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The Eighteenth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance, in a decision of 6 in favor of retention and 2 opposed to retention, recommends that Judge Richard Morgan Jauch BE RETAINED. Judge Jauch has served in the bench for 18 years. His docket primarily consists of traffic and misdemeanor cases, with a few civil cases each year. The commission relies in part, but not exclusively, on surveys of attorneys and non-attorneys in evaluating judicial performance. Both attorneys and non-attorneys give the judge higher than average ratings in nearly every category, from overall fairness to diligence and knowledge of the law. The Commission is most concerned with Judge Jauch's lower ratings on starting court on time. The Commission expressed similar concerns four years ago, and the Judge seems to have not taken the advice to start court promptly at scheduled times. Judge Jauch believes that he takes the bench on time routinely. However, observers in his courtroom have seen delays between 30 to 60 minutes at the beginning of the day. Like many of his peers, Judge Jauch spends long hours at his desk, stating that he is sometimes at his desk during the lunch hour, and rarely leaves the office before 6:00 p.m. That said, the Judge still leaves individuals sitting in an empty court awaiting his arrival well after the docket requires them to appear. The Commission urged Judge Jauch to be in court at the time the docket starts. The expressed goal is to bring his timeliness in keeping with his otherwise high standards and ratings. Judge Jauch was the subject of a special television news report concerning allowing a case to be continued instead of being brought to trial. The Commission expressed concern to the judge about the circumstances of this case and the subsequent reflection on other similar situations. It is clear that this was a singular occurrence and the citizens would do well to consider the nearly 12,000 other cases in the last four years the Judge handled without negative TV coverage. Prior to his appointment to County Court, Richard Jauch was a Deputy District Attorney with the Eighteenth Judicial District. |
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View the complete Judicial Performance Report for the Honorable Richard Morgan Jauch in pdf format. |
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