Judge candidates all share IU's Maurer School education, are female and under 40
Correction: This story was updated to correct information about Salzmann's family and when Wilson moved to Indiana.
A Monroe County judge who handles juvenile cases will not seek reelection this year, and four candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination to replace him. All four graduated from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
The race on the Democratic ticket features a local deputy prosecutor and a local deputy public defender who have faced each other in court, a former city council member and a Bloomington attorney who has filled in as judge.
Monroe County Election 2022: Who has filed so far
The candidates hope to succeed Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Galvin, who will retire at the end of his term. He was last elected in 2016. As of Monday evening, no Republican candidates had filed for Galvin’s seat.
The candidates so far, listed in the order in which they filed according to the date provided by the Indiana Secretary of State’s office:
April Wilson
April Ann Wilson, a deputy prosecutor in Monroe County, grew up in southern California and came to Indiana at age 9. She attend the University of Notre Dame, where she obtained a bachelor’s in Russian before moving to Georgia, where her husband, Steve, was stationed with the U.S. Army. She then moved to Bloomington in 2007 to obtain a law degree from the Maurer School of Law in 2010 and a master’s in Russian and East European Studies in 2012.
Before joining the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office, Wilson worked as deputy attorney general in the civil litigation section of the Indiana Attorney General’s office. She started in the office in 2012 as a paralegal and moved up to eventually represent state employees, state agencies or the state itself in employment law, tort claims and other civil cases.
Wilson, 39, said her experiences, including finishing college after becoming a single mother at age 19 and taking care of her family while working full time with a husband who was frequently deployed or training, have prepared her to treat people with fairness and integrity.
She said she is committed to improving the justice system and would like to see the county continue to expand its use of technology to streamline processes and to improve people’s accessibility to court.
Karen Wrenbeck
Karen Wrenbeck, deputy public defender in Monroe County, grew up in Livonia, Michigan, and got her bachelor’s from the University of Michigan before moving to Bloomington in 2009 to study at IU.
In the past eight years, she has handled civil and criminal cases, ranging from misdemeanors to felonies and including child welfare, juvenile delinquency and family law.
Wrenbeck, 34, said she has thought about running for judge for some time and, with Galvin’s retirement, believes now is the right time. She said it serves the community to have a wide range of perspectives represented on the benches and she believes the lineup could use more former public defenders. It’s not a knock against prosecutors: Wrenbeck’s husband, Christopher Pierce, serves as a deputy prosecutor in Monroe County.
However, having represented clients who often are intimidated by the legal process, Wrenbeck said her experiences would enable her to offer people appearing before her some reassurance that they are heard.
Wrenbeck said that she also wants the court system to be as accessible as possible, and the pandemic in some ways has improved that, as using Zoom has made it possible for clients to attend short hearings without having to pay for transportation or taking time off work.
Emily Salzmann
Emily Salzmann is a partner at Bloomington law firm Salzmann Law, where her father-in-law, Carl Salzmann, also is a partner.
The younger Salzmann is an Indianapolis native who came to Bloomington for her undergraduate studies before attending Maurer.
She originally planned to get a doctorate in psychology but in her senior year in college got interested in immigration law, in part because she has studied Spanish since age 5. She now handles civil and criminal cases, from traffic tickets and protective orders to murder.
Salzmann, 33, said her interest in running for judge developed because she has served as a judge pro tempore 35 times in four local courts. Private practice attorneys sometimes get appointed as judges when the elected judges are unavailable.
“Those experiences prompted me to run for judge,” she told The Herald-Times.
Salzmann said judges have a much greater ability to change lives than private attorneys do, and as a judge, she has aimed to find a balance between accountability and compassion. Many people show up in court on the worst day of their lives and often are dealing with tremendous strife, she said. Judges can often help give people the tools to overcome the underlying issues that brought them to the court.
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Allison Chopra
Allison Chopra, chief deputy prosecutor in Lawrence County, has lived in Monroe County for more than 20 years and served on the Bloomington City Council from 2016 to 2020.
A native of Decatur, Indiana, Chopra moved to Bloomington to attend IU, graduating with a bachelor’s in criminal justice in 2005. She got married that year and moved with her husband, Chris, to Columbus, Ohio, but moved back to Bloomington within seven months.
Chopra got a master’s of science in kinesiology in 2007 and opened a personal training studio in Bloomington, where, she said, she had lots of interesting conversations with local lawyers and judges.
“They really inspired me to do something I always wanted to,” she said.
Chopra sold her studio and enrolled at Maurer, graduating in 2018 and joining the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office. She has handled cases ranging from trespassing to murder but now typically handles higher level felonies.
Chopra, 39, who served five years in the Indiana Army National Guard, said she loves her Lawrence County job but wants to serve as judge in Monroe County to give back to the community. Timing also plays a role, she said, because judges serve six-year terms, which means opportunities to run for open seats occur infrequently.
This year’s general election will include the selection of judges for two other seats on the bench, but so far, neither race is competitive as only the incumbents have filed: Mary Ellen Diekhoff and Holly M. Harvey, both Democrats.
Candidates can file until noon Feb. 4.
The primary election will be May 3. The general election will be Nov. 8.
Boris Ladwig is the city government reporter for The Herald-Times. Contact him at bladwig@heraldt.com.
Candidates for judge
Allison Chopra
Occupation: Chief deputy prosecutor in Lawrence County
Education: Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law
Age: 39
More information: https://tinyurl.com/3c6h26kj
Emily Salzmann
Occupation: Partner, Salzmann Law
Education: Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
Age: 33
More information: https://www.facebook.com/emilysalzmannforjudge
April Ann Wilson
Occupation: Deputy prosecutor in Monroe County
Education: Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
Age: 39
More information: https://aprilwilsonforjudge.com/
Karen Wrenbeck
Occupation: Deputy public defender in Monroe County
Education: Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
Age: 34
More information: https://www.karenwrenbeckforjudge.com/
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington attorney, public defender, 2 prosecutors running for judge
