Closing statements: Circuit judge set to retire after 22 years

The Honorable William L. Syler stood in the middle of his office in jeans and Converse sneakers, fiddling with a tape measure as he surveyed his surroundings.

"It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 22 years," he said.

The longtime Cape Girardeau County circuit judge pulled a card table from a jumble of boxes and furniture in one corner.

"Here's my new desk," he said, unfolding the legs and setting the table on its feet.

As his furniture suggests, Syler is a man in transition.

After more than two decades on the bench, he is preparing to hand the office over to his successor, Michael Gardner, who will be sworn in Jan. 1.

Judges in Missouri are elected to six-year terms. By law, they must retire at age 70, so Syler, 66, could not have served another full term. Rather than quit in the middle of a term, Syler -- at the urging of his wife, Georganne -- decided not to seek re-election.

"She's kind of been nudging me in this direction," he said.

The mandatory retirement age was the only drawback Syler could find to the job he has held since he was sworn in to replace Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr., who left to join the Missouri Supreme Court in 1992.

"It's an amazing job," Syler said. "It's been a blast, I have to say. ... I never find myself thinking, 'God, I have to go to work tomorrow.'"

Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis said Syler's colleagues will miss working with him.

"He's been just a real pleasant and steady guy to work with. We're not eager to see him go," Lewis said in a telephone interview last week. "On the other hand, he's got 22 years on the bench, and he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren, and we can understand why he wants to do that."

Looking back

Over the years, Syler has presided over everything from adoptions to capital murder cases.

One of the strangest cases, he said, involved a man he had placed on probation for DWI.

As a condition of probation, Syler ordered the man not to drink any alcohol.

"This is probably 11 o'clock in the morning," he said.

At noon, Syler and a few colleagues decided to have lunch at a restaurant just down the street from the courthouse.

As they walked into the restaurant, "who do we see sitting there, having completed apparently two Long Island iced teas and two beer chasers?" Syler said. "... He skedaddles out of there, and he's gone."

The remains of the man's drink went to the state crime lab, Syler said; the man himself went to jail.

"That would be the all-time -- I don't know if it's a high or a low," he said.

Then-prosecutor Morley Swingle found the story so amusing that he told a Southeast Missourian reporter about it, Syler said.

Other media outlets picked up on the story: the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today, KMOX. Radio announcer Paul Harvey even mentioned it, Syler said.

"My college roommate was vacationing in Hawaii and said, 'I saw your name in the paper here,'" he said. "... I got more ribbing from more people in more directions over this."

Not all of the cases Syler has heard have been so cut-and-dried.

"People ask about this a lot, and frankly, when you're dealing with someone who's a bad person, who's really done a bad thing, it doesn't take a lot of thought to deal with them harshly," he said. "... Good people who do good things but have life change on them are the tougher ones."

For instance, Syler said, two parents -- both deeply involved in their children's lives -- might go through an amicable divorce and agree to share custody. Later on, one parent remarries, and the new spouse receives a job transfer somewhere out of state.

"Now you have a problem, and it's not necessarily one I can solve. ... You have two nice people who have done nothing wrong, who are living their lives," but changing circumstances require a judge's intervention, Syler said.

Changes

Like the DWI offender who made national news, many defendants find themselves in Syler's courtroom as a result of substance abuse problems -- a fact he points out to students who visit the court on field trips.

"All these adults tell you, 'Don't do drugs,'" he said. "This is why you don't do drugs."

When Syler took office in 1992, crack cocaine addiction was behind many offenders' problems.

"What could be worse?" Syler said he wondered at the time.

Twenty-two years later, he can answer that question without hesitation: methamphetamine.

Defendants' drug of choice isn't the only change Syler has seen since the early '90s. Technology has changed, too.

"When I got here, we're talking typewriters and carbon paper," he said.

Through his work with the state's court automation committee, Syler helped oversee the transition from manila folders stuffed with documents to a digital storage system. The public component of the system, Casenet, has proven wildly popular, Syler said.

"Casenet is hit a million times a day -- sometimes 2 million times a day," he said.

Syler said he also has worked with the circuit court budget committee and has served as a special judge for the Court of Appeals and the Missouri Supreme Court.

Limbaugh praised his successor's accomplishments, noting the 32nd Circuit repeatedly has received the Daniel J. O'Toole Award from the Missouri Judicial Conference during Syler's tenure.

"For many years -- years on end -- the 32nd Circuit has won the award for having the most current caseloads and dockets in the state. ... It's through his leadership and those he served with," Limbaugh said.

Syler also has been president of the Missouri Circuit Judges' Association and a member of the chief justice's advisory committee, Limbaugh said.

"Not many judges get appointments like that, and he has had quite a few from the Missouri Supreme Court, which is a reflection of how well thought of he is. ... He was really involved in every aspect of the administrative work of the state judiciary," he said.

Looking ahead

While Syler won't continue as a circuit judge, he isn't leaving the courtroom entirely.

Instead, he is moving into a position as a senior judge.

Senior judges, Syler explained, don't have a regular docket or regular court appearances, but they can be sent anywhere in the state to hear cases as needed.

"I could be assigned someplace in other parts of the state by the Supreme Court and hear matters there as a senior judge," he said.

Without a courtroom or a court reporter of his own, Syler will have to work around other judges' schedules, but he will have the advantage of "cherry-picking" the cases he would like to hear, he said.

"It's been just so interesting and so challenging and so rewarding," Syler said of his experience as a judge. "I think it's the greatest job any lawyer can have. ... I wouldn't want to do anything else."

epriddy@semissourian.com

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