Meet Indiana’s newest appeals judge: Stephen ‘Sam’ Scheele

Stephen “Sam” Scheele said he is honored to be appointed two separate times to judgeships by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

He was first appointed to the Lake Superior Court bench in 2019. Last month, Scheele was Holcomb’s final appointment to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Holcomb has now appointed seven members of the 15-member appellate court during his eight years in office.

“It was very much that same feeling of just great exhilaration at receiving the promotion, if you will, but also just a great sense of honor and even humbleness at him having the trust and the confidence to appoint me both then and more recently,” Scheele said.

Scheele is succeeding Senior Judge Terry Crone, who spent 20 years on the appellate bench and was well-known in legal circles for his efforts to depoliticize judicial pay and for his written opinion overturning Purvi Patel’s 20-year sentence for feticide and child neglect.

Scheele said he is even more humbled to be serving as Crone’s successor.

“He is a lion of a jurist, and he is somebody who knows how to call it like it is and his body of work is just tremendous,” Scheele said. “To step into those shoes, suffice to say, he has very large shoes for me to fill.”

He said he hopes to emulate the high respect and long legacy of legal scholarship Crone achieved.

Community focused

Scheele expects he will take his oath of office in early January after he wraps things up in Lake County.

He said he will miss being a trial court judge.

“I’m going to miss being here every day, and I am also going to miss presiding over a trial court, because it is in the trial courts where a bulk of everything occurs and is decided, and to handle the day-to-day cases as they come through court,” Scheele said. “I’m going to miss that.”

He said he also will miss the legal community in Northwest Indiana and staff with Lake Superior Court.

When asked about a proud moment in his career, Scheele talked about his time working as public defender and times when he did pro bono work.

“It is a very important role in the legal system to provide access to the courts and access to justice for those people who might not otherwise have it because they did not have a lawyer,” Scheele said.

Scheele said he is excited to get involved with the Appeals on Wheels program the appellate court has established.

It takes the court’s oral arguments out of the Statehouse and on the road to schools and communities across the state.

“That tremendous outreach that’s really both internal within the legal community as well as external, outward, and especially when we’re able to reach the non-legal community, I think that is exceptional,” Scheele said.

He said he also enjoyed an event earlier this year when a fifth grade class came to his courtroom and was able to try out every role–the plaintiff, defendant, jurors, observers, judges, lawyers and witnesses.

“It’s just so great to see them come in and learn about the legal system, learn about our system of government, the three branches of government, and learn about what happens in in the courtroom, and the fact that we as Americans have a place where you can go and your differences can be peacefully resolved,” Scheele said.

Smart and humble

Lake Superior Court Judge Bruce Parent and Scheele have known each other for decades. They met working as law clerks together in 1994.

“I would call him the smartest guy in the room, and yet he’s the most humble guy in the room,” Parent said.

Parent said he is going to miss working with Scheele.

“Every day, anytime you had a question, we would bounce things off of each other, and so the I’m sure he’s still available for me to call him if I got questions, and he will call me if he has questions,” Parent said. “That being said, it’s going to be different now. We have different roles, and so that’s a little bit sad.”

Porter Superior Court Judge Richard Stalbrink said his first impression of Scheele was that he had a huge thirst for knowledge.

“I would say he has an insatiable curiosity,” Stalbrink said.

The two jurists met on a fishing trip and now over a decade later they share the hobby of beekeeping.

Scheele said lawyers come in for hearings and will ask about his bees.

Scheele and Stalbrink don’t sell the honey they harvest but give it away to friends and family. Stalbrink said they had about 11 hives this past year and harvested about 15 to 20 gallons of honey.

Stalbrink said he’s always thought of Scheele as a judge that would rise to the appellate or federal level.

“I think Sam is one of the, usually one of the smartest guys in the room and also one of the most level headed,” Stalbrink said. “He never really talked about a huge desire to climb up the ladder, so to speak. But he definitely was one of those guys that you knew should be up there and should be climbing the ladder.”•