Rosenbladt named as new Chief Judge of Second Judicial District after previous judge, charged with OWI, resigns

MASON CITY — A Cerro Gordo County District Judge has been named as the new Chief Judge of the Second Judicial District after the previous Chief Judge resigned late last week after an operating while intoxicated arrest.

Gregg Rosenbladt was appointed as a District Associate Judge in October 2008 and as a District Judge in August 2012. Rosenbladt practiced law in a private firm from 1987 to 1989, and then was an Assistant County Attorney in Cerro Gordo County from 1989 until 2008.

Chief Justice Susan Christensen appointed Rosenbladt as Chief Judge on Friday for a term commencing immediately and ending on December 31st of this year.

The Second District includes 22 counties in north-central and central Iowa, with Rosenbladt now being in charge of supervising hundreds of judges and court employees in the district and presiding over cases.

Christensen’s order states that Adria Kester on Thursday submitted her resignation as Chief Judge effective immediately. Kester was booked into the Boone County Jail early Wednesday morning after she was found slumped over the steering wheel by a deputy in her vehicle on US Highway 30 near Boone. Kester pleaded not guilty to the OWI charge on Wednesday afternoon.