. It there used to be a distinction. Historically there was a distinction between Circuit Court and Superior Court. There's not any more. There are some nuances regarding how retention is held, or you know whether, for example and I don't really even know all the details because they've blurred over time those details might be that you know, for example, when Judge Drake took the job, she had to run immediately, whereas now that Judge Cox, mark Cox, is the judge of Wayne Superior Court Three, he actually gets to fulfill the remaining term of Judge Dolehanty, who retired. So so the nuance there is that the Circuit Court judge has to run immediately.
Speaker 3:So again, but for the most part all the courts in Wayne County are plenary courts or general jurisdiction courts. They can do technically anything, but we've parceled some courts out to do certain things and the Superior Three Court the judge, the honorable judge Mark Cox, is now the judge of. He handles things like traffic courts, small claims court, family recovery court, juvenile court, so juvenile cases like whether it's Chin's case or juvenile delinquency, those kinds of things. He handles small, low level criminal offenses like operating while intoxicated, driving offenses, batteries, misdemeanor court, essentially. So Superior Three Court handles those.
Speaker 3:And then the upstairs courts are just again, general jurisdiction courts. So they handle everything from probate, estate, adoption, family law, divorce court, paternity, child support, those kinds of things. So that court fits my practice style more than the Superior Three Court did. So that's the reason why I was trying to get, that's why I wanna be judge of Wayne Superior Court. One is because it fits my practice style almost to a T and that's the court that I've practiced in, significantly so. But to answer your question, there are four judges there's one magistrate and there's one commissioner. The magistrate is the one who assists in Superior Court Three and the commissioner assists with things like child support.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Wow, yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot I wanna stay away from. I don't wanna see any of these courts.
Speaker 3:You know that's the interesting thing about being in the courthouse is that the people who go there they're not, quite frankly, they're not healthy, right.
Speaker 2:So something wrong.
Speaker 3:People who go to the courthouse. They're something wrong and that's where you wanna stay away from right.
Speaker 3:I mean you don't go there unless you really need something. There's something wrong in your life. You've either been hurt or you've been accused of hurting someone, whether it's civil or criminal or however it is, and that's where the compassion and the passion for the law really has to come out. In our judiciary and we've been really fortunate over the years and I've been in Wayne County for 27 years that we've had an amazing judiciary and we've had a lot of great opportunities to learn from these judges and to witness their grace that they've shown and their dignity in handling the courts and how that happens, and I know that that's an opportunity for me to continue that.
Speaker 2:Well, that's good, that's really good, because that's more of a non-traditional approach. I guess is what you could say, and you see it on social media a lot, with judiciary across Facebook for the most part, but where they believe in second chances, they believe in rehabilitation. People can be rehabilitated, that they did the crime they might have to do the time, but they can also be rehabilitated onwards. So that's huge and we have some questions coming up about that because it kind of ties in with mental health, mental health awareness.
Speaker 3:Well, the interesting thing about that concept that you brought up is that the Indiana Constitution actually says these words. It says the criminal justice system is based upon reformative justice in the state of Indiana, Not punitive justice. And when we really consider that and when it's in the Constitution, that's a mandate, it means something. It's not just simply something we pay, we pander to or we don't take seriously, it's not a policy.
Speaker 3:It's not a policy, it's an obligation, and when we consider that, then those types of things mean something, in that we have to honor the concept that people can be rehabilitated, and that's what our judges over the my years here have really done, and they've done a great job of it. So I really really have learned a lot from them and I know that I believe in reformative justice and I think that there's a fine line. I mean, you have to uphold the rule of law, you have to provide for safe communities. Those kinds of things are really imperative to make sure that we live in a safe community. It's really simple to say. It's simple to say, but every case is different. Every case requires you to have an opportunity to review what they are, what the person, who did it, what is it that they need? And sometimes it's mental health, sometimes it's that they need to be locked up Absolutely, and there's got to be a fine balance there.
Speaker 2:And it seems like this recent, you know well, through the past couple years, and that's where, like kudos to these judges and attorneys for doing this, but where people have gotten released and then murder somebody, yeah. Yeah, I just seen a case over on the west side of Indiana where that just happened, yeah, and some of them was like and they were just slip ups where they weren't supposed to be released. So it's kind of like, oh shit, like what happened. So I feel like there's probably a lot of pressure on you guys, because you're the deciding factor on their fate.
Speaker 3:It's really an incredible process. You know it used Well. Let me let me back up when I first came to town in 1997. At that period of time, there was a discussion and we rewrote the criminal justice local fan, local rules, ok, and the local rules needed to be revamped, and we talked about how we could this, how we could deal with this exact concept.
Speaker 3:So one of the things that I was involved in was rewriting the bond schedule, the amounts of that people would have to pay in order to get out, and we separated into different areas Personal crimes, crimes against people right, whether it's a battery or a rape or a murder, right, those kinds of things. So, so crimes against persons. Then we separated out crimes against property, so whether there was, you know, breaking and entering or burglary, things like that, theft, crimes against property. And then we had crimes that were drug crimes, right and different, if you want to recognize the distinctions between them and understanding again whether or not the the offender is, the nature of the offense and the character of the offender, and whether they were a flight risk or a danger to the community. That's how we were able to say OK, based on this level, based on this crime, based on their connections to the community, we knew where bail should be and that enabled us to really fine tune the. And again, you know, I was a young attorney at the time. I'm not going to claim that I was an instrumental part of it, but I did write that portion of it by putting in the certain numbers and dollar figures, and the judges aren't obligated to follow that Right, but it's something that at least put into perspective that we we're going to look at each case individually again, whether they're a danger to the community and a flight risk. So those are primarily the concerns.
Speaker 3:And you know, just a few years ago our Indiana Supreme Court came out and said, hey, look, we need to have truth, and it's kind of like a truth in lending right, a truth, you know, when we're talking about different areas with this truth in sentencing truth and in everything for these transparency so that we can have a distinct application of the law to each individual case. Well, about two years ago the Supreme Court came out and said well, look, we're going to have a truth in bonding truth, in bail reform, and what they've done is they've required, at a time of arrest, when someone goes to the jail, our probation department will go over and do an interview with them and that interview process is a discussion regarding their prior criminal history, their ties to the community, whether they have current pending cases, so that that information then gets translated to the courts and it's usually done fairly quickly. Sometimes it's, you know, sometimes it's it's not filled with much information. But if, if, as long as that's done, then our judges get to make good decisions regarding, again, same things ties to the community and how much of a danger to the community they are. So those that gives the judges an opportunity to look at the facts of the case and really apply the law to their case so that you have people who aren't getting out and hurting people.
Speaker 3:You know whether they're, you know, in our country as an undocumented person, so that we know that in that case they're not tied to our community. Their bond might need to be higher in order to provide for a safe community and we uphold the rule of law. And when that's the case we have to be armed with the information and our processes are really dynamic to be able to start to deal with these kind of things. Again. In 1997, it was just okay, we know you were charged with a crime and this is the bond schedule and this is how we're gonna categorize it and this is what you need to pay for bond, like a draft chart. Exactly, exactly, yeah, exactly. So we have the opportunity to require Bill Bondsman, but Bill Bondsman aren't really prevalent anymore. I'm not sure that we even have a Bill Bondsman here locally.
Speaker 2:They're just my good TV shows. Exactly, I'm the dog of the bounty hunter. Dog, the bounty hunter out there. After you know, you gotta show up.
Speaker 3:Every while. Yeah, so those kinds of things and, you know, having a cash bond versus a Bill Bondsman again more serious defense, the more danger to the community there is, the less more of a flight risk they are. Then you can require things like a Bill Bondsman. You know there has to be someone capable of going out and getting you and bringing you to court so that when somebody is an undocumented alien, they're now out in the wind in Chicago or out. You know. They've committed an offense here and now they're released, but now they're hanging out in LA, somewhere where they're, you know, lost in the crowd and they'll never find them.
Speaker 2:There was an incident in Indianapolis. I just it's all in the news, I've seen it on the news so it has to be real, right, anyway, so I guess this guy it was a hit and run case downtown college in Mass and they found him trying to board a plane and that's when they called him and but they still so. After they, I guess he went, he had his initial hearing or they still granted him, they said, yeah, you can go back to your I think it was Texas or something, but we're pulling your passport and stuff like that. So you know they probably did what's. You know it probably took a lot of analyzing to figure out exactly how much leeway to give this person and how much leeway did not give this person. So there's a scale there and that would be hard to be the deciding factor on that kind of stuff. So they probably took into play like, is this his first time offense or does he hit people every weekend? You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:So it's interesting, judges make these calls every day, you know, and it takes a good legal acumen and strong character, strong personality, to be able to make those decisions. And you know, that's what we've had in Wayne County. We've been blessed by it and we've been very cool. Yeah, it's a nice opportunity.
Speaker 1:And that wraps up today's episode of life inscripted with Kevin Scho. If you enjoyed our conversation, make sure you tune in right here on YouTube next Sunday for part two of our exciting adventure. But hey, if you're always on the go, don't worry, we've got you covered. You can also find part two on all your favorite podcast platforms. Whether you're commuting, working out or just relaxing at home, you can keep up with us wherever you are. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support means the world to us and it helps us bring even more amazing content your way. Thank you for listening to Life Inscripted with Kevin Scho and remember stay curious, stay excited and stay tuned. We'll see you next Sunday for another thrilling episode. Until then, keep exploring and keep dreaming. Life Inscripted with Kevin Scho Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
