Judge William Eads of Cedar Rapids dies

William R. Eads, retired state district court judge and former chief judge of Iowa's Sixth Judicial District, died Thursday at age 86.

He retired from the bench at the end of 2000, completing a 37-and-a-half-year career as a state court judge.

A 1957 graduate of the University of Iowa School of Law, he was appointed to the district court in 1963 by then-Gov. Harold Hughes.

• See also: Timeline for Judge William Eads

At his departure from the bench, Eads set out in writing some thoughts on what he called 17 of the most intriguing cases of his long judicial career, a list that includes diving mules, a tiger at the Johnson County Courthouse, a forced fingerprint, the woman on birth control who sued when she got pregnant, the jailed pregnant woman who said her fetus didn't deserve incarceration, a posthumous adoption of a child, unpasteurized milk bootleggers and the saving of the Old Brick church in Iowa City.

• See also: Close-Up with Judge William Eads

Attorney and close friend Ben Blackstock, of  Blackstock Law Offices in Cedar Rapids, on Thursday said Eads was a “rags to riches” story, a man who climbed from a boyhood of poverty to become a man and judge who was kind, fair and respectful of those big and small. And there was that sense of humor, too, Blackstock said.

“He was a one of a kind," Blackstock said. "They did throw away the mold when they made Judge Eads."

Extended Audio Clip from Ben Blackstock

Attorney and close friend James Affeldt, of the Elderkin & Pirnie PLC law firm in Cedar Rapids, on Thursday recalled Eads as a “scholar of the law” and one who “loved his work.” At the time of his retirement in 2000, he was the longest or second longest serving district judges in Iowa, he said.

Extended Audio Clip from James Affeldt

Affeldt said it was Eads' effort that changed the legal landscape in Iowa and gave defendants the right to pre-trial discovery in criminal cases.

Affeldt acknowledged, too, that Eads “never shied away from publicity,” and he pointed to a number of “colorful” cases and rulings in Eads' career.

There was the 1973 case in which Eads viewed the adult movie “Deep Throat” and ruled it was illegal for a Marion theater to show it. “He didn't find how anyone would find this with redeeming value,” Affeldt said of Eads. The decision later was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court.

Affeldt remembered when Eads convened a grand jury to investigate the Cedar Rapids Police Department at one point to see if the department was listening in on conversations between defendants and their attorneys. He also convened a grand jury in the police shooting of Eric Shaw in Iowa City in 1997.

Affeldt also noted the divorce case in which Eads concluded that the future earning capacity of a husband's graduate degree should be factored in the property settlement of the divorce when the non-degreed spouse helped support the marriage to allow for the education.

“He was out front in many areas of the law, criminal, divorce, the grand jury investigations. ‘Deep Throat' was a big deal at the time,” Affeldt said.

Eads served as chief judge of the Sixth Judicial District on two occasions, including the last year he served as judge.

Today's district chief judge, Patrick Grady, on Thursday said first impressions can be lasting ones, and he said he still remembers how Judge Eads made time for him when he first arrived as a public defender in Cedar Rapids in 1985.

“I noticed that he was always very friendly to me as a new lawyer, made people feel welcome at the courthouse,” Grady said. “That is the sort of endearing memory I have of him. … He was very outgoing. He figured out my name without having met me.”

Extended Audio Clip from Patrick Grady

Grady said being the chief judge of the six-county district is “a lot of responsibility.” He called it a “fortunate legacy” to have had Eads and two others go before him in the job.

“They all set a good example, and I think I've benefitted from their experiences,” he said.

Steven Jackson Sr., an attorney at Lynch Dallas PC in Cedar Rapids, on Thursday called Eads “innovative,” and he, too, singled out Eads' decision to require defense attorneys access to prosecution witnesses and evidence prior to a criminal trial.

Jackson remembered Eads willingness to be available, and he recalled an instance when, as a young prosecutor, he needed Eads' signature on a Saturday morning for a search warrant. To get it, he had to go the pool at the YMCA, where at the time men swam in the nude. He got the signature at the side of the pool with the naked judge, he said.

Chuck Peters, president of The Gazette Co., recalled a similar story Thursday when he said he was a first-year lawyer at a local law firm and was told to call and then go to Judge Eads' home at 1 a.m. for a signature to get a client released from jail.

“He comes to the door, and says, ‘Hello, how are you Chuck? How are you enjoying the practice of law?  Come in, sit down for a little bit,'” Peters recalled. “… He was very gracious and kind to a young attorney.”

Jackson calls himself a liberal Democrat, and he said Eads was a Democrat, but one who didn't let politics come into play in his rulings. Affeldt said as much, and he said until the last few years, Eads was an avid reader and especially liked to read about John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt and other Democratic political figures.

Blackstock recalled the time when he and Eads left their wives behind and flew to Dallas, Texas, for a few days to see up close the famous spots that figured in John Kennedy's assassination. At one point, he said Eads insisted on stopping to talk to a stranger who had bent down to tie his shoe near the jail where Kennedy's assassin was shot. The stranger turned out to be the assistant commander of the Dallas Police Department, and he gave them a personal tour of all the high spots.

“Anybody he met was a friend,” Blackstock said of Eads.

Blackstock and Affeldt were frequent visitors of Eads' in the last five years when he lost the use of his legs and needed to live in a nursing care facility.

“It didn't change his disposition,” Affeldt said. “He was still always upbeat about things.”

Debra Shields, who worked as Eads' court reporter for more than two decades, on Thursday said Eads strove to be fair to the point that it was not uncommon for  the judge to issue a ruling, call it back several times to make changes before finally settling on the final thoughts and sentences.

“He always tried to be fair. He wanted to be perfect,” she said.

Blackstone recalled a time Eads was walking in the rain on the bridge outside the Linn County Courthouse when an attorney pulled over to give him a ride. Eads climbed in only to declare a short time later, “Stop, I got to get out. I have a case with you next week,” Blackstock said.

“He carried honesty to the extreme. He was a very, very conscientious man,” Eads' long-time friend said.

Eads is survived by his wife, Dorothy, two daughters and four grandchildren, Affeldt said.

His funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Friends may call at the Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.