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Wall announces for circuit court judge spot

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Justin Wall

Republican Justin R. Wall has announced his candidacy for Huntington circuit court judge.

Wall, 41, is an attorney and owns Wall Legal Services, a law firm with offices in Huntington, Wabash and Columbia City. In his 10 years as an attorney, Wall says he’s amassed a wide range of legal experience.

“I have practiced in just about every single county in northern Indiana and I’ve handled just about every type of civil and criminal case there is out there,” he states.

Wall says it’s that range of experience that’s prepared him for the office he’s seeking.

“That court has so much more coming before it than just the criminal load and it’s a very small part of what it does,” he explains. “So, the voters need to look at who has the legal experience to handle this case load and the diversity of cases that come before it.”

Aside from criminal cases, Wall cites Department of Child Services cases, family law cases, civil litigation matters and will challenges as other types of cases that come before the court.

“I’ve done all that,” he remarks.

Wall also notes the importance of being adept at tending to the office’s duties outside the courtroom. He says his experience as a business owner has prepared him to handle those responsibilities.

“(Voters) also have to consider the other side of the bench management that has to be done and that is the budget management, the people management, the fund-raising part of it and just the operations of that office, just like you would a business,” he says.

If he wins the Republican nomination for circuit court judge in the May 8 primary election and triumphs in the Nov. 6 general election, Wall has several ideas he would like to implement.

One of those ideas is to collaborate on opening a work-release center in Huntington. Wall believes such a facility would be valuable as an alternative destination to the local jail.

“Our Huntington County Jail, like many jails, is running into overcrowding – bad overcrowding,” he observes.

Wall characterizes some of the jail’s inmates as decent people who made poor decisions. To that end, he believes a work-release center would be an appropriate setting for them.

“Still punish them, still restrict their liberty,” says Wall. “But we keep them out of jail, where we’re paying a high cost to keep them there, versus they’re at a low, if no, security facility.”

Wall notes that the comings and goings of the center’s occupants would be monitored electronically through the use of keycards. Also, they would be subject to random drug and alcohol tests.

Aside from it helping to alleviate overcrowding at the jail, Wall champions a work-release center because he sees value in a program that would give those doing time an opportunity to hold down a job and tend to their financial responsibilities – which could be of benefit to families.

“They can pay their child-support obligations, they can keep the house note paid, keep the car note paid,” he explains. “Helps keep the family unified.

“We don’t take what’s a minor to moderate criminal matter and blow up the entire family from it.”

On the topic of families, Wall supports establishing a family problem-solving court. Observing that some cases, such as ones involving drugs or domestic violence, can often branch into other legal matters, like the Department of Child Services opening a case, Wall asserts that a family problem-solving court would be a helpful thing to implement.

“From a family problem-solving court, we try to encompass the entire family to keep the family unified and to provide an envelope of services to the entire family for that purpose of helping the family overcome the obstacles that they’re facing,” he says. “Get the kids in a good place, get the parents in a good place and keep the family united.”

Another problem-solving court Wall is in favor of establishing would focus on veterans.

“A veterans problem-solving court is geared specifically to the issues that veterans deal with, due to things like post-traumatic stress disorder, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, a lot of things that they come back home with from their service,” he says.

Other things Wall would be interested in starting include mandatory mediation for all civil and domestic relations cases and a therapy dog program, which would make trained dogs available to anxious litigants in hopes of easing their nerves.

Wall, a lifelong Huntington resident, resides at 311 N. Jefferson St. He can be reached at 504-2714 or 224-9290. More information about his campaign can be found at JustinWall ForJudge.com or face book.com/wallforjudge, where he plans on holding periodic Facebook Live events to take questions from the community.

Should the primary and general elections go his way, Wall is excited by the prospect of getting to serve the community as circuit court judge.

“I’m from here. I understand the issues. I understand the people. And I know this community very well,” he says.