Eleventh Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Charles M. Barton
Retention Year: 2006
Recommendation: Retain
Reports:
2006 Retention Survey Report (PDF)
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The Eleventh Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance recommends that Judge Charles M. Barton BE RETAINED. The vote among the Commission members was unanimous in favor of retention of Judge Barton.
Judge Barton was appointed to the District Court bench in January, 2003. Judge Barton currently hears civil, criminal (felony and misdemeanor), and juvenile cases and spends additional time on administrative duties as Chief Judge for the district.
The Commission bases its findings upon information supplied to the Commission through questionnaires, observations and a personal interview with Judge Barton. As part of the review process, questionnaires were sent to attorneys, court/probation employees, litigants, crime victims, jurors, law enforcement personnel and social services personnel. The responses ranked Judge Barton’s performance as average for judges statewide. On a scale of 0 to 4.0, with 4.0 being the highest rating, Judge Barton received an average score of 3.2 for all judicial qualities rated, an achievement for first term judges.
The Commission believes that Judge Barton is compassionate, and respectful of those who appear before him. Judge Barton is experienced in the area of criminal law and was rated favorably in the areas of fairness and impartiality. Both the survey results and Judge Barton recognize a need to increase his knowledge of civil law which represents a significant portion of his caseload. However, Judge Barton has demonstrated a high level of self-awareness and openness about areas he needs to improve and makes efforts to work on his deficiencies. Judge Barton is committed to performing at a high level as a judge.
Judge Barton is active in community and judicial affairs as evidenced by his involvement in working to establish the CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) program and expanding the drug offender rehabilitation program in this district.