The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications has publicly admonished Walkerton’s town court judge for employing his wife as clerk and effectively acting as both judge and prosecutor in a traffic violations case.

The commission determined that Judge Roger L. Huizenga violated judicial rules by employing his wife as clerk from 1995 through 2009. In 1998, the commission issued an advisory opinion stating that a judge should avoid “nepotism and favoritism,” and that “employment or appointment of a spouse likely will never be appropriate.”

Once the opinion was issued, Huizenga failed to contact the commission and ask about the propriety of his wife’s continued employment with the court, the commission concluded.

She resigned once she became aware of the commission’s investigation.

Huizenga also violated judicial rules when he discussed how to resolve misdemeanor traffic infractions against a woman who had approached him about receiving tickets for speeding and having an expired license plate. The judge told her she would have to pay the ticket but could have the license plate ticket dismissed if she paid to have it renewed within 30 days.

When she later failed to renew her license plate, her license was suspended.

The commission found that the judge violated judicial rules by effectively negotiating a plea agreement without notifying the state.

The public admonition means the commission will drop its case and won’t formally charge him with ethical misconduct.

When contacted Tuesday by The Tribune, Huizenga’s Walkerton attorney, Fred Jones, said Huizenga declined comment.

Jones said Huizenga did not realize he was violating judicial ethics rules in either case. Huizenga did not recall receiving notice of the 1998 nepotism advisory opinion, and said he had spoken with judges across the state who also employed their spouses, he said.

On the traffic ticket issue, Jones said Huizenga, a judge for at least 10 years now, has routinely negotiated agreements with defendants in such a manner, and thought the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office had given its approval to do so.

He now realizes he was wrong on both counts, said Jones, who noted that town court judges do not have to be lawyers or hold law degrees.

Huizenga has learned all he knows from training and conferences he has attended, and will make changes the commission seeks, Jones said.

“He’s going to toe the line as religiously as he can,” Jones said. “He feels bad this has happened but it did and he will not make the same mistakes again.”

Staff writer Jeff Parrott:
jparrott@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6320