Graduate elected president of Iowa Judges Association

06/26/2008

Polk County District Judge Odell McGhee II

Polk County District Judge Odell McGhee II, a 1977 graduate of Drake Law School, recently was elected president of the statewide Iowa Judges Association. The vote, which was unanimous, took place at the association's annual meeting on June 18.

Judge McGhee is the first African American to be elected president of the organization, which represents the social and governmental interests of Iowa judges on the state and national level.

McGhee was appointed to the bench in 2002 in the Fifth Judicial District, which includes Des Moines. He is well known in the community and throughout the state as a jurist interested in human rights, First Amendment protections and children rights.

He told the Iowa Judges Association that he hopes his year as president will be "inspirational, unique and revitalizing." He noted that the challenges to the judiciary in today's world are great, adding that judges should never lose sight of their deepest values.

"In short," he said, "the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart -- real justice and peace." He added that judges should have empathy for the disadvantaged and be willing to "investigate alternatives to traditional resolutions to people problems and take chances considering each citizen individually.

"This is not judicial activism," he concluded, "but a genuine need, if our courts are to not only punish, but to help people mend their lives and become productive."

McGhee was born in Liberty, Miss., on July 11, 1952. When he was 13, his parents moved the family to Chicago, where he completed junior and senior high school. He attended the University of Illinois, then transferred to Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1974. He enrolled at Drake Law School and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1977.

He later served on the Law School's Board of Counselors and was an adjunct faculty member at the Law School and Des Moines Area Community College. He is married to Jacqueline Easley, an executive at Mercy Hospitals and a member of the Drake Board of Trustees. They have two children: Carey and Ty.

Judge McGhee was elected to the national board of the National Bar Association and was president of the Iowa National Bar Association for more than 10 years. He was elected group chair of the National Prosecutor Association and was active in committee work. He has served on several special committees of the Iowa State Bar Association and on the Executive Board of the Polk County Bar Association.

After graduating from Drake Law School, McGhee worked as a program planner with the Iowa Commission on the Aging, where he developed a statewide legal delivery system for older Iowans. He then joined the Iowa Department of Environmental Quality as an administrative hearing officer.

In 1982, he went to work for the Polk County Attorney's Office, where he supervised the drug and vice docket for five years and was the lead attorney for the prosecution of felonies in the General Crime Bureau. He was then assigned to the Major Offense Bureau, where he dealt primarily with white-collar crimes and vehicular homicide. He also spent five years in the Civil Division, developing an expertise in defending discrimination suits filed against Polk County.

In his spare time, Judge McGhee directs the Langston Hughes Company of Players, a local minority theatrical troupe that presents the history of African Americans through music, dance and the written word.