Cedar Rapids judge appointed to Iowa appeals court

DES MOINES — Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday appointed 6th Judicial District Judge Mary Chicchelly to the Iowa Court of Appeals bench.

Chicchelly, of Cedar Rapids, told The Gazette after the announcement was made that she was “so humbled to have been appointed by Gov. Reynolds to our Court of Appeals, and I look forward to serving the people of our state in my new role.”

She said she hoped the “fifth time would be the charm,” after she became an appeals court finalist again after being in the top three in March and November 2019 and July 2021. She also was a finalist in March 2020 for a vacancy on the Iowa Supreme Court.

She said she joked in her interview with Reynolds that she had met her “so many times” that it was starting to feel like movies “Shawshank Redemption” or “Groundhog Day.”

In “Shawshank,” the main character’s best friend, longtime inmate Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, goes before the parole board numerous times before being released. And the main character in “Groundhog Day” keeps reliving the day over and over until he redeems himself.

Chicchelly said the fact that the state’s judicial nominating commission believed in her and continued to nominate her helped her to “believe in myself.”

She will replace Judge Michael Mullins, who is retiring. The appellate court has nine judges who decide appeals from district courts across Iowa. Appellate judges earn $166,436 a year.

Chicchelly was appointed as a district judge in 2013 after being in private practice in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Fort Dodge.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa in 1989 and her law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1992.

Chicchelly and her husband, Tony, have two daughters.

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