Powerful Iowa judge charged with OWI after witnesses say she drove wrong way on highway

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A powerful Iowa judge has been charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after witnesses say she drove the wrong way on a highway Tuesday night while passed out behind the wheel.

Adria Kester, chief judge of the state’s Second Judicial District, was released from the Boone County Jail on Wednesday morning, court records show.

A criminal complaint said motorists called 911 after 8 p.m. on Tuesday night to report a truck slowly driving eastbound in the westbound lanes on U.S. Highway 30 near Boone. One of the witnesses reported the driver looked unconscious and slumped over the steering wheel, and drove into the highway median.

The complaint said a witness got out of their vehicle to check on the driver but could not open the door, and the vehicle was still slowly moving in the median. The witness told police she had to climb in the back window to put the 2026 GMC Canyon Denali truck in park and shut it off.

A deputy with the Boone County sheriff’s office said he found Kester in the driver’s seat appearing to be heavily intoxicated and unsteady. He wrote that Kester, 55, of nearby Ogden, could not walk on her own and was assisted to an ambulance for treatment.

After she was cleared by medical services, Kester still could not walk and refused to answer whether she would be willing to undergo field sobriety testing, according to the complaint. The deputy wrote in the complaint that he also determined it would not be safe to conduct those tests given her condition.

A warrant was issued to obtain a sample of Kester’s blood at the Boone County Hospital. She was arrested for first offense operating while intoxicated and booked into jail around 4 a.m. The complaint doesn’t reveal the result of any testing.

Court records do not list an attorney for Kester. A number associated with her said “the called party is temporarily unavailable.”

Steve Davis, a spokesperson for the Iowa Judicial Branch, said the court system was aware of Kester's arrest but could not comment since it was “a pending case and a personnel matter.” He said the seven-member Judicial Qualifications Commission investigates allegations of misconduct by Iowa judges, and can recommend the retirement, discipline or removal of a judicial officer to the Iowa Supreme Court.

A judge ordered Kester released without bond after an initial court appearance Wednesday morning. The judge also ordered her to submit to a substance abuse evaluation and follow any recommendations for treatment in the next 30 days.

Iowa Chief Justice Susan Christensen appointed Kester chief judge in the district, which includes 22 counties in northern and central Iowa and is the largest geographically in the state, in December 2022. In that role, Kester supervises hundreds of judges and court employees in the district and presides over cases.

Kester had been appointed as a district judge by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2017 after serving as a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer.

Kester’s judicial position quickly complicated the criminal proceedings against her.

One district associate judge recused herself from the case Wednesday due to her “professional relationship” with Kester. Christensen later signed an order requiring that a judge from another district be appointed to handle the case. Judge Gregory Brandt was later designated.

The Boone County Attorney’s Office also cited a conflict in asking the court to appoint the Polk County Attorney’s Office as a special prosecutor.