Office for which you are a candidate
Delaware County Circuit Court 3
Incumbent?
No, I was appointed by Gov. Holcomb to replace retiring Judge Linda Wolf
Previously sought/Held offices
No elected offices
Experience and qualifications
I have spent 36 years in the legal profession. In those 36 years I have been: office support for attorneys in a very large law firm, worked as paralegal in a large law firm and a small legal services office. While I was in law school, I worked for a criminal court judge and a civil court judge. After graduating from law school, I worked in a small private practice doing primarily civil defense work. I then opened my own office and worked as a Public Defender. After 4 years working as a Public Defender, I joined the Prosecutor's Office and worked 10 years as a Deputy Prosecutor. Governor Holcombe appointed me to the Circuit Court 3 Bench effective 9/1/23
Community involvements
Former Member of the JC's and Young Republicans. Currently member of the Rotarians
Education (degree/year/where)
Undergrad: Wabash College, 1984 Law School: IU McKinney, 1997
Occupation
Judge, Circuit Court 3
Campaign Phone (Include area code)
765-985-5435
City and County of Residence
Muncie
Place of Birth (City, State)
Columbus, GA
Family (Spouse/partner, number of children)
Amanda Yonally, 2 adult children
A person's access to justice without a lawyer. Lawyers are expensive and often not needed. I think people need to have the ability to represent themselves in many court matters. To assist in this self-representation, self help centers, online held resources and self help kiosks are good ways to allow persons to have their day in court without having to incur hundreds if not thousands of dollars of legal expenses.
The selection of juries is strictly controlled by statute and court rules. The selection process does best reflects society at large. Jury lists are randomly selected from public records and data basis such as state issued driving licenses, state issued identification cards and property records. This endures civil and criminal litigants get jurors from all areas of our society.
This is a policy question that is outside my scope of a judge to answer. Additionally, the Judicial Canons prevent judges from answering questions on issues that my come before them. This is an issue that could very likely be presented to me in the future. Thus, I am prevented from discussing it or opining upon it.
There are two statutorily required criteria that Judges MUST consider when imposing a sentence. The criteria are the character of the Defendant and the nature of the crime. Additionally, Indiana limits a judges discretion on the length of sentences that can be imposed. Character of a Defendant is determined by suck factors as type of criminal history, education, substance abuse history, family history, work history and degree of remorse. The nature of the crime is determined by factors such as degree of harm caused, planning required, the manner in which the crime was conducted and is it an offense against a person vs. society in general. So after all these factors are considered and weighed, a judge can then determine the best sentenc
I spent 20 years immersed in civil law matters. My civil law experienced includes plaintiff work and defense work. I have 15 years of criminal law experience both defending and prosecuting. I have been involved in a handful of complex litigation cases.
This is a policy question that is outside my scope of a judge to answer. Additionally, the Judicial Canons prevent judges from answering questions on issues that my come before them. This is an issue that could very likely be presented to me in the future. Thus, I am prevented from discussing it or opining upon it.
This is a policy question that is outside my scope of a judge to answer. Additionally, the Judicial Canons prevent judges from answering questions on issues that my come before them. This is an issue that could very likely be presented to me in the future. Thus, I am prevented from discussing it or opining upon it.
I believe it is. The current system is controlled by the IN Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has established rules to hold attorneys and judges accountable for their actions. Both lawyers and judges can be disciplined for actions that do not directly involve their professional conduct. Judges are actually held to a higher standard than lawyers. The public records and disciplinary cases of lawyers and judges are accessible to the public. If one were to review the records, it would be found that lawyers and judges are disciplined for dishonesty, lack of communication, substance abuse, financial wrongs, lack of diligence, and the commission of crimes.
