Linn County Attorney retires after 35-year law career

Harold Denton became an assistant Linn County Attorney back in 1975 and never left the office until now.

Denton, 62, retires at the end of the month after serving eight years as the county attorney and a total of 35 years in the office.

He's leaving his term early and Jerry Vander Sanden, first assistant, was recently appointed as interim county attorney and he will run for election in November.

Denton has no immediate plans for the future. He just wanted to retire in the summer. There are no plans to go into private practice or pursue another career at this this time.

Many attorneys and judges said they will miss Denton and wished him well.

Sixth Judicial District Senior Judge Bill Thomas said he's known Denton since law school.

“He's a child of Tennessee living in exile and apparently he's enjoyed it because he stayed,” Thomas said grinning. “He's the only one I know of who has Tennessee and Iowa season tickets.”

Denton grew up in Maryville, Tenn. He migrated to Iowa in 1970 to attend the University of Iowa Law School.

Thomas said he and Denton tried a few cases against each other after he left the county attorney's office and went into private practice.

“Harold is smart and has an unusual memory - he remembers everything,” Thomas said.

Judge Nancy Baumgartner said Denton has an “encylopedia brain.” She has known him since 1983.

“He has a talent for telling jokes - something I can't do,” Baumgartner said. “I'm not kidding. If somebody said ‘Who sang that song,' he could tell you who sang it and wrote it.

“He leaves a legacy that should be coveted,” she continued. He's smart, fair and was always good in court.”

Judge Jane Spande, who was an assistant county attorney from 1977-85, said Denton always tried to make life fun in an office that deals with emotionally difficult things every day.

“When you have a welfare fraud case it's a huge investigation file that takes forever to go through and he would put a 3 inch deep publication on my desk and leave a note saying ‘Read and summarize for the office,'” Spande said. “And of course, as an assistant you're going to do it. He just did that stuff to watch your reaction. It's hard to see him leave the office. And I want to know how many months it will take to clean out his office.”

Denton shared many humorous and odd stories last week from his tenure but many couldn't be printed.

Denton said he was the first prosecutor to try a case in 1979 with cameras in the courtroom.

“I had my misgivings in the beginning but I have to say it's worked out well,” he said. “The media, at least, in Linn County, has always followed the rules.

“The TV cameras never bothered me. It was the still cameras because of the clicking. When I heard it I was thinking what was I doing at the time. Are my pants zipped up? Then, it just became common place.”

Denton said he had some memorable cases but one in 1977 established case law on appeal, Nix v. Whiteside. It regarded effective assistance of counsel during a criminal trial.

Charles Whiteside, accused of stabbing Calvin Love over some marijuana told his lawyer before trial he had seen something metallic in the Love's hand, which contradicted his earlier statements that he hadn't actually seen a gun in Love's hand.

The lawyer warned Whiteside he would report perjured testimony to the court, so Whiteside on the stand said he didn't actually see the gun and he was convicted of second-degree murder.

He appealed, arguing his lawyer threatened to tell the court he lied, Denton said. The Supreme Court ruled an attorney's duty didn't include agreeing to go along with planned perjury.

Denton said he did take a turn for a few years as a defense attorney. He worked for Cedar Rapids attorneys Bob Nelson and Robert Fassler right out of law school from 1973-75.

“I always said I never had anyone go to Fort Madison and Anamosa - but just don't mention Eudora and Rockwell City,” he said laughing.

Denton recalled a case during that period that he knew he wasn't going to win. It involved a guy who liked to smoke marijuana.

Police put a boot on his car one day for not paying his parking tickets and he took a crow bar and pried it off.

“The next day, police are pounding on his door, so he takes his marijuana and throws it out the window but they are there about the boot. Unbeknowst to him, photo journalism students were out shooting that day class and got pictures of him breaking off the boot.”

Denton said he would have never thought back then that he would spend most of his adult life in Cedar Rapids.

He spent summers in Iowa visiting his father who worked at Alcoa in Davenport.

“I found out this is a great place to be a prosecutor, Denton said. “The level of honesty and integrity is high for the law enforcement, judges and lawyers. I know when I go into a courtroom the police testifying are going to tell the truth.”