FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) - At the end of the year, Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge Mark Hewett will retire from what one local attorney calls “the hardest-working judgeship on the bench” after almost a quarter-century of service.
Hewett, 70, is Sebastian County’s juvenile judge, a position he’s held since he was elected in 1990 as one of Arkansas’ original 21 juvenile judges.
In 1911, the Arkansas General Assembly established juvenile courts, with jurisdiction over dependent, neglected and delinquent children and administered by the county judges. Until 1975, juvenile referees appointed by county judges to act as juvenile judges weren’t required to be licensed attorneys.
In 1987, the Arkansas Supreme Court declared the juvenile system in the state unconstitutional and chancery courts were given jurisdiction over juvenile courts until the Legislature met in 1989. Until then, chancery courts appointed special masters to preside over juvenile cases.
The Legislature then created 21 new judgeships to preside over juvenile courts throughout the state, with the governor appointing a judge to each position until judges elected in the November 1990 election took office Jan. 1, 1991.
Hewett began working in juvenile courts shortly after he and classmate Ron Harrison graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1977, hung a shingle in Fort Smith and signed a contract with Comprehensive Juvenile Services, which was incorporated a year earlier.
For Hewett, a 1961 graduate of Fort Smith High School, it was a return home full time.
In 1969 or 1970, Hewett and his wife, Judy, owned a successful retail store in Phoenix Village Mall when he participated in a volunteer probation officer program created by a Fort Smith District Court judge that sparked an interest in going to law school.
Hewett was 31 when he entered law school in 1974. Judy, to whom he’s been married 48 years, remained in Fort Smith with the couple’s three children while he stayed in Fayetteville for school during the week and returned home on weekends.
Hewett said his experience with CJS led him to run for election in 1990.
Harrison said although it’s probably an exaggeration, when he and Hewett signed a contract with CJS to represent minors in juvenile court, it seemed like one of them was in court on a juvenile case every day.
“We don’t slow down at all. There is usually some court scheduled five days a week,” Hewett told the Times Record (https://bit.ly/1s3FKsp).
Despite the heavy court schedule, Fort Smith attorney Shannon Blatt, who’s practiced in front of Hewett for 16 years and has known him since she was a child, said Hewett always makes time for people on personal and professional matters.
“I think he is one of the most upstanding people I know. I go to him for advice on personal issues . when I bought a house, I went to him for advice. He’s also a mentor,” Blatt said.
It was Blatt who described juvenile division judges as the “hardest-working judgeship on the bench.”
Harrison said although the workload inside the courtroom sets juvenile judges apart from other circuit court judges, what they confront on a regular basis also sets them apart.
“No other judges deal with what a juvenile judge does,” said Harrison. “There is emotional turmoil, day-in and day-out . and some cases are absolutely heartbreaking.”
Hewett said the most difficult part of his job is when the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services files a motion to terminate parental rights and permanently sever the relationship between a child and his or her parent or parents.
“These cases are tried just to the court. The court makes a decision. We don’t have a jury hear those cases. The criminal cases on the adults, the judges who handle those cases, they have a jury that determines guilt or innocence,” said Hewett. “The termination cases are the most serious ones we deal with.”
Of those cases, the most difficult are when a child has mentally impaired parents, who love the child and would never do anything to intentionally harm their child, but they don’t function at a level high enough to provide a safe environment for the child, Hewitt said.
“That’s always been the hardest case to decide,” the judge said.
To deal with the stress that comes with deciding whether to terminate parental rights or the disgust of seeing the abuse some children endure, Hewett said a judge must be able to compartmentalize and leave work at the office.
While there’s no shortage of stress, Hewett said finalizing the adoption of a child is a great pleasure for him.
“We have a certificate for the child and for younger children a stuffed bear, and they’ll name the bear and make a production of it. It’s the only time I permit cameras in the courtroom,” Hewett said.
When he was asked what he will miss when he leaves the bench at the end of the year, Hewett said he will just miss getting up and going to work every day.
If not for Arkansas law, which forces judges to forfeit their retirement benefits if they seek re-election after turning 70, Harrison said he has no doubt Hewett still has his passion for the job and would seek re-election.
Despite dealing with parental termination, child abuse/neglect and juvenile delinquency cases, Jeannette Kynsi, Hewett’s trial court assistant, said she’s seen him angry only twice in the almost 12 years she’s worked for him.
“He’s very patient . I think he’s much more fair than I could be, and in the end, he always does what’s best for the kids,” said Kynsi. “He’s had people come back and say, ’I wouldn’t have made it if he hadn’t refused to give up on me.’”
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Information from: Southwest Times Record, https://www.swtimes.com/
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