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Show 1 T Larry Keller resigns from Circuit Court bench by Kick Brough Judge Larry Keller announced Tuesday he is resigning from the Fifth Circuit Court. His departure is effective July 1. The 37 -year-old Keller was named to the Circuit Court six years ago, when the system was first created. He is the only Summit County resident among the 14 judges in the Fifth Circuit, which also includes Salt Lake County. Judge Keller said he resigned to enter private practice. He said he wasn't happy with the career potential for a circuit court judge. He noted that salaries for Utah judges are the ninth lowest in the country. Another factor, Keller said, was that there was little chance for advancement. Governor Matheson has not promoted circuit court judges to the district level, he said. Keller's replacement will be something some-thing of a milestone. The governor has named Tyrone Medley, the first black judge in the state's history. Keller has held court in Park City for a year, since the municipality formally joined the circiit system. (Coalville is the only other Summit County town with this status. ) In Park City, Keller said, he has been astounded by the number of cases of public intoxication, lewdness and public urination. However, he noted, those arrested for urination are always visitors from out of town, not residents. And he said arrests for drunkenness are no higher, per capita, in Park City than in anv other town. As for drug cases, he said he has handled as many in Coalville as he has in Park City. Alcoholism has been a problem that interests Keller. (He worked a year-and a-half with a governor's commission on drunk driving. ) He said he has not been harsh with a first offender. But if a convicted drunk driver was on probation and committed a second offense, he would sentence him to a minimum of 30 days. If a driver committed three offenses within five years, said Keller, he would hand out a serious and long-term jail sentence. But, he added, repeat offenders are usually alcoholics and treatment must be used along with imprisonment. To stop the problem, he said, "It has to become socially unacceptable. People joke about it that they were at a party drunk and they don't remember how they drove home. It's a good time." Looking back, said Keller, his most notable case concerned Lance and Kelbach, two men convicted after a string of murders in 1966. (About that same time in the 1960s, the U.S. Supreme Court declared capital punishment pun-ishment was unconstitutional. ) In 1980, with death sentences being carried out. Utah Attornev General Robert Hansen attempted to try Lance and Kelbach for one of the old murders. It was a case where the body was dumped in Summit County. Keller rejected Hansen's request for a new trial, on the grounds the Constitution clearly calls for the defendants to receive a speedy trial. He didn't receive as much public outcry as he expected over the decision. He said. "Maybe it was because I gave a 27-page opinion, written out in detail." Keller was also a member on a county-wide panel that studied county reorganization in 1981. The committee's commit-tee's proposal for a county manager was voted down by the public, and he still feels the electorate made a mistake. Residents have to plan for the rest of the century, he said Tremendous growth will create the need for more services and will cause greater problems of crime. The county needs a seven-member commission, instead of a three-member part-time panel. Keller said. "The county has the same form of government it's had since statehood." he added. The commission acts as both the executive and legislative branch, he said. By contrast, he cited Park City, which he said has the most efficient lonn of government in the county. Here the City Council acts as the legislative area and the city manager is the executive On recent developments. Keller said the county's new General Services Department is a step in the right direction. In the past year, Keller said, he has been holding court in the top floor of the Park City library. New quarters for the circuit judge are being readied in the basement of the Marsac Building. He said a rotating group of Salt Lake judges will serve in Park City. As for himself, he plans to start a law practice in Salt Lake, but will still live at his residence in Silver Creek. His responsibility as a judge, he said, has been to find a middle ground between the public and the individual defendant. And what verdict will he get from his legal colleagues? "I hope I was perceived as a fair judge, but one who was tough when he had to be." Larry Keller |
