Voters will decide on retention for 18 Marion County judges this November

Marion County voters will have 18 Marion County Superior Court judges on their ballot in the November General Election.

This week ten incumbent trial court judges were recommended for retention after a series of public interviews. The Marion County Judicial Selection Committee asked questions and judges talked about challenges, successes and systemic issues.

Judge Jose Salinas sits on the Marion Superior Court, and talked about diversity.

“As far as diversity is concerned, on our bench we are second to none in the state. Now some people may say, well, that's not a big achievement in terms of where we are as a whole, but as far as Marion County in the state we should be very proud of what we've done,” Salinas said.

Judges were also asked about community involvement. Many of them are involved in committees, volunteer work and outreach.

The discussion around magistrate and judge retention and staffing was addressed by some of the justices. Judge Helen Marchal says a restructure of the way judges select magistrates should be considered.

“Our local rule right now says it's discretionary that you have a screening committee. It's discretionary as to whether or not you post it. Those should be mandatory. I think that we need a bipartisan screening committee that would vet all applicants,” Marchal said.

Some judges spoke about how the pandemic changed the courts system, and how the move to the Community Justice Campus impacted their work.

Judge John Chavis said he believes all sitting judges are being held accountable.

“We are accountable. We believe that we are accountable. That's why we go in every day to do the best job that we can and do it the right way. With a lot of respect and dignity for the job and also for the judiciary,” Chavis said.

In March, the selection committee voted to retain another eight incumbent trial court judges who were recommended for retention. The committee publicly interviewed those justices at that time.

Two judges up for retention opted not to appear before the committee. Another two judges are not seeking retention this year — Justices Mark Stoner and John Hanley.

Marion County voters will choose 'Yes' or 'No' for all 18 judges on their ballot in November. The committee will take applications for the two benches left open and make recommendations to the governor.

All 18 judges are listed below:

• Judge Linda Brown
• Judge John Chavis
• Judge Stephen Creason
• Judge Charnette Garner
• Judge Danielle Gaughan
• Judge Alicia Gooden
• Judge Clayton Graham
• Judge Jennifer Harrison
• Judge Amy Jones
• Judge James Joven
• Judge Marie Kern
• Judge Helen Marchal
• Judge Jeffrey Marchal
• Judge Charles Miller
• Judge William Nelson
• Judge Cynthia Oetjen
• Judge Clark Rogers
• Judge Jose Salinas