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--. 25 ORIGINAL

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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS TWELFTH DIVISION

In the Matter of the Marriage of:

HALLECK RICHARDSON, Petitioner,

and

No. 96-0-217

CLAUDINE DOMBROWSKI, Respondent.

T RAN S C RIP T

INFORMAL BEARING ON MOTION TO RECUSE

PROCEEDINGS had before the Honorable James

P. Buchele, Judge of Division 12 of the District

Court of Shawnee County, Kansas, at Topeka, Kansas,

on the 1st day of June, 1999.

APPEARANCES: (By telephone)

For the Petitioner:

Donald R. Hoffman Attorney at Law

112 S.B. 7th Street Topeka, KS 66603-3915

Also Present:

Rebecca A. King

Riling, Burkhead, Fairchild , Nitcher, Chartered

808 Massachusetts Street P.O. Box B

Lawrence, KS

66044

ESTHER L. THOMPSON, Certified Shorthand Reporter Third Judicial District, Division 12, 233-8200 x-4676

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BSTHER L. THOMPSON, Certified Shorthand Reporter Third Judicial District, Division 12, 233-8200 x-4676

THB COURT: Okay. Ms. King, we got

2 your letter and motion that I recuse in this case,

3 and I believe the statute requires, as a part of the

4 procedure, that we have an informal conference about

5 that.

6

MS. KING: Okay.

7

THE COURT: And I guess what I'm

8 curious about is your basis for requesting that I

9 recuse.

10

MS. KING:

I think there's been some bias

11 towards my client in this case from your office.

12

THB COURT: As reflected by? In what

13 way?

14

MS. KING: Just recently, in particular,

15 the hearing that we had, and the fact that the CINe

16 action out in Larned was dismissed after you had

17 called out to there.

THE COURT: All right.

In other

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19 words, forwarding the information about the Court of

20 Appeals' decision, you believe, was an act of bias.

21

MS. KING: Yes, I do.

I see. Okay.

Is there

22

THB COURT:

23 anything else that you have?

24

MS. KING: Umm, I think that the fact that

25 you contacted Judge Meeks out there and told him some

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of the things that had gone on in the case.

I

thought that that was bias, also, and prejudicial
against my client.
THB COURT: Okay. Well, I guess I'm
not here to debate it with you. My call to Judge
Meeks only was to make him aware of the proceedings 7 here. He was not aware that the case had been

8 appealed, or he wasn't aware of my decision, or their

9 decision. I believe I mailed him copies of both, and

10 that was the extent of my conversation with Judge

11 Meeks.

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. .-....

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MS. KING: Okay.

THE COURT:

I didn't discuss the

issues with him beyond that.

I think they were

15 pretty well set forth in both my decision and the

16 Court of Appeals' decision.

17 Is there anything else that you have that you'd

18 like to bring up?

19

20

MS. KING: No.

21 anything you'd like to say in response?

THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Hoffman,

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MR. HOFFMAN: No.

THB COURT: Okay. Ms. King, I don't

24 feel that you've articulated a basis for recusal and

»r-.

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I'm not going to voluntarily recuse.

ESTHER L. THOMPSON, Certified Shorthand Reporter Third Judicial District, Division 12, 233-8200 x-4676

~-.- .. --.--- .... -- .. --.- - ------ -- -------- ~---

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1

ESTHER L. THOMPSON, Certified Shorthand Reporter Third Judicial District, Division 12, 233-8200 x-4676

The next step, if you wish to pursue this, I

2 believe the statute says that you should file your

3 affidavit, I don't know whether the word is

4 "forthwith," but it's expeditiously, anyway. And I

5 do want to make it clear that as long as the case is

6 assigned to me, the June 15th date that I set for

7 hearing is a good date and it will go forward on that

8 day.

9

MS. KING: Actually, Your Bonor, I just did

10

think of something else.

I was off guard right

11 there. My client has filed a judicial complaint

12 against you.

13

THE COURT: Okay.

14

MS. KING:

I think because you were

15 appealed and, you know, it went up to the Supreme

16 Court, even though they denied it, I do think that

17 that prejudices you against my client.

18

THE COURT: Because she appealed my

19 decision to the Court of Appeals?

20

MS. KING: Right. She appealed your

21 decision.

22

THE COURT: Well, appealed my

23 decision, and the affirmal by the Court of Appeals.

24 Okay. Appealed it to the Court of Appeals, you mean.

25

MS. KING: Uh-huh.

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MR. HOFFMAN: Bye.

THE COURT:

I see. Okay. And is that

2 the basis of her complaint to judicial

3 qualifications?

4

MS. KING: Now, I don't have a copy of that

5

complaint.

She told me that she did file one.

6

THE COURT: She's got the right to,

7 you know, exercise anything she wants, but, anyway,

8 as I was saying, I'm not going to voluntarily

9 recuse. Youlre free to take your next step, of

10 course. As I say, I cite you to the statute which

11 indicates that that be done right away, and to

12 reaffirm that the 15th day hearing is set, and firm,

13

and will be so long as I'm on the case unless 11m

14 removed by a decision of another judge.

15 So, unless someone else has something else to

16 add, I don't know that we need to go any further.

17

MS. KING: Okay.

THE COURT: All right.

MS. KING: Uh-huh.

Thank you all.

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ESTHER L. THOMPSON, Certified Shorthand Reporter Third Judicial District, Division 12, 233-8200 x-4676

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---" 25 6

C B R T I F I CAT E

STATE OF KANSAS )

) ss:

COUNTY OF SHAWNEE)

I, Esther L. Thompson, a Certified Shorthand

Reporter, and the regularly appointed, qualified and

acting official reporter of Division No. 12 of the

Third Judicial District of the State of Kansas, do

hereby certify that as such Official Reporter, I was present at and reported in Stenotype shorthand the above and foregoing proceedings in Case No. 96-0-217,

Halleck Richardson, Petitioner vs. Claudine

Dombrowski, Respondent, heard on June 1, 1999, before

the Honorable James P. Buchele, Judge of Division No.

12 of said court.

I further certify that a transcript of my

shorthand notes was typed and that the foregoing

transcript, consisting of 5 typewritten pages, is a

true copy of said telephone calIon the informal

hearing on recusal.

SIGNED, OFFICIALLY SEALED, and filed with the

Clerk of the District Court of Shawnee County,

Kansas, this 21st day of June, 1999.

ESTHER L. THOMPSON, Certified Shorthand Reporter Third Judioial District, Division 12, 233-8200 x-4676