Candidates for 96th District Court Judge participate in Thursday night’s candidate forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Marquette County. From left: Patrick Crowley, Derek Swajanen and Bill Nordeen. (Photo courtesy of the League of Women Voters of Marquette County)

MARQUETTE — On Thursday night, The League of Women Voters of Marquette County held a forum for candidates running for 96th District Court Judge.

The candidates running are Patrick Crowley, Derek Swajanen and Bill Nordeen. The election will take place on the nonpartisan section of the August 4 primary ballot, and the top two vote-getters will go on to the general election in November. The District Court Judge has a term of six years with no term limits.

“This race is a rare opportunity for Marquette voters to elect a judge to this district court,” said LWV member Toni Eppensteiner in her welcoming address. “Judge Robert W. Kangas has presided over the court since 2004. Because of his retirement, this seat is now open.”

The 96th District Court covers all of Marquette County, and is the most likely place that county citizens might encounter the law.

The forum began with candidates highlighting their professional experience.

Crowley is the current Marquette County Chief Public Defender, a title he has held for almost eight years. He has nearly 25 years of experience as a prosecuting attorney. He is on the board of directors at Room at the Inn, coaches middle school football, and is a Scout Troop Leader.

Swajanen has 30 years of experience as a trial attorney, including as an assistant prosecuting attorney, which he said puts him in District Court “almost on a daily basis.” He is an American Legion baseball coach, and the head softball coach at Marquette Senior High School.

Nordeen has experience in both engineering and law. He has a civil law focus and has successfully taken two cases before the Michigan Supreme Court. His engineering experience includes time spent working with Naval Intelligence analyzing foreign weapons systems. He is a volunteer firefighter and the Marquette County Board Vice Chair.

The candidates also took turns explaining the functions of the District Court, having been assigned specific aspects to discuss by the LWV.

The District Court has a variety of functions. It is often referred to as the “people’s court,” because it is the most likely place for people to interact with the court system. All criminal cases must first go through the district court, and a district court judge handles bond and pretrial release, probable cause conferences, arrest and search warrants, civil litigation, small claims court, oversight of the misdemeanor probation office, landlord/tenant actions, civil infractions, misdemeanor criminal cases and more.

The forum then moved on to the question and answer stage. All candidates had the opportunity to answer questions, within a minute-and-a-half timeframe.

The first question asked candidates to describe their judicial philosophies.

“I think that judges need to follow the law and I think you see a lot of judicial activism nowadays, and I think we need to get away from that,” said Nordeen. “I strongly believe in our constitution, and the three parts of government.”

Crowley described his judicial philosophy as “respect and educate … the judges first obligation is to make sure that everybody who appears in front of the court understands why they’re there … understands the complaints, understands the civil matters that are affecting them, understands the motion the court is hearing and they understand their rights.”

Swajanen described his judicial philosophy as “to make sure that there’s fairness and integrity in the judicial system, because if people don’t believe that there’s fairness and integrity in the judicial system, everything else breaks down and you lose control of the whole system. And to follow the law.”

Another question asked candidates about mental health and substance abuse in District Court — “Within the limits of the law, what role should a district court play in addressing these underlying issues?” read the question.

“Very rarely will you see a criminal case in a vacuum,” said Swajanen. “It’s going to derive from homelessness, it’s going to derive from mental health issues, controlled substance issues and criminal issues that they have.”

Swajanen proposed opening District Court on Friday afternoons to create a mental health court and a veteran’s court, which would get people support by involving Pathways, doctors and mental health professionals.

Nordeen also suggested looking at diversion programs for mental health and veteran’s court, citing the success of sobriety courts.

“(The) problem is that a new judge could create (a mental health court) almost immediately, and that’s an absolutely meaningless title without creating the necessary services to go along with it,” said Crowley. He cited cuts to medicare and medicaid, and that the nearest VA mental health resources are located in Milwaukee, and suggested that the court be created, but that federal and state grants be sought out to help provide services.

Another question had to do with jail overcrowding at the Marquette County Jail. “Is this a capacity issue, or is it symptomatic of a larger issue: overincarceration in America?” read the question.

“We absolutely incarcerate too many people in Marquette County,” said Crowley, who also said that 74% of the people in the Marquette County Jail have not been tried. He cited a current murder case his office was working on as an instance where holding a person before trial is necessary, but said that “A $250 bond that somebody can’t pay is an unacceptable reason for somebody to sit in jail.”

Crowley said that Marquette’s population is the same as it was in the 70s when the jail was built, and that violent crime has plummeted nationwide over the last 40 years. While he said a new jail is necessary due to the current one being “decrepit and unsafe … it doesn’t need to be bigger.”

“You have to protect the citizens of Marquette County,” said Swajanen. “There are absolutely cases where somebody should not be out. Then you also have to look at — what can you do to alleviate that population in the Marquette County Jail?”

He suggested interventions like diversion programs, saying there was a “fine line” on the issue.

“People are getting more and more violent out there, there’s no doubt about it,” said Swajanen. “We have the same crimes you have in Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Flint …”

“It’s clearly a capacity issue, and I don’t think we’re overincarcerating at all,” said Nordeen. “It’s not about the violent crimes, it’s about the drugs … There are drug issues now that we did not have in the 1970s and 80s.” He cited drugs such as methamphetamine and opioids as being the root of the problem, and stressed the need for a new jail.

Thursday’s forum can be viewed in full on the League of Women Voters’ YouTube page. The direct link to the video is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzM6s19mL7Q. The video is also available on their Facebook page.

More information about the role of a District Court Judge can be found at https://www.courts.michigan.gov/4a52b3/siteassets/publications/benchbooks/dcmm/dcmmresponsivehtml5.zip/DCMM/Ch_1_General/Jurisdiction_of_the_District_Court.htm.

Voting guides with ballot information and information about each candidate are available at vote411.org.

Donations to the League of Women Voters of Marquette County can be made at https://lwvmqt.org/donate/.

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.