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The Defendant | The Defense | The Jury | The Prosecutor |The Judge
Matsch: no-nonsense judge
(CNN) -- During the Timothy McVeigh trial, presiding judge Richard Matsch exercised an unusual but effective courtroom management technique. He scheduled court to resume at odd minutes. For example, if the lunch break began at 12:17 p.m, he would order business to resume at 1:19 p.m.
"It's his way of making damn sure you know you're starting on the minute," said one lawyer who's tried cases in Matsch's court. "And, believe me, you better be there on time."
By running a tight ship during the McVeigh trial, Matsch ensured that the complex, often emotional proceedings moved briskly and never were reduced to a circus. Matsch's crisp approach was in sharp contrast to that of Judge Lance Ito, who was criticized for letting the O.J. Simpson trial go adrift.
Matsch is expected to bring that same terse style to the second trial in the Oklahoma City bombing case -- the U.S. vs. Terry Nichols.
As in the McVeigh case, Matsch has been confronted with some tough decisions even before of the start of the trial. He rejected a defense motion to change the trial venue to San Francisco, ruling that Nichols' lawyers were wrong to assume that a fair trial in Denver -- where McVeigh was sentenced to death -- was impossible.
Matsch, 66, was appointed to the federal bench by President Richard Nixon in 1974 and has presided over several high profile cases. Among them: the trial of members of the right-wing militia group The Order, two of whom were convicted in the killing of talk radio host Alan Berg.
Known for his quick temper, Matsch is said to have no patience for unprepared lawyers, .He rules on objections with lightning quickness. For the kinds of legal motions that seemed to prolong the Simpson trial, Matsch has required lawyers to go to court on weekends rather than take up time at trial.
The son of a grocer from Burlington, Iowa, the judge's tough, no-nonsense manner is said to stem from his mother, a devout Lutheran, who insisted her children go to college, overruling Matsch's father who wanted him to run the family grocery store, the Denver Post reported.
Matsch has expressed admiration for Atticus Finch, the small-town white lawyer assigned the unenviable task of defending a black man against rape charges in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." Finch does so fervently but loses the case. Matsch's description of Finch is perhaps a reflection of his ideals: "(Finch is) the opponent of oppression, the paradigm of propriety, the dean of decent citizens and the core of his community."
T H E B O M B I N G / T H E P L A Y E R S / C N N S T O R I E S / L I N K S
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