Judge George T. Shields

DIVISION III, POSITION 1

November 1, 1988–June 30, 1993

Elected; Retired

After graduating from Lewis and Clark High School and then earning degrees in business administration and political science from Whitman College, Judge George Shields traveled east to earn his law degree from Columbia University. He then spent three years in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate Generals Corps. Once back home in Spokane, Judge Shields practiced law, became deeply involved in community, church, political and professional activities and was appointed to the Spokane County Superior Court by Governor Dan Evans in 1969.

While on the superior court, Judge Shields worked on a number of high profile cases, including the 1981 rape trial of Kevin Coe. After Judge Shields sentenced Coe to prison, Coe’s mother was convicted of attempting to hire a “hit man” to kill Judge Shields and the county prosecutor.

Judge Shields joined Division Three of the Court of Appeals in 1988 after a contested election. He assumed the seat of Judge Ben McInturff, who had retired. In taking stock of his work on the court, Judge Shields commented that, “Working collegially was not new, but writing opinions instead of delivering them orally from the bench was. I soon learned from my fellow judges that there is no such thing as good writing, only good editing and that ‘the briefer the brief is, the greater the sigh of the reader’s relief is!”

Judge Shields and his wife, Jean, had three children. Jean taught 8th grade English. After Jean retired in 1992, Judge Shields followed suit and left the bench in 1993.

Judge Shields died in 2006 at the age of 78.