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A Protector of the Court Judge Richard Matsch remembered for the City bombing trials, his belief in the court system and running a tight courtroom

JULIA CARDI chances were you wouldn’t even get court system during his four-and-a- LAW WEEK COLORADO your bag all the way open before he half decades on Colorado’s federal lectured you. The formality of the district bench. Putting personal be- Attorneys who had cases assigned courtroom setting was a sticking longings on his tables, in Matsch’s to Judge Richard Matsch tend to re- point for Matsch, who was known as view, disrespected the formality of member a particular quirk about much for his idiosyncratic procedural the court, as inappropriate interrupt- how he ran his courtroom: If you put preferences and quick temper as his ing him or wearing shorts to trial. your briefcase on the counsel tables, commitment to the fairness of the “I always wore a white shirt in his courtroom with no cufflinks,” said Littler Mendelson shareholder Dar- ren Nadel, who said he otherwise has an affinity for colorful dress shirts and French cuffs when he goes to court. “I never wanted to look overly fancy and wanted to look pure busi- ness in his courtroom.” Matsch, perhaps most remem- He loved and honored the bered for presiding over the Okla- homa City bombing trials of Timothy Sixth Amendment right of McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols, died May 26 at age 88. But having sat on Colorado’s bench since criminal defendants, and his 1974 appointment by President JUDGE RICHARD MATSCH Richard Nixon, he saw a number of other high-profile cases. In the the Seventh Amendment mid-2000s Matsch oversaw a lawsuit ment right of civil litigants, to trial filed by a hotel employee who ac- by jury.” right of civil litigants, to cused Kobe Bryant of sexual assault. He presided over a 1987 case of two SHAKING OFF THE members of an anti-Semitic group SHADOW OF THE trial by jury. accused of killing Jewish talk show host Alan Berg. In 2017, as a senior SIMPSON TRIAL judge, he ruled Colorado’s sex of- Attorneys who had cases assigned fender registry unconstitutional be- to Matsch said he strongly believed —Sean Connelly, appellate attorney cause its impact on offenders’ ability in the judicial system’s ability to to find work and housing is cruel and function as it’s intended as long as & former prosecutor unusual punishment. everyone subject to it receives fair, Matsch “purely and simply, was a equal treatment. Lawyers on both trial judge. That was his highest and the prosecution and defense sides best calling,” said Sean Connelly in of the bombing trials an email, who was on the prosecution said Matsch went out of his way to team for the Oklahoma City bomb- make sure McVeigh and Nichols got ing trials. “He loved and honored the fair trials. Sixth Amendment right of criminal O.J. Simpson’s 1995 murder trial defendants, and the Seventh Amend- was fresh on America’s mind, and JUNE 3, 2019 | 2 IN THE COMMUNITY

Matsch made a concerted effort to oral history interviews, retired Judge keep the bombing trial from turning A. Bruce Campbell asked him wheth- into a lurid media circus like Simp- er he sensed the “American trial pro- son’s trial became. Presiding Judge cess was itself on trial” in the bomb- Lance Ito made controversial deci- ing cases. sions such as allowing television Matsch replied he didn’t think broadcasts of the trial and himself about that. Instead, he said, he tried appearing on The Tonight Show for to instill on everybody involved it interviews. was just another day at the office. Matsch made one public appear- “I stressed to everybody, this case ance during the bombing trials. In a is not about me … So, I stood out on 2018 interview Matsch gave as part the courthouse steps on that after- of an oral history series by the 10th noon and answered a few questions, Circuit, he recounted standing on but that was the last time I ever met Judge Richard Matsch's approach to presiding over the Oklahoma the courthouse steps to answer ques- with the press.” City bombing trials was a window into his character as a judge: tions for a few minutes on one after- private, strict and driven by his commitment to keeping the trial noon in Oklahoma, before the case A WINDOW INTO HIS moved to Denver. process fair. “It was important to recognize, all CHARACTER right, this is a trial; we have a lot of The bombing trials comprised trials,” Matsch said. “It’s just another only two years in Matsch’s 46 years Decisions he made from the outset of the proceedings set the tone for trial.” as a federal judge. Though his char- “He brought the concept of dignity acterization of the cases as “just an- ensuring the people involved did not contribute to sensationalizing the cases. and fairness back to the judicial sys- other day at the office” may sound Matsch declined to make public appearances during Timothy McVeigh's and tem after the O.J. trial debacle,” said like an oversimplification, Matsch’s Terry Nichols' trials, save for one aernoon when he met reporters for a few Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell chair Mike approach to the bombing cases was minutes outside the Oklahoma City courthouse. He granted a motion to O’Donnell. “I got to see the closing a microcosm of his character as a relocate the trials to Denver because he felt public scrutiny in Oklahoma had arguments, and he just handled every- jurist: Strict, private and unfailingly already tainted their perceived fairness, and Matsch issued a gag order that thing in a way that protected the jurors committed to keeping the trial pro- applied to everyone involved in the trials. He told the aorneys not to try and protected the rights of the defen- cess fair for both sides. dants. It went from a spectacle in Cali- Matsch had a reputation in the le- their cases in the press. According to Sean Connelly, at the time a prosecutor fornia, and it took a judge in Colorado gal community for his no-nonsense involved in the trials and appeals, Matsch "bent over backwards to accord to get back, in the eyes of the public, expectations for lawyers. He had a every procedural protection" to McVeigh and Nichols. the dignity of the judicial system.” quick temper toward inefficiency and Matsch set the tone for the bomb- inadequate preparation. He favored ing trials from the outset when the allowing cases to resolve on their case was assigned to him. The 10th merits, rather than on technicalities. Circuit Court of Appeals disquali- He was also known for taking a fied all federal judges in Oklahoma more hands-on approach to the pre- from presiding, and Matsch then trial process than other judges, del- moved the trial to Denver over fur- egating very little to magistrates. ther concerns McVeigh and Nichols Attorneys said Matsch approached wouldn’t get a fair trial in Oklahoma even scheduling conferences, nor- because of the attention the case had mally procedural meetings between Ray Martin, a partner at Wheeler Martin said Matsch was trying to already received. Michael Tigar, who parties in a case to agree on pretrial Trigg O’Donnell, remembered one teach the parties a lesson, that they led Nichols’ defense team, said he phases and set deadlines, as chances case that drove home the judge’s im- could come up with a workable pre- sensed Matsch took offense at pub- to have in-depth discussions with at- patience for what he perceived as a trial order if they communicated. licity that could have affected the tri- torneys about their positions. lack of respect for procedure. “When he came into the jury room als’ fairness. Hal Haddon, a founding member Martin said the parties’ pretri- he could not have been more friendly “That set the tone for every- of Haddon Morgan and Foreman, said al order was dozens of pages long and made it clear that he was trying thing he did thereafter. He under- Matsch didn’t hesitate to call out and complex because they couldn’t to make his point, and he felt like stood that the case was going to lawyers in proceedings when he felt agree on what core issues should go coming across as agitated as he had attract enormous publicity, but he their arguments weren’t getting to to trial. With the courtroom’s “walls would … communicate the impor- was determined that the trial would the crux of their case. shaking with [Matsch’s] rage,” Martin tance of our working cooperatively to take place, as much as possible, ex- “It wasn’t a learning experience. described, Matsch told the parties to narrow the issues in the case,” Mar- peditiously and fairly,” Tigar said. It was an effort to get to the core of get a typist and their toothbrushes tin said. Matsch allowed only one camera in the issue,” Haddon said “He was very because they couldn’t leave the jury Haddon said Matsch’s pres- the courtroom, and for the proceed- strict and tough on lawyers, includ- room until they came up with a pre- ence commanded respect even from ings to broadcast in closed circuit to ing me. He played no favorites.” Had- trial order they agreed on. McVeigh. The moment Matsch an- Oklahoma City. He also issued a gag don was on Nichols’ capital punish- After about an hour, Martin said, nounced McVeigh’s death sentence is order for everyone in the case. ment team but had cases in front of Matsch came into the jury room, this burned in Haddon’s memory. When But if the reverberations of Matsch dating all the way back to time smiling and congenial, and asked if Matsch announced the sentence, the Simpson trial’s public nature 1966, Haddon’s first year practicing he’d caught their attention. He sent the “McVeigh stood ramrod straight, weighed on Matsch’s mind, he didn’t and Matsch’s first year as a bank- parties home with instructions to sub- looked him in the eye and nodded.” • cop to feeling the pressure. In his ruptcy referee. mit a new pretrial order in a few days. —Julia Cardi, [email protected]

He brought the concept of dignity and fairness back to the judicial system after the O.J. trial debacle.

— Mike O’Donnell, commercial litigator