ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997 TAG: 9703270012
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK THE ROANOKE TIMES
Lawyers say it's appropriate that this "serious student of the law" with a good sense of humor will take the bench on April Fools' Day.
As Jonathan Apgar drove three hours through darkness, rain and fog, he had no idea that his career-long dream was coming true.
On the night of Feb. 21 - while he was somewhere between Roanoke and Richmond, on the way to visit his father - the General Assembly made Apgar a Circuit Court judge. Before leaving town, Apgar had been told the vote would not come until later - if at all - as legislators were deadlocked over a Supreme Court vacancy.
When things turned out differently, Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, called the motel where Apgar was headed and asked the clerk to deliver the good news. And be sure to call Apgar "Your Honor," Edwards instructed.
Later that night, Apgar walked into the Hampton Inn west of Richmond.
"I said: 'Reservations for Apgar,''' he recalled recently. "And the clerk said: 'No, no. Reservations for Judge Apgar.'''
"They made a huge fuss over it ... and in all the excitement they gave me the wrong key, and we couldn't get into the room," Apgar said.
"It was the last thing I was expecting to hear."
There were no such surprises Wednesday afternoon, when Apgar was sworn in as the newest judge for the 23rd Judicial Circuit, which includes Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.
But Apgar's well-known sense of humor - which has prompted more than one lawyer to note how appropriate it is that his first day on the bench will be April 1 - put some life into a usually solemn ceremony.
In remarks to a packed Roanoke County courtroom, Apgar recalled his first job out of law school in 1976, working as an assistant public defender. His boss was David Walker, a Salem lawyer who at the time was head of Roanoke's newly created Public Defender's Office.
"I was nervous and apprehensive and scared and inexperienced and anxious," Apgar said. "But I can now tell you, 21 years later, that some things have changed: I don't work for David Walker anymore."
In an interview last week, Apgar talked about how he first got interested in becoming a judge.
While studying law at the University of Richmond, Apgar worked one summer as a law clerk for William E. Spain, a Richmond Circuit Court judge. Back then, the courts essentially closed down for the month of August, a tradition born in the days of no air conditioning.
So there was plenty of time for Apgar and Spain to talk.
"He kind of took me under his wing and taught me how a courthouse functions." Apgar said. "He and I would just talk for hours about different cases, some of the big ones he had, and all the nuances of the practice of law."
"It just kind of stayed with me that being a judge was something to aspire to."
But after taking his first job as a public defender, Apgar was more concerned with learning the basics. He still remembers the name of his first client, a woman charged with slashing someone's car tires.
"David Walker had told me we would have 30 days to sit in court and observe," Apgar said. "But on the fifth or sixth day he said, 'You're going to try this case.' I was shaking in my shoes."
Walker remembers it a little differently. "He was very bright, willing to learn, and he worked real hard," Walker said. Over the years, Apgar became "a tremendous student of the law," he said.
After about three years with the Public Defender's Office, Apgar moved over to prosecuting. He became the chief assistant commonwealth's attorney for Roanoke before leaving the office in 1981 to enter private practice.
"Out of everything I've done, prosecuting is the toughest," he said. "Because a prosecutor has a dual obligation. Not only do they have to represent the interest of the commonwealth, but they have to seek justice as well."
"There are a lot more gray issues to deal with. As a defense attorney, your client is always telling the truth, you're always an advocate, and within the boundaries of the law you pursue the case as zealously as you can."
Lawyers said Apgar's ability not to take himself too seriously has helped him through some horrendous cases. His many clients over the years include a man who went to prison expressing no regrets for killing three people - and hinting that he may have killed more.
"I think at one time or another, I've had to defend or prosecute every kind of crime that one person can inflict on another," Apgar said. "You meet all kinds of people in the public defender's office. But most of the time I was able to leave it at the office."
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON THE ROANOKE TIMES. Jonathan Apgar takesby CNBthe oath of office as Circuit Court judge while his daughters
Elizabeth, 14 (center) and Mary Ellen, 12, hold the Bible. The 23rd
Judicial Circuit includes Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. Apgar
said he was surprised to find out that he had won the appointment
because he thought it was lost in the last-minute scrambling of the
General Assembly. color. Graphic: Chart. KEYWORDS: MGR