High court will select temporary judge

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The Indiana Supreme Court plans to appoint a judge pro tem for Lawrence Circuit Court within days after the local judge was found dead at his home earlier this week.

Judge Richard D. McIntyre, 51, of Bedford was discovered in his detached garage Tuesday evening by his wife. The Lawrence County Coroner determined he died of likely self-induced carbon monoxide poisoning, according to an announcement this morning.

The Lawrence County native had been the Circuit judge for nearly 20 years, and the county court is closed until Monday. The Supreme Court will appoint a temporary judge to handle court matters until Gov. Mitch Daniels can appoint a new judge.

Appointed Nov. 19, 1988, Judge McIntyre completed the term of Judge Linda Chezem. He was elected two years later, and then again in 1996 and 2002. Prior to his judgeship, he’d been elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in the early 1980s.

He was a member of the Indiana State Bar Association, Indiana Judges Association, and a colonel in the Judge Advocate General Office with the Indiana National Guard.

Judge McIntyre is survived by his wife, Meredith; two sons, Richard D. McIntyre Jr. and Robert David McIntyre; and one daughter, Emily Lynne Turner. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday in the Lawrence County Courthouse Rotunda, and from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Ferguson-Lee Funeral Home in Bedford. Funeral services are 10 a.m. Saturday at Schaeffer Auditorium at Bedford Middle School.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Richard D. McIntyre Sr. Scholarship Fund, Culver, Ind., in care of McIntyre & Smith Law Firm, 1522 I Street, Bedford, IN 47421.

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