Judge Walter Edmonds, Oregon Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Judge Walter I. Edmonds grew up on the North Umpqua River near the towns of Wilbur and Winchester . After graduating from Roseburg High School in 1961, he attended Linfield College , wrote for the college newspaper and worked part time for the McMinnville News Register covering news and sports. After considering a career in journalism, Edmonds decided to attend law school at Willamette University College of Law. He envisioned becoming a small-town lawyer and living the rural life he knew as a child. After law school he was offered a job as an associate by a sole practitioner with a general practice in Madras . When he was discharged from the Army Reserves in 1967, Edmonds packed all of his belongings into his 1957 Ford to begin his legal career in a town and area where he did not know a soul.

That first year in practice, Edmonds was appointed to represent a transient man who was charged with murder. Providing a defense in this tragic case helped Edmonds understand the role that criminal defense lawyers play in seeing that justice is done even when that role may not be popular in a community.

Within a year of arriving in Madras , Edmonds was appointed as the district attorney of Jefferson County . During a fateful telephone call, Governor Tom McCall told the new lawyer that 25 was “a little young” to become the district attorney, but he was going to appoint Edmonds anyway. Edmonds found working as a district attorney in a small county to be fascinating. He worked closely with law enforcement and other county officials. On one occasion he personally effectuated an arrest of a man who had barricaded himself in an apartment with a shotgun, because the interim sheriff, an undertaker, did not feel that he had the training to do so. Edmonds would also go on evening State Police ride-alongs to help the thinly stretched officers, and on one memorable occasion tackled a robbery suspect who was hiding in some sagebrush near the Warm Springs Reservation. Edmonds had to be cautioned by a tribal officer to release the hammerlock he applied to the suspect. During this period Edmonds tried a criminal case against future federal Judge Owen Panner, one of the giants of the legal community in Eastern Oregon at the time. ( Edmonds lost.)

When Edmonds was 26, attorney Ron Bryant approached him about joining his firm in Redmond . Edmonds accepted and spent the next six years trying cases all over Central and Eastern Oregon . The firm owned a plane, and Edmonds obtained his instrument rating, flying in and out of the small airports that dot the eastern part of the state to try cases in Condon, Fossil, John Day , Prineville, Burns, Pendleton and Baker. He remembers knowing the contents of depositions so well that he could visualize and recall the record on demand. Edmonds learned everything he knew about trying cases from future Court of Appeals Judge Robert Foley, who sat on the 11th Judicial District Circuit Court, and from his partner Joe Larkin, who would debrief his trials. Later, his judicial role models would be Judges John Copenhaver and Bob Campbell, who sat on the 11th Judicial District Circuit Court. Edmonds became the president of the Central Oregon Bar Association and in 1975 was appointed to the Circuit Court bench by Governor Robert Straub.

The 11th Judicial District, at that time, encompassed Deschutes , Gilliam, Jefferson, Crook, Grant and Wheeler counties. Edmonds rode the circuit, hearing cases in all six counties. Edmonds was all of 32 years old when he began, and it took some adjustment to referee trials between Owen Panner and others. He learned to command the courtroom using common sense and wisdom.

In 1989 the Governor appointed Judge Edmonds to the Oregon Court of Appeals. He moved his family to west Salem , where they purchased a small farm. He is now the Presiding Judge for Department Three of the Court. On the bench, Edmonds has authored about 1,900 published opinions. He brings his wealth of experience as both a circuit court judge and trial attorney. Edmonds humbly regards his opinions as those of the court and acknowledges the role that judicial clerks and staff play in the work of the court. He tends to apply the law in as literal a manner as possible and does not view the constitution as an evolving instrument. He believes that the courts “ought not legislate in the guise of interpretation of the Constitution.” That said, Edmonds believes that the Constitution is the protector of individual liberties and that the court must be mindful of safeguarding those interests.

Edmond ’s advice to those who appear before the court is to “be prepared, and anticipate the position of one’s opponent. Consider how a holding will affect all Oregonians. Be responsive to questions from the panel, and educate the court in a nice, respectful way. Be flexible and provide the court with the rationale that leads to a conclusion.” Judge Edmonds regards practicing law as a “noble profession,” and this man, whose career and outlook has been shaped by life in the eastern part of the state, puts those ideals into practice each day at the Court of Appeals.

Originally authored by Leslie Kay and printed in the February 2005 Multnomah Lawyer

Updated for the Internet in 2007