Nick Maybanks says “truly humbling honor” to be appointed Linn County Attorney

CEDAR RAPIDS - Nick Maybanks said when the Linn County Board of Supervisors passed the resolution Tuesday appointing him as county attorney, it was a “truly humbling honor and privilege” to be given the chance to lead the office.

The supervisors appointed the former first assistant prosecutor to fill the vacancy left when Jerry Vander Sanden retired early at the end of last month before his term was finished. Maybanks was hired in 2000 as an assistant county attorney and was appointed by Vander Sanden as his first assistant in 2009.

The county attorney is an elected position, so the board’s appointment is effective through Dec. 31, but Maybanks intends to make an announcement within a few weeks on his intention to run for office.

The supervisors made the decision to forgo a special election to fill the vacancy term and appoint Maybanks after Vander Sanden announced in October his retirement after serving in the office for 38 years.

Maybanks was given the oath of office and sworn in Tuesday afternoon by 6th Judicial Associate District Judge Nicholas Scott, a former prosecutor who worked with Maybanks. Maybanks also announced that he was appointing Monica Slaughter as his first assistant and Jordan Schier as the criminal division head of the office.

Maybanks will lead the office, but he will delegate some important matters to Slaughter and Schier because Maybanks will continue to prosecute cases. He will focus on child abuse, homicide and other violent crimes. Slaughter has been a prosecutor for over seven years and Schier for 11 years.

Maybanks’ passion was always in criminal law and once former county attorney Denver Dillard, who later served as a district judge, hired him in 2000, he “never looked back.” He quickly realized everything he trained and worked for as a practicing lawyer could be accomplished as a prosecutor.

“I wanted to fight for people who couldn’t fight for themselves and those people are victims of crime,” Maybanks said.

He always took on the child and sex abuse cases to help the most vulnerable, but every crime and victim is important, and this office is where he knew he could make the most difference, he said.

Maybanks said he wouldn’t be in this position if Vander Sanden hadn’t put his faith in him.

“Jerry was a steady and calming presence in the office for 38 years,” Maybanks said. “He built a team of prosecutors that I would put up against any in the state. They are competent, fearless fighters. This team because of his guidance will be his (Vander Sanden’s) legacy.”

Maybanks said he wants to be more visible and accessible in the community. The office represents the county and state, but the “battles are for the people” and he wants the community to understand what they are doing.

He plans to be more involved and offer more assistance and guidance to the other two divisions of the office – juvenile and civil. Maybanks wants to make sure they are addressing concerns of violence in juvenile court to possibly curb or prevent adult offenders.

Maybanks also intends to oversee already implemented programs of the office such as the marijuana diversion program, which allows first-time, low-level marijuana offenders to avoid significant punishment. He wants to divert or direct more cases suitable for rehabilitation, as opposed to incarceration.

He also will try to bring the office into 2022 with the implementation of a new database system, which was purchased with saved resources and required no additional money from the county. The state-of-the-art system will allow the office to directly interface with law enforcement and other criminal justice partners regarding cases.

The prosecutors and staff will now have the ability to send text messages regarding court dates to victims and officers - a more reliable way of communicating. The database also will track statistics on the cases they are prosecuting to help them be more transparent.

Maybanks said he wants to continue being forward-thinking and make changes if needed to improve how they serve. He is excited that the office is now more gender balanced in the felony division, with three male prosecutors and three females, and Slaughter is only the second woman and first woman of color to be appointed as first assistant, he noted.

The day couldn’t have been any better, except if his father, who died over three years ago, could have seen this, but his mother was and she is the one who “pushed” him into law. Of course, it’s also nice his wife, Genie, and their two daughters, ages 10 and 11, got to see him take the oath, he added.

“I told the girls this is the coolest second most important job I can do. Being a dad is the first.”

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