Longtime judge leaves his mark after 24 years

<p><strong>A</strong>s the election results were finalized, the new judge of Johnson County Circuit Court made a promise to supporters gathered around him.</p><p>K. Mark Loyd swore on that night in 1994 that he would endeavor to honor the voters’ trust in him. They had chosen him to be a fair, impartial judge.</p><p>Twenty-four years later, he still thinks about those words.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>“I hope over this time that I’ve been judging, I’ve achieved that in large regard,” he said. “I’m still pretty much impressed every day walking up the stairs to this courthouse as to how important the job is, the trust given to me, and how I need to honor it every day.”</p><p>Loyd is ending his run as Circuit Court judge at the end of this year. He has occupied the office since 1994, having been elected to four consecutive terms as judge.</p><p>He has tried everything ranging from intense murder cases to behemoth corporate fraud cases that took years to resolve. To each one, he’s tried to bring the same knowledgeable, courteous and prepared approach to his courtroom.</p><p>His impact on the justice system is one that will be felt throughout Johnson County, and the state of Indiana, for generations.</p><p>“He really mentored three to four generations of lawyers in our county,” said George “Jay” Hoffman, a longtime Franklin attorney. “He’s been a real cornerstone for the legal community, and the community writ large, for decades.”</p><p>The inside of the Johnson County Circuit Court looks almost exactly the same as it did 24 years ago.</p><p>The intricately carved woodwork around the judge’s bench, the heavy tables where countless attorneys have sat, the wooden benches for the gallery all are unchanged from Loyd’s first day as Circuit Court judge.</p><p>But as Loyd finishes his tenure as judge, he leaves the courtroom, and the county as a whole, changed in vital ways.</p><p>Loyd helped grow the Court Appointed Special Advocate program to ensure that children going through divorce, guardianship or other cases have a voice to advocate for their best interest.</p><p>One of his most important achievements is the formation of the family court program. Loyd’s court was one of three in Indiana who were chosen to establish pilot projects helping to make the process of families dealing with the legal system more efficient. Even if families have multiple cases in the court, for example in juvenile court and involving guardianship, they are all heard by the same judge.</p><p>The idea is to lift some of the burden that families find going through the legal system.</p><p>“It creates a significant hardship on them, monetarily and time-wise, to go to all of those different courts,” Loyd said. “It also risks the possibility of inconsistent rulings among the courts.”</p><p>Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper had his start in Loyd’s courtroom in 1995, when he was deputy prosecutor.</p><p>Over the years, he respected the way that Loyd is knowledgeable about the rules of evidence, and adhering to those rules of evidence in his courtroom. Cooper has also been impressed with his efforts to show compassion to defendants, while still bringing fair punishment against them.</p><p>“Any time I’ve been in there, it’s been like home. That’s where I was raised as a lawyer,” he said.</p><p>Considering all of his successes, Loyd did not start out with intentions to be a judge, or even to go into a career in law.</p><p>“It was a complete accident,” he said.</p><p>As a student at Franklin College, he studied biology, earning a bachelor’s degree. His parents wanted him to be a dentist, and he convinced them that earning a master’s degree in biology and natural resources would look good on an application to dental school.</p><p>But while earning his master’s degree at Ball State University, he attended a seminar stressing the need for science majors in the legal ranks.</p><p>“There were so many political science and history majors in the law, but very few science majors. At that time, environmental law was a brand new frontier,” he said.</p><p>So Loyd changed his career path, going to the University of Dayton School of Law to be an environmental attorney. After his graduation, he practiced it for two years, but found that the environmental side of law focused more on administrative work and permits. Loyd was more interested in trial work and litigation instead.</p><p>When a position as chief deputy prosecutor opened in Johnson County in 1988, he jumped at the chance to try cases regularly. He oversaw the major felony position, trying 38 jury trials over the course of three years.</p><p>His next step in the legal community came in 1991, when Loyd was appointed as the first magistrate for Johnson County Circuit and Superior courts.</p><p>The first two years of his time as magistrate were difficult.</p><p>“It was very difficult moving from being an advocate, bringing in evidence and presenting it in a court, vs. being a judge, where you simply protected the record during the course of evidentiary presentation,” he said. “You’re a much more passive observer.”</p><p>But in time, the position became to feel more comfortable.</p><p>Loyd learned early on that the best outcome is if you hardly even know the judge is there, he said.</p><p>“At the end of the case, if it’s appealed, the appellate court says it was done right and doesn’t have to be done again. That’s the real success,” he said.</p><p>Hoffman first met Loyd during Loyd’s second year as a magistrate. As a young lawyer, Hoffman and other lawyers would look to Loyd for guidance, and Loyd never hesitated to offer constructive criticism and suggestions.</p><p>“Mark was very much the cool big brother. He was successful, he was accessible, he was open. He got out of bed and went to work every day,” Hoffman said. “He was straightforward to litigants. He was kind to litigants. But don’t get me wrong, he was firm.”</p><p>Throughout his career as a judge, Loyd has overseen 84 jury trials in Johnson County. He oversaw the murder trial of Fernando Griffith, an Indianapolis man who was found guilty of killing a Greenwood couple in their home in 2000.</p><p>One of his intensive group of cases involved Ansure Mortuaries of Indiana. Loyd heard a total of seven complex cases in which the cemetery company had taken money from established trusts used to maintain cemeteries.</p><p>More than 100 attorneys were working on those cases over a five-year span. Monthly half-day hearings were held, and Loyd instituted a sign-in process to ensure all appearances were properly recorded.</p><p>Ultimately, all of the cases were settled or tried. The result was that $6.5 million was restored to the trust funds.</p><p>“Otherwise, that would have been a loss to the community, because there would have been no money to take care of those cemeteries,” Loyd said.</p><p>In early December, Loyd was recognized by the Indiana chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates as the trial judge of the year. The award is given to judge’s that the organization feels best embody concepts such as preserving and improving the jury trial system, being knowledgeable and prepared and maintaining an open working relationship with attorneys.</p><p>Hoffman nominated Loyd for the award, and felt that his body of work more than deserved it.</p><p>“He’s a fantastic trial judge. It takes a unique set of skills that not too many people have. Not a lot of judges want jury trials to proceed in their courts,” Hoffman said. “Not only did he embrace criminal defendants or civil litigants right to trial by jury, he encouraged it.”</p><p>For Loyd, it was affirmation from the people who he worked with in the courtroom.</p><p>“That’s an award that comes from some of the premier trial attorneys in the state of Indiana. To be recognized by that group, with that much experience and background, in the area of trial work that’s near and dear to me, it is such a great honor,” he said.</p><p>Loyd made the decision in 2012 that he was not going to run for a fifth term as Circuit Court judge. Judges are elected for six-year terms, and he felt that four consecutive terms was enough for him.</p><p>That has allowed for an orderly, though no less complicated, transition period as he closes his time in the office.</p><p>“When you try to pack up and move 28 years of stuff, and there are so many personal things intertwined with business, that makes the going a little slow, to dissect out what stays for the next judge and what goes with me,” he said.</p><p>Though he is stepping away from the judge’s bench, Loyd still hopes to be active in the local legal community. He is planning to serve a role in the prosecutor’s office, though the details of that are still being determined.</p><p>“I’m still thinking about some options, which may or may not develop. But I plan to stay in the law. I plan to stay locally,” he said.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="The Loyd File" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>K. Mark Loyd</p><p>Occupation: Outgoing Johnson County Circuit Court judge</p><p>Years as judge: 27</p><p>Family: Wife Renee, children Harrison and Kimber</p><p>Education: Bachelor’s degree in biology from Franklin College; master’s degree from Ball State University in biology and natural resources; law degree from the University of Dayton Law School.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]