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By B John Burns
March 4, 2010
I saw in this morning’s Des Moines Register that retired Iowa Court of Appeals Judge Dick Schlegel passed away on Monday at the age of 87. That’s a name I hadn’t thought about for awhile.
And that’s not right, because Judge Schlegel is someone who deserves to be remembered.
I can’t remember if, back in the days I practiced in front of Judge Schlegel, I was aware that he had been a fighter pilot in Europe during the Second World War. But that’s the place to start. Every day, in the Register obits, you’ll see the names of one or two or three members of that diminishing fraternity of superheroes who left their homes as children in the early- to mid-40s and, literally, saved the World. And when the War was over, they came home, raised families and thrived in their careers.
That was Judge Schlegel.
Judge Schlegel had a variety of careers in the years that followed. He kept flying. Judge Schlegel was famous for flying himself to court hearings, earning the label (according to the Register) of “The Flying Judge.” He sat on the Ottumwa School Board, the Indian Hills Community College Board of Directors and, for 13 years, on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Association of School Boards (he was president in the mid-60s).
What I didn’t know was that he played the french horn. This, of course, is impressive to me. He played in the Otumwa Municipal Band, the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra for 14 years and, up until just two years ago, the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps most significant was Judge Schlegel's involvement with Lawyers Helping Lawyers, a successful Bar Association project in which attorneys assist other attorneys struggling with addiction issues. Judge Schlegel chaired the program from its inception.
Richard Schlegel’s legal career stretched for 50 full years, through his retirement in 2000. Twelve of those years were served on the Court of Appeals. I’m sure we all regard the time we are involved in an institution as the “Golden Era” of that institution. As Judge Schlegel’s years on the Court of Appeals paralleled mine at the Appellate Defender, I’d have to say that the decade leading up to 1994 was the Golden Era of Iowa appeals – with giants like Ray Rogers, Charlie Harrington and John Messina at the Appellate Defender and Joe Weeg, Roxann Ryan and John Messina in the Criminal Appeals division of the Attorney General’s office.
Of all the judges serving on the Court of Appeals during that period, only Judge Rosemary Sackett remains on the Court today. Quite a few of the judges who started in intervening years have since retired. But the Iowa Court of Appeals in the late 80s and early 90s was, in my book, populated by legends. Judge Barney Donaldson. Chief Judge Leo Oxberger (who, as we speak, is cruising around the world and today, I believe, is visiting the island of Mauritias). Judge Maynard Hayden. Judge Bruce Snell. Judge Albert Habhab.
And Judge Richard Schlegel.
The Court of Appeals in my day (as I’m sure it is today) was thoughtful, congenial and respectful to the lawyers. Judge Donaldson came to my wedding. Judge Habhab wrote me a nice card on the same occasion. On the day I left the Appellate Defender’s office, Judge Schlegel either called or stopped by to see me, but I happened to be out of the office.
The one thing we didn’t get in those days (from either the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court) was a large number of favorable decisions. From our perspective, things tend to go a little better today, result-wise, than they did back then.
But if we were going to get a vote from anyone, it would be from Judge Schlegel.
Judge Schlegel was as liberal as they came on criminal justice issues. I don’t know if he would brag about that. In this day and age, that’s considered a slur – but not from me. We would get dissents from Judge Schlegel. During arguments over the lost cause of a 15-year-old boy challenging his life sentence for murder, several spectators observed tears in Judge Schlegel’s eyes.
Judge Schlegel repeatedly took the position in his opinions that he could never understand how there could be such a thing as harmless error. He actually wrote a law review article, all about the concept of harmless error, the year after he took senior status.
Judge Schlegel was a compassionate, nice man. I'm glad I knew him.
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