Fifth Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable W. Terry Ruckriegle
Retention Year: 1998
Recommendation: Retain
The Fifth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance recommends that Judge W. Terry Ruckriegle BE RETAINED.
Judge Ruckriegle graduated from Indiana University with a business degree in 1969 and a law degree in 1973. He served as a prosecutor in the Fifth Judicial District Attorney's office in Georgetown for 9 years. Judge Ruckriegle has served on the district court bench since 1984 and has acted as chief judge of the 5th Judicial District since 1994. He sits primarily in Breckenridge and Georgetown.
Judge Ruckriegle received high marks for his knowledge of the rules of evidence and procedure and for maintaining control over the docket and the courtroom. He also received high marks for his courtroom treatment of litigants and jurors. Lawyers who practice before him were less complimentary about his treatment of attorneys, but Judge Ruckriegle believes this is at least partly due to his effort to keep matters moving along in court. He is making a strong effort to reach a more comfortable balance in this area. Other comments from litigants and attorneys about his performance were highly favorable.
The opinions of the various groups responding in statistically meaningful numbers to the surveys circulated by the State Commission on Judicial Performance (and the numbers responding) were as follows: Litigants (9): Retain - 78%, No Opinion - 11%, Do not retain - 11%, Jurors (18): Retain - 83%, No Opinion - 17%, Do not retain - 0%, Attorneys (26): Retain - 65.4%, No Opinion - 15.4%, Do not retain - 19.2%.
The Fifth Judicial District Performance Commission recommends that Judge Ruckriegle be retained.