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ATTORNEY FOR HON. JENNIFER L. KOETHE James P. Fenton Fort Wayne, Indiana

ATTORNEY FOR THE COMMISSION ON JUDICIAL QUALIFICATIONS Adrienne L. Meiring Indianapolis, Indiana

______________________________________________________________________________

In the

Indiana Supreme Court
_________________________________ No. 46S00-0905-JD-216 IN THE MATTER OF THE HONORABLE JENNIFER L. KOETHE, JUDGE OF THE LAPORTE SUPERIOR COURT 3 _________________________________ JUDICIAL DISCIPLINARY ACTION _________________________________ March 11, 2010 Per Curiam.

FILED
Mar 11 2010, 4:09 p.m.
of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

CLERK

This matter comes before the Court as a result of a judicial disciplinary action brought by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications ("Commission") against the Respondent, Jennifer L. Koethe, Judge of the LaPorte Superior Court 3. Article 7 Section 4 of the Indiana Constitution and Indiana Admission and Discipline Rule 25 give the Indiana Supreme Court original jurisdiction over this matter. Subsequent to the Commission's filing of formal charges, the parties jointly tendered a "Statement of Circumstances and Conditional Agreement for Discipline." The parties have stipulated to the following facts. On December 22, 2008, at approximately 11:30 p.m., Respondent received a gunshot wound to her scalp as a result of a shot fired from her 9mm handgun. When police officers and

emergency personnel arrived at the scene, she was conscious and told them she had accidentally shot herself. The wound she received was not life-threatening, but likely caused a concussion that the parties agree may have impacted Respondent's mental state during the hours that followed. After receiving preliminary medical treatment at a hospital, Sergeant Paul Brettin and Captain Clyde Crass of the LaPorte City Police Department interviewed Respondent. She told them she and her husband had been consuming alcohol earlier in the evening and began arguing, that she had retrieved her handgun from her bedroom to make her husband think she was contemplating suicide, and accidentally shot herself because she believed the gun was unloaded. Shortly thereafter, Sergeant Patrick Cicero of the LaPorte County Sheriff's Department arrived to take photos of Respondent's injury and process other potential evidence. While Respondent and Sergeant Cicero were alone, she told him that, before the shooting, she wrote her husband a note. She also told Sergeant Cicero that she had not told the other detectives about the note and asked him to "get rid of it," or words to that effect, because she was embarrassed by its personal contents and did not believe it was evidence relevant to any crime. At the time she made this statement to Sergeant Cicero, however, the police investigation into the shooting was ongoing. After obtaining a search warrant, officers located the handwritten note in Respondent's master bedroom closet. On May 7, 2009, a LaPorte grand jury indicted Respondent for Attempted Obstruction of Justice, a Class D felony. See Ind. Code

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