Judge wielded power 'like a tyrant' but is 'not beyond redemption,' state supreme court says in removal order
The Indiana Supreme Court has removed a judge from office and permanently banned him from the bench, saying he “wielded his position of power like a tyrant” as he favored certain litigants while degrading others.
Judge Matthew J. Elkin of Howard County, Indiana, also made injudicious statements to participants in problem-solving courts and failed to recuse himself from matters in which he previously represented a party, the state supreme court said in its Sept. 11 opinion.
Elkin had been a public defender before he became a judge in January 2023.
Elkin’s misconduct included a tactic that involved handcuffing a participant and his expressed theory about why domestic violence victims stay in abusive relationships, the state supreme court said.
Because of Elkin’s misconduct, Howard County’s problem-solving courts were temporarily suspended from accepting new applicants, the state supreme court said. His conduct also had an impact on participants in the problem-solving courts, which addressed substance abuse issues and reentry into the community after incarceration, the state supreme court noted.
“A presiding judge’s demeanor has an outsized impact on a participant’s success” in problem-solving courts, the state supreme court said. Elkin “appeared to understand this as he wielded his position of power like a tyrant, attempting to intimidate participants and team members alike. While he offered the proverbial shirt off of his back to some, he shamed and humiliated others.”
One of the “inappropriate tactics” was “game or jail,” used by Elkin while presiding in the reentry court, the state supreme court said. Howard ordered the handcuffing of one participant and told a second participant accused of rule violations that he had to tell the truth or the handcuffed person would be sent to jail. Neither participant was in custody.
Howard also “demeaned and ridiculed” participants in court proceedings. In one instance, Elkin told a reentry participant who had been a domestic violence victim why he thinks that such victims stay in relationships.
He began by talking about the kind of elation that former professional football quarterback Tom Brady must have felt when winning the Super Bowl. After the win, Brady’s brain “is filled with all kinds of neurochemicals,” he said.
“If I smack the s- - - out of you right now, what chemicals get dumped in your brain? The exact same chemicals he experiences when he wins the Super Bowl. Did you know that? So the whole thing is every time I beat you up or you beat me up, we won the Super Bowl. … So if I smack you in the head and you feel the exact same way so you can enjoy the relationship. That’s what happens. That’s the truth. That’s why women don’t leave.
“It gets worse. He experiences it once because he won the Super Bowl. You can cause yourself to experience that emotion at least two more times after you’ve been hit. One is if you feel guilty about having had your ass kicked, the exact same chemicals dump into your brain. You feel real shame over it. Then if you get angry over the fact that this person did it to you, it happens a third time. Here’s the deal, I can train an entire lifetime for one shot at winning the Super Bowl and experiencing that elation, or I can have somebody kick my ass and I can do it three times. Which is easier?”
In another instance, Elkin remarked on the record of a criminal defendant seeking to modify his sentence for a felony drug offense.
“You have more convictions than the average child molester in this country,” Elkin said. “You are the one-third of the 1% of worst people in the planet.”
But Elkin helped some participants in problem solving courts. One court participant received “a plethora of benefits” not available to other participants that included allowing the participant to live rent-free for a period of time at his wife’s rental property and the purchase of clothes for the participant’s children.
He helped another participant obtain the return of a rental deposit and drove the participant’s car to his wife’s rental property for storage. He provided rides for other participants in his personal vehicle and used his credit card to rent a car for another participant.
Mitigating factors in the ethics case included that Elkin took responsibility for his actions, cooperated in the investigation and took classes to address his demeanor, the Indiana Supreme Court said. He also had no prior discipline throughout a long career mostly dedicated to public service.
“These facts suggest [Elkin] is not beyond redemption,” the state supreme court said. “So although a permanent ban from judicial service is necessary here to protect the integrity of the judicial system, … we concur with the parties that he may maintain his law license.”
Elkin did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment left with his chambers.
Publications with coverage of the decision include Law360, WKRC and the Indiana Lawyer.
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