A new judge has been appointed in Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s immigration-related lawsuit against St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman.
St. Joseph County Superior Court Judge Mark Telloyan was randomly selected this week to take over the case. Rokita, a Republican and vocal supporter of President Trump, in January sued Redman, a Democrat, alleging the sheriff has had a policy of not cooperating with federal immigration officials when undocumented immigrants wind up in the jail.
St. Joseph Circuit Judge John Broden, elected as a Democrat, initially had the case but removed himself last week, citing a potential conflict of interest that he didn’t disclose. Superior Court judges aren’t elected in partisan races but Telloyan formerly was a Republican elected county council member.
After Broden removed himself, Republican County Clerk Amy Rolfes first randomly selected Superior Court Magistrate William Wilson but he declined. Wilson cited two potential conflicts. His wife formed a friendship with Redman when he was the sheriff department’s public information officer while she held a similar role with the prosecutor’s office.
Wilson writes that he also formerly worked at the law firm of Anderson, Agostino & Keller, which sometimes represents the sheriff department. He writes that the issues in this case are of great interest to legal minds and that he would have enjoyed presiding over it, but “it is more important for the public to have complete confidence that the decisions made in this case are not affected in any way by the somewhat distant connections between the judicial officer, the parties, or any of the attorneys.”
