Retired judges Thomas O. Castlen and Joe Castlen on Tuesday officially took over for Family Court Judge Julie Hawes Gordon while she remains on temporary suspension until a final decision is reached regarding charges filed against her. Joe Castlen said he does not expect any delays among cases.
Joe Castlen retired in 2019 as a Division II Daviess County Circuit Court Judge; Tom Castlen retired in 2008. The two are brothers. Joe said they were able to divide Gordon’s caseload fairly evenly.
“We sat down and looked at the calendar and went all the way through January,” Joe said. “Quite frankly, it’s almost even. I don’t think there’s one [with] more than another.”
The Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission on Nov. 23 made public a 133-page document, detailing six charges that have been filed against Gordon along with her response to each allegation.
Allegations range from Gordon exerting influence to obstruct justice and affect the outcome of her son’s criminal proceedings, to abusing power, to not being impartial, and mismanaging her courtroom. Gordon has denied the “frivolous allegations.”
On Nov. 24, a hearing was set for Dec. 15 in Bowling Green to determine if Gordon should be suspended temporarily until final adjudication of the charges. On Dec. 2, Gordon agreed to a temporary suspension, and the hearing was subsequently cancelled. A hearing for the complaints has not been set and the timeline for final adjudication is unclear.
Prior to Gordon’s suspension, District Judge David Payne had already helped take some of the Family Court workload. He’ll continue to help while the Castlens split the majority of the cases.
Both Joe and Tom are also helping with cases in Hartford, Hawesville, Madisonville, Henderson and Breckenridge and Grayson counties.
Joe said his notice to stand in for Gordon came Friday afternoon as he was filling in for Former Chief District Judge Daniel Burlew, a recent retiree from the District Court.
Despite relatively short notice, Joe said he and his brother haven’t experienced any difficulty running the Family Court bench.
“I thought we would encounter some problems, but we did not and things have run very smoothly. This is an excellent staff. [I’m] quite impressed,” Joe said.
He does not predict there to be any delays with the cases they take over. Joe said he and Tom will meet toward the end of each month and divide the cases for the upcoming month.
