David Owen Belew Jr. (March 27, 1920 – November 21, 2001) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (in case citations, N.D. Tex.) is a United States district court. Its first judge, Andrew Phelps McCormick, was appointed to the court on April 10, 1879. The court convenes in ...

Education and career

Born in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, Belew was in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, 90th Infantry Division from 1942 to 1946, achieving the rank of captain. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1946 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Texas at Austin, a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas. According to Texas Law’s American Bar ...

in 1948. He was an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

of the Northern District of Texas from 1949 to 1952, and was then in private practice in Fort Worth from 1953 to 1979.

Federal judicial service

On February 9, 1979, Belew was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

to a new seat on the

created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on April 24, 1979, and received his commission on April 26, 1979. He assumed senior status on May 7, 1990. Belew served in that capacity until his death, on November 21, 2001, in Fort Worth.

Notable case

During 1988 to 1989 Judge Belew presided over the longest aviation trial in American history that lasted fourteen months and resulted from the wind shear related crash of Delta Flight 191 at Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport on August 2, 1985. The trial featured the first use of computer generated graphics as substantive evidence in federal court and earned the American Bar Association Journal cover story “The Final Minutes of Delta 191.”''cert. denied, sub nom. Connors v. United States,'' 502 U.S. 899 (1991).

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Belew, David Owen Jr. 1920 births 2001 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter United States Army officers University of Texas at Austin alumni University of Texas School of Law alumni Assistant United States attorneys Texas lawyers United States Army personnel of World War II