Edmund Albert Sargus Jr. (born July 2, 1953) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (in case citations, S.D. Ohio) is one of two United States district courts in Ohio and includes forty-eight of the state's eighty-eight counties—everything from the Columbus, Oh ...

Education and career

Sargus was born in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1975 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Case Western Reserve University School of Law Case Western Reserve University School of Law is the law school of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association. It is a member of the Association of American Law Sc ...

in 1978. He was in private practice in

Bellaire, Ohio Bellaire is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,870 at the 2020 census, having peaked in 1920. It is part of the Wheeling metropolitan area. The Bellaire Brid ...

and St. Clairsville, Ohio, in

Belmont County Belmont County is a county located in the eastern end of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 66,497. Its county seat is St. Clairsville, while its largest city is Martins Ferry. The county was crea ...

from 1978 to 1993. Sargus served as the solicitor for a number of municipalities, including Bellaire, Powhatan Point, and Bethesda, and was a member of the City Council of St. Clairsville, Ohio from 1988 to 1991. He also served as Special Counsel to the Ohio

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

from 1979 through May 1993. On May 23, 1993, Sargus became the

United States attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Southern District of Ohio. In this role, he headed the office which prosecuted all federal crimes in the district, which includes the cities of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. Notable cases included the prosecution of a large Columbus-based gang known as the Short North Posse, indictment and conviction of Barry Kessler on charges of interstate murder for hire, and the conviction of Herbert Steinler of defrauding the United States in conjunction of the sale of

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

jets to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Federal judicial service

On December 22, 1995, Sargus was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Carl Bernard Rubin. Sargus was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on July 22, 1996, and received his commission on August 1, 1996. The district includes 48 of Ohio's 88 counties. Notable matters which he has handled include several major Clean Air Act cases brought by the United States government and several states against Ohio utilities regarding emissions from coal-burning power plants. He served as Chief Judge from January 1, 2015 to September 16, 2019.

Personal life

Sargus resides in St. Clairsville and sits in Columbus, Ohio. His wife, Jennifer Sargus, was a Judge of the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

. The couple has two children, Edmund 3rd and Christopher. Sargus' father, Edmund A. Sargus, was an Ohio state senator and Probate and Juvenile Judge of Belmont County, Ohio. Since 2005, Sargus has taught trial practice and a seminar in evidence in trial practice at the

Ohio State University Moritz College of Law The Michael E. Moritz College of Law is the Law school in the United States, law school of Ohio State University, a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1891, the school is ...

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sargus, Edmund A. Jr. 1953 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Brown University alumni Case Western Reserve University School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Lawyers from Wheeling, West Virginia Ohio city council members Ohio lawyers Ohio State University faculty People from St. Clairsville, Ohio United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States attorneys for the Southern District of Ohio