Judicial commission files discipline charges against two judges, admonishes another 

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications has filed discipline charges against two Marion County judges and admonished a Vigo County judge. 

The charges were filed in separate cases Monday morning against Geoffrey Gaither of Marion Superior Court 9 and Jose Salinas of Marion Superior Court 23. 

The commission filed three charges against Gaither for failure to timely issue orders in family law cases, failure to adequately supervise judicial officers under his authority and failure to adequately supervise his court staff.  

Notably, Gaither’s failure to timely issue orders resulted in the Indiana Supreme Court granting seven different “lazy judge” motions against him, which resulted in the court appointing new judges in each of those cases, according to a commission report.  

Gaither also hired a magistrate judge who didn’t have experience in family law and received several complaints from attorneys and staff about that judge’s performance. Gaither was aware of the issues the judge had with their caseload but took no formal action to help, according to court documents.  

The case is In The Matter Of The Honorable Geoffrey A. Gaither, 26S-JD-311.

The commission filed five charges against Salinas, including failure to adequately supervise his court staff, failure to timely and properly take judicial action in more than 40 cases, failure to timely and properly expunge criminal cases, failure to conduct a hearing to determine a defendant’s competency and failure to supervise court staff to ensure case entries and orders were properly entered into the case management system. 

Notably, Salinas submitted a self-report regarding a defendant who had been improperly held in the Marion County Jail for 166 days because one of Salinas’s staff members failed to enter a release code in the case management system that would’ve signaled the defendant could be released.  

During the commission’s investigation, they discovered that, between August 2015 and August 2025, there were criminal cases in Salinas’s court that were missing case entries. In one case, Salinas failed to set a future court date for a defendant participating in drug treatment court. The defendant was terminated from the court and a warrant that should’ve been issued was not issued until four years later.  

Upon filing charges against the two judges, the commission now asks that the Indiana Supreme Court appoint three “masters” to conduct a public hearing on the charges to determine appropriate sanctions.

The case is In The Matter Of The Honorable Jose D. Salinas, 26S-JD-312.

Neither judge immediately returned messages left with their courts by The Indiana Lawyer seeking comment.

The commission also admonished Vigo County Superior Court 5 Judge Matthew A. Sheehan for an unreasonable delay in issuing a final ruling while serving as a special judge in a Sullivan Circuit Court dissolution case. Sullivan assumed jurisdiction over the case in 2022 and held a final hearing in April 2023.

He then delayed issuing a ruling over the course of nearly two years. The Supreme Court eventually removed Sheehan and assigned a new judge.

“Before the new judge could issue a final decision, the wife, who was disabled and had extremely limited access to marital
funds, passed away,” the commission said in a report issued Monday.

The report also noted that Sheehan had expressed remorse and noted that circumstances like the incapacity of the wife and one of the attorneys involved contributed to the delay. The commission said Sheehan would not be formally charged with ethical misconduct.