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Hamilton County to add additional superior court due to increase in cases

The Hamilton County court system will add a new superior court in response to an increase in cases.

The county is one of the fastest growing in Indiana, prompting the legislature to agree that an additional court is needed.

Judge Jon Brown said Hamilton County has seen increases in all cases across the board, including crime. With the current court setup, defendants can be held in jail longer as they await trial. The pandemic also caused delays.

“That's not justice, you don't want to have a situation where you're having to wait even longer to get your case heard, because there's too many cases,” Brown said.

Brown said the new court will allow cases to be heard in a more timely manner.

Members of the public will be able to comment on the court later this year, once the court’s rules are established. The court is expected to be operational in January.

Katrina Pross is a criminal justice reporter at WFYI and a corps member of Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. Katrina joined WFYI in June 2021 following a year-long reporting fellowship at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where she covered courts and criminal justice. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2020, with degrees in journalism and French. She’s previously held internships at APM Reports, the Star Tribune and a radio station in France. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading and travelling.
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