JUDICIAL BRANCH

The Unified Trial Court Act of 1972, abolished all trial courts below the District Court of Iowa and established the "Iowa District Court" as a unified trial court, effective July 1, 1973. It has general jurisdiction of all civil, criminal, and juvenile cases and probate matters in the state.

For purposes of administration and ordinary judicial functions, the state is divided into eight judicial districts as shown on the map below and into 14 judicial election districts.

The unified trial court operates through 135 part-time judicial magistrates and 12 associate juvenile judges and 1 associate probate judge, 54 district associate judges, and 116 district court judges plus 8 chief district court judges. [One additional district judge will be added in January 2000]. The judicial magistrates are appointed by a commission in each county. District associate judges are nominated by a commission and appointed by the district judges within the judicial election district. The number of district court judges authorized in each judicial election district is determined by population and a statutory judgeship formula based on combined civil and criminal case filings in that district. However, application of the formula has been frozen and the number of district judges has been limited to 115.

The regular term of office for a district court judge is six years. A vacancy is filled through appointment by the governor from a list of nominees submitted by the District Judicial Nominating Commission. The appointee must stand for retention for a full term at the first general election held after serving at least one year.

The salary for the chief judge of a judicial district is $104,800, the salary for other district court judges is $100,500. District associate judges are paid $87,600 annually and magistrates $25,400 (fiscal 1999-2000).

Name	Office Address	Term Ending
Election District 1A
Robert J. Curnan	Dubuque	December 31, 2000
Alan L. Pearson, Chief Judge	Dubuque	December 31, 1999
John J. Beauercamper	Waukon	December 31, 2000
Lawerence H. Fautsch	Dubuque	December 31, 2004
Margaret L. Lingreen	Decorah	December 31, 2000
Election District 1B
James Beeghly	West Union	December 31, 2004
George Strigler	Waterloo	December 31, 2004
James C. Bauch	Cedar Falls	December 31, 2004
Todd A. Geer	Grundy Center	December 31, 2000
Jon Fister	Waterloo	December 31, 2000
K.D. Briner	Waterloo	December 31, 2000
Thomas N. Bower	Grundy Center	December 31, 2002
Stephen C. Clarke	Grundy Center	December 31, 2004
Election District 2A
James Drew	Hampton	December 31, 2000
Paul W. Riffel	Waverly	December 31, 2004
Stephen P. Carroll	Hampton	December 31, 2004
Jon S. Scoles	Mason City	December 31, 2000
John S. Mackey	Mason City	December 31, 2004
Bryan H. McKinley	Osage	December 31, 2000
Carl D. Baker	Marshalltown	December 31, 2000
Dale E. Ruigh	Ames	December 31, 2000
Carl E. Peterson	Marshalltown	December 31, 2002
Ronald Schechtman, Chief Judge	Carroll	December 31, 1999
Timothy J. Finn	Ames	December 31, 2002
Allan L. Goode	Ft. Dodge	December 31, 2002
Gary L. McMinimee	Carroll	December 31, 2002
Kurt L. Wilke	Ft. Dodge	December 31, 2000
Joel E. Swanson	Carroll	December 31, 2000
William J. Pattinson	Ames	December 31, 2002
William C. Ostlund	Jefferson	December 31, 2002
David R. Danilson	Boone	December 31, 2004
Election District 3A
David A. Lester	Estherville	December 31, 2000
Joseph J. Straub	Algona	December 31, 2000
Frank B. Nelson	Okoboji	December 31, 2002
John B. Duffy	Storm Lake	December 31, 2002
Patrick Carr	Spencer	December 31, 2002
Election District 3B
Richard Vipond, Chief Judge	Denison	December 31, 1999
Michael Walsh	Sioux City	December 31, 2002
Dewie J. Gaul	Sioux City	December 31, 2002
Phillip Dandos	Sioux City	December 31, 2002
Gary E. Wenell	Sioux City	December 31, 2002
Robert C. Clem	Sioux City	December 31, 2000
James D. Scott	Orange City	December 31, 2000
John Ackerman	Sioux City	December 31, 2000
Election District 4
Keith E. Burgett	Council Bluffs	December 31, 2004
J.C. Irvin	Shenandoah	December 31, 2000
James M. Richardson	Audubon	December 31, 2000
Charles L. Smith, III, Chief Judge	Council Bluffs	December 31, 1999
Timothy O'Grady	Council Bluffs	December 31, 2002
James S. Heckerman	Council Bluffs	December 31, 2002
Gorden C. Abel	Council Bluffs	December 31, 2004
Election District 5A
Darrell J. Goodhue	Indianola	December 31, 2000
Peter A. Keller	Dallas Center	December 31, 2000
Jerrold W. Jordan	Knoxville	December 31, 2000
Dale B. Hagen	Indianola	December 31, 2002
William Joy	Perry	December 31, 2002
Paul R. Huscher	Waukee	December 31, 2004
Gregory A. Hulse	Adel	December 31, 2004
Election District 5B
James W. Brown	Osceola	December 31, 2004
Richard D. Morr	Chariton	December 31, 2000
David Christensen	Lenox	December 31, 2002
Gary G. Kimes	Osceola	December 31, 2004
Election District 5C
Joel D. Novak	Des Moines	December 31, 2004
Jack D. Levin	Des Moines	December 31, 2002
George W. Bergeson	Des Moines	December 31, 2002
Arthur E. Gamble, Chief Judge	Des Moines	December 31, 1999
Glenn Pille	Des Moines	December 31, 2004
Robert A. Hutchison	Des Moines	December 31, 2004
Donna L. Paulsen	Des Moines	December 31, 2000
Larry J. Eisenhauer	Des Moines	December 31, 2000
Linda R. Reade	Des Moines	December 31, 2000
Richard G. Blane II	Des Moines	December 31, 2002
Robert J. Blink	Des Moines	December 31, 2002
D. J. Stovall	Des Moines	December 31, 2002
Robert Wilson	Des Moines	December 31, 2002
Artis Reis	Des Moines	December 31, 2000
Scott Rosenberg	Des Moines	December 31, 2004
Election District 6
William R. Eads, Chief Judge	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2000
David S. Good	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2000
Thomas M. Horan	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2004
L. Vern Robinson	Iowa City	December 31, 2000
Larry J. Conmey	Anamosa	December 31, 2000
William L. Thomas	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2000
Thomas Koehler	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2002
Lynne E. Brady	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2004
Douglas Russell	Iowa City	December 31, 2000
Kristin L. Hibbs	Iowa City	December 31, 2000
David M. Remley	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2000
Patrick Grady	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2002
Election District 7
Patrick J. Madden	Muscatine	December 31, 2002
Charles H. Pelton	Clinton	December 31, 2000
Mark J. Smith	Davenport	December 31, 2004
James E. Kelley	Davenport	December 31, 2000
Mark D. Clive	Davenport	December 31, 2000
Edward B. DeSilva, Jr	Davenport	December 31, 2000
John A. Nahra, Chief Judge	Davenport	December 31, 1999
David H. Sivright	Clinton	December 31, 2000
David E. Schoenthaler	Maquoketa	December 31, 2000
Bobbi M. Alpers	Davenport	December 31, 2002
Hobart Darbyshire	Davenport	December 31, 2002
Election District 8A
James Blomgren	Oskaloosa	December 31, 2000
Richard J. Vogel	Grinnell	December 31, 2004
James P. Rielly	Oskaloosa	December 31, 2000
Dan F. Morrison	Sigourney	December 31, 2002
Daniel P. Wilson	Centerville	December 31, 2002
Annette J. Scieszinski	Albia	December 31, 2004
E. Richard Meadows	Ottumwa	December 31, 2000
Election District 8B
David B. Hendrickson	Keokuk	December 31, 2004
John C. Miller, Chief Judge	Burlington	December 31, 1999
R. David Fahey	Ft. Madison	December 31, 2004
William L. Dowell	Burlington	December 31, 2004
John G. Linn	Burlington	December 31, 2002

ASSOCIATE JUVENILE JUDGES

Alan D. Allbee	West Union	December 31, 2000
Daniel Block	Waterloo	December 31, 2000
Karla J. Fultz	Des Moines	December 31, 2000
William S. Owen	Ottumwa	December 31, 2000
Susan F. Flaherty	Cedar Rapids	December 31, 2000
Victor G. Lathrop	Ames	December 31, 2000
Gerald W. Magee	Charles City	December 31, 2000
Brian L. Michaelson	Sioux City	December 31, 2000
Jane M. Mylrea	Dubuque	December 31, 2000
Mary L. Timko	Storm Lake	December 31, 2000
Constance Cohen	Des Moines	December 31, 2000

ASSOCIATE PROBATE JUDGE

Ruth B. Klotz

Des Moines

December 31, 2000