Greenwood has had the same city judge since 1996, but a challenger could change that in May.
Incumbent Lewis Gregory, 70, has been the city judge for nearly 28 years, and says the high-volume court is already running smoothly, though there’s always room to improve and change with the population that the court is serving.
However, challenger Drew Foster, a 44-year-old who is currently a Greenwood city attorney, says it is time for a change. The lack of modern practices such as paperless case tracking is bogging down the court, which continues to grow in case volume with the city’s population.
Gregory said he’s not ready to hang up his judge robes yet. What keeps him motivated to run again and again is the difference he makes in people’s lives through the city’s drug court and veteran’s court, which he founded in 2013 and 1999, respectively. Those types of courts give him the flexibility to give a sentence that is more focused on recovery than punishment.
“It’s seeing people out in the community who express their appreciation for our efforts here. I walked into Walgreens over on (State Road) 135 and County Line Road last year, and one of the folks working there pointed at me and yelled ‘He saved my life,’” Gregory said. “That gives me a sense of satisfaction that you can’t believe. They know these are lives and families that have been helped and so much of the criminal justice system is about punishment.”
Foster is ready to step into the new role because he sees ways the office can improve; with more transparency, going paperless, passing judgments more quickly, reducing duplication of services and making it easier for people to interact with the court. He knows the court well from his former job with the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office; where he was assigned to represent the state in Greenwood City Court for many years.
“We need to make it easier for people to get to court to have their court dates, have recourse in the courts and move their cases along,” Foster said. “We need to make sure like motions are ruled on quickly, make sure people get their court dates quickly. Because justice, when it’s slow, it’s kind of being denied. You need to make sure you’re getting people into the court to get them heard.”
The Daily Journal asked the two candidates questions about their experience and goals for the office. Here’s what they said, edited for length, grammar and clarity:
What distinguishes you as a candidate?
Foster: I was a practicing attorney at the prosecutor’s office for 19 years and one month. I was the on-call deputy. I was available 24 hours a day for 15 years and went to every major crime scene. I’ve tried everything from seatbelt tickets to murder trials in this county. I’ve worked well with all the officers. They might not always get along with me, but they respected me and my decisions … I was on city council so I understand municipal government. I’m currently an assistant city attorney for the city of Greenwood. So I have more background in dealing with more municipal issues, contract writing and understanding budgets. I’m just kind of a people person; my life has been about public service.
Gregory: I’ve worked for the state parole board … the governor’s office … I’ve worked as a prosecutor … a defense attorney … I’ve had 28 years in the judiciary. It makes a good blend for finding and figuring out what needs to be done and then having the context to be able to do it … I do know how the system works. We have been successful in getting grants into the court … We have kind of a unique operation here. There’s nothing like it anywhere else in the state to the best of my knowledge. The folks at the state level have been flattering and very supportive … I was invited to attend the chief justice’s State of the Judiciary address to the joint session of the General Assembly. I’m the only city court judge in the state to be invited and there are about 70 of us. I think that that’s a recognition of what we’re doing.
What are your top goals for this office?
Foster: Increased transparency … I want to explore the possibility of merging the city probation department with the county probation department. To me, it’s more important to have uniformity and consistency of supervision than having your own agency. That doesn’t mean you get rid of the drug court in Greenwood and the veteran’s court. Those are important treatment providers and recourse. And people in those courts aren’t just people who had cases in Greenwood city court, they get sent there from the county courts as well. Merging those all into one umbrella would make it more efficient and consistent for people in the county. I saw this numerous times over the years: you can be on probation in Greenwood City Court and Johnson County Court and you’re now incurring fees from different agencies and that’s not really fair. There are consequences for your actions, but they’ve got to be reasonable. If you just roll it all into one you’re saving people money and adding efficiency … Going fully paperless. Getting the chronological case summaries updated quicker. Make it easier for people to pay their fines and court costs and probation fees.
Gregory: Assuming I win, I intend to bring together some of the staff here, our probation people, some folks from the prosecutor’s office and our public defenders and talk about what we foresee as the needs over the next four years. And then how do we address those needs? … The change we’re seeing right now is more and more people from Marion County who have come to come down to Greenwood. Usually, some kind of drug is involved and they find themselves getting arrested and the case gets slotted into here. We’re dealing with an unusual number of people who are homeless. We’re dealing with people who have a much rougher criminal history than we’re used to. It’s not uncommon for us now to have folks coming through here who have been convicted of one crime or another involving the death of another person. We haven’t faced that in the past.
Describe your judicial and sentencing philosophy.
Foster: At the city court, you’re not dealing with bad people. You’re dealing with people who made a bad decision. You’re dealing with normal citizens, and that may be the only contact they ever in their life have with the judicial system. So the way you present yourself and treat people can have profound effects on them because of the nature of the city court … It affects the opinion of how they view the courts and the police. So to me, it’s treating people with dignity and hearing what they have to say … Be polite and treat them with courtesy. I mean, it’s the golden rule.
In my experiences as a deputy prosecutor, a lot of the root of people’s problems that I would see in Greenwood City Court, are substance abuse-related. That’s an issue we need to address in society. It is substance abuse and to some extent mental health. I would see there are substance cases where you’re driving under the influence or you’re shoplifting, which on its face, doesn’t really seem like a substance offense, but why are you stealing things? … I think you really need to look at people and say how can we fix this? I think you should always take into account their substance abuse issues or any other events in their life … You have to address the issues that lead to crime. Every decision you make on a criminal case has to be particularized to the defendant in the facts of their life, and the facts of that case.
Gregory: I think misdemeanors, minor crimes are an opportunity to help people fix a problem. Particularly when nobody’s been hurt. Yeah, they hurt themselves, but they haven’t hurt anybody else other than indirectly. Every crime hurts the community, but this is to help fix whatever the problem was, that caused them to get arrested and convicted of a crime. Sometimes it’s just somebody’s having a really bad day and there’s really not too much to be done. Sometimes it’s the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes somebody’s got a really, really severe drug problem … Whatever the problem is, experts need to figure out what it is. I’m not one of the experts, but we have them on staff. And then the person should be required to do whatever it is to fix the problem.
The sentence ought to fit the crime … You need to treat people like good citizens. At some point, in a few situations, you have to deviate from it. When you have somebody who’s being inappropriate — which is the nicest way I can put it — like people who drop f-bombs in the courtroom or lobby … But the good citizen who shows up on something and are trying to do the right thing, especially with traffic tickets, deserves to be treated with respect.
Do you think the court is serving the city well?
Foster: They’ve done an adequate job over the last several years, but I think you have to be able to grow with the times and the technology. When I started the prosecutor’s office, I was doing all my charging information by hand and writing in the blanks — the way things were when my dad started practicing in the ’70s. It’s vastly different from the way I had to practice. You have to be able to grow with technology, better serve the people and to better serve yourself. I mean going paperless increases efficiency. When I was at the prosecutor’s office — people really hated me doing this — but I got us to go paperless just before we kind of shut down for COVID … I think if you go away from that you can increase efficiency, and better serve the public getting them into court quicker.
Gregory: Greenwood is a growing city. And it has issues that are appropriate for every city that is growing, and also some unique ones because of our proximity to Indianapolis and the things going on there … I like to think that when we get a person away from drugs, we’re reducing crime. When we can get someone to approach relationships in a more loving way, we’re helping the community. Something else that I haven’t mentioned is we have a community service work program. When someone commits a crime, they have just to some extent done damage to the community. They have cost the taxpayers money in that a police officer was involved. If they were taken to jail that officer is spending an hour and a half, two hours addressing that one crime. There is a financial cost to the community for all of that. And so, in almost every criminal case, I require that a certain amount of community service work be done.
The Foster File
Name: Drew Foster
Party: Republican
Age: 44
Family: Unmarried, no children
Occupation: Assistant city attorney, Greenwood
Educational background: Greenwood High School, Franklin College, IU McKinney School of Law
Political experience: Greenwood City Council from Sept. 2018 to Dec. 2019 and Feb. 2022 to Dec. 2022
Memberships: Board member, The Social of Greenwood; Our Lady of Greenwood Catholic Church
The Gregory File
Name: Lewis Gregory
Party: Republican
Age: 70
Family: Divorced, three children, five grandchildren
Occupation: Judge, city of Greenwood
Educational background: Muncie Southside High School, Ball State University, IU School of Law
Political experience: City judge since 1996
Memberships: American Judges Association, Greenwood Rotary Club (past president), National Rifle Association
About the job
What: Greenwood City Judge
Term: Four years
Pay: $114,250.76 a year (2023)
Duties: The Greenwood City Court has jurisdiction over misdemeanors and infractions occurring anywhere in Johnson County, as well as violations of city ordinances. The court operates full-time and hears 1,200-1,500 misdemeanors and 4,000-6,000 infractions and ordinance violations each year. The judge also oversees a veteran’s court and a drug court.
