Robing ceremony planned for former senator elected to St. Joseph bench

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A former Indiana senator who was recently elected to St. Joseph Circuit Court will be honored this week.

The robing ceremony for Judge John E. Broden will be held in the St. Joseph Circuit Courtroom at 4 p.m. Friday. Broden was elected to the circuit court in November to fill the seat vacated by Judge Michael G. Gotsch, who left his post to become a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

A native of South Bend, where he still lives today, Broden is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

Broden maintained a private law practice for the last 20 years, specializing in adoptions, guardianships and Social Security Disability. He also represented the interests of children as the attorney for Child Protective Services in St. Joseph County from 1995-2000. Additionally, Broden has also worked as a public defender and served as city attorney for South Bend under Mayor Steve Luecke.

Broden was also a longtime state senator, representing District 10 from 2000 to 2016. Among his most notable legislative work was “Cameron’s Law,” a bill passed in 2015 that increased the penalty for sexually molesting a child and transmitting a sexually transmitted disease to a Level 1 felony. Broden also served on the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Law committees, as well as the Department of Child Services Oversight Committee.

“I am extremely pleased to have been elected St. Joseph Circuit Court Judge and to have this chance to continue to serve our community,” Broden said in a statement through the circuit court. “I have enjoyed being a state senator for the past 16 years, and appreciate the trust the citizens of St. Joseph County have placed in me by electing me to this new position.”
 

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