Three Marion County judges retiring at end of 2018

Three Marion County judges plan to retire from the bench at the end of the year, avoiding a new process for selecting and retaining Indianapolis judges that gets under way next month with the first-ever retention interviews by the Marion County Judicial Selection Committee.

Judges Rebekah Pierson-Treacy of Marion Superior Criminal Division 19 and Thomas Carrol of Marion Superior Civil Division 6, both Democrats, are stepping down.

And Judge Michael Keele of Marion Superior Civil Division 7, a Republican, has decided not to stand for retention.

The 17 remaining judges whose terms expire this year will be interviewed March 12-13 by the Marion County Judicial Selection Committee, according to the schedule announced Wednesday.

In April, the committee plans to begin the process of soliciting applications and recommending candidates for the three pending vacancies to Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Pierson-Treacy and Keele were both elected in 2000. Carroll has been a judge since 1988.

A 2012 judicial candidate survey by the Indianapolis Bar Association gave high marks to Keele. Looking at experience, legal knowledge, efficiency and ability to be unbiased, 95.4 percent of the evaluators recommended Keele be retained.

The numbers were lower for the other two: Carroll was recommended by 68.5 percent of the evaluators and Pierson-Treacy by just 30.7 percent.   

Before the 2012 election, Pierson-Treacy was admonished by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications for violating the rules of judicial conduct. In November 2011, the commission issued the public admonishment after Pierson-Treacy sent campaign fundraising letters that seemed to imply certain giving levels would translate into favorable court rulings.