Local Legends: Why the Best Justice Stories Don’t Make Headlines
Justice Without a Spotlight When people think of courtrooms, they often picture the high-stakes drama they see on TV: major trials, dramatic verdicts, lawyers shouting “Objection!” and judges banging gavels. But in the real world—especially in small-town Indiana—justice rarely plays out that way. In my years as a public defender, magistrate, and judge in Warrick […]
Running Past the Guilt: How I Learned to Rest in a Profession That Never Sleeps
The Weight We Carry Being a lawyer is demanding. Being a judge is even more so. For years, I carried a weight that I didn’t always know how to describe—a constant, low-level pressure that followed me home at night and showed up with me in the courtroom the next morning. Every case, every decision, every […]
How Youth Sports Build Character for Future Leaders in Law and Public Service
Growing up in Chrisney, Indiana, on a family farm, I learned early that hard work and discipline weren’t optional—they were part of daily life. But alongside feeding livestock and helping out with chores, another part of my upbringing played a big role in shaping who I am today: youth sports. Whether it was basketball, baseball, […]
Balancing Justice and Compassion: Lessons from Public Defense Work
When I first stepped into a courtroom as a public defender, I didn’t know how much that role would shape the rest of my career. I had studied the law. I knew the rules, the procedures, the statutes. But nothing in the textbooks fully prepared me for the weight of standing beside someone society had […]