Former Judge Jason Cichowicz named to SJC Election Board

Each party is allowed by law to select its representatives.

In 2023, Cichowicz was suspended from the bench for 45 days without pay by the Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Judicial Qualifications and lost his reelection run in 2024.

He agreed to settle the charges against him stemming from his handling of a mentally ill millionaire's money.

Before being elected to the bench, attorney Cichowicz represented Levering Russell Cartwright in a divorce and testified the two grew very close and had a "close familial relationship" almost like "father and son" according to testimony. 

Cichowicz eventually became Cartwright's power of attorney, paying all his bills and taking over the non-profit Cartwright Family Foundation according to court documents in the case. 

Michael Misch is facing his own legal ethics violation charges because he represented Cartwright and the foundation when secret donations from the Cartwright Foundation to the non-profit Friends of the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center (FOJJC) were run through a trust account at attorney Misch's law firm Anderson, Agostino and Keller. 

Misch was also on the FOJJC board at the time of the donations and represented Judge Cichowicz, serving as his attorney and the Cartwright Foundation too, something investigators call a conflict of interest.

When Cartwright died at the age of 83 in 2023, Cichowicz inherited several million dollars from Cartwright's estate and still controls the Cartwright Foundation valued at approximately $1 million.