Warren County Judge Gerald Hosemann talks in his chambers in the Warren County Courthouse Wednesday.(The Vicksburg PostMELANIE DUNCAN)

[05/02/02]Judge Gerald Hosemann said Wednesday he plans to continue using what he called his personal office in the Warren County Courthouse while suspended from the bench, a fact that has rankled his replacement and may fuel more squabbles.

“I’m going to be in my office every day working,” Hosemann said of the room in the suite of offices east of the courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse. “The people deserve that of me.”

The state Supreme Court on April 24 ordered Hosemann, 50, “suspended with pay from any further duties as Warren County Court judge” while a felony assault charge against him is pending in Hinds County, it said. He has pleaded innocent and the alleged victim in the case insists he is not responsible for her injuries.

“We were worlds apart with where I envisioned my freedom to carry out the job would be,” said former Vicksburg alderman Sam Habeeb of what occurred when he showed up to take over the court’s duties. “I just want to get to work and do the job. I wanted (Hosemann) to understand that I was judge.”

On Monday the court appointed Habeeb, 33, as special judge to hear the cases on Hosemann’s docket.

Wednesday, he was working from an office adjacent to the Warren County Youth Court. He indicated he wasn’t interested in bickering, but insisted the court’s work would be done.

Hosemann has been county court judge for 16 years, his current four-year term expires in December, and he has not said on the record whether he will seek re-election. The qualifying deadline is May 10 and four Vicksburg attorneys, not including Habeeb, have qualified for places on the ballot.

Habeeb, who said he doesn’t want the job permanently, was sworn in Tuesday morning. He said he expected to hear as early as today his first case in Youth Court, in which the judge’s attention is frequently necessary by law on as little as 48 hours’ notice.

The next scheduled proceedings in County Court were set for Monday, that court’s court administrator said.

Habeeb said he first spoke with Hosemann Wednesday morning, in Hosemann’s courthouse office, about the use of the space in the courthouse office suite and the help of the court administrator.

Hosemann said he would not try to deny Habeeb access to the other rooms in the courthouse suite of offices or to the court administrator’s help. “I’m going to facilitate and make it smooth,” he said.

Hosemann added that, with his interim suspension, he has time to, among other things, read youth-court treatises and study disputes and resolutions so he can “be a better judge when this is over.” He stressed that the court is bigger than he is, and that his top priority is to keep it functioning smoothly.

“I don’t want anything to overshadow that I was appointed to fill the job,” Habeeb said. “In reality it doesn’t matter where my office is as long as I can run the court independently and supervise the court administrator. My goal is to get the County Court functioning and functioning independently. It’s not space that’s the problem, it’s independence. I’m very thrilled to be here, regardless of all this silliness.”

Hosemann was indicted April 15 in Hinds County and faces a prison term if convicted of aggravated assault of former court reporter Juanita “Nita” Johnston, 48, who was found injured on his Hinds County property Dec. 6.

He was arrested Dec. 28 after Johnston provided a detailed statement saying why and how he assaulted her. The attack is described in a Hinds County Sheriff’s Department Investigator’s sworn statement. Johnston, however, said in March that her injuries “were not the fault of Judge Hosemann,” and that “his name and reputation need to be restored immediately.”

The indictment by Hinds authorities followed, however. Hosemann’s attorney has asked that a trial be set for as soon as possible in the case.