Iowa judge facing OWI charge after being found slumped over the wheel after driving wrong way on highway, police say

A top judge in Iowa has been charged with operating while intoxicated, OWI, after motorists reported seeing her unconscious at the wheel while her truck was moving into oncoming traffic on a major highway.

Adria Kester, 55, chief judge for the state’s Second Judicial District, was taken into custody after drivers began calling 911 shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, describing a pickup creeping eastbound in the westbound lanes of U.S. Highway 30 near Boone, a city near Des Moines.

One of the callers said she “looked unconscious” and that she was “slumped over the steering wheel.”

As the vehicle drifted into the center of the road, one of the witnesses climbed into the truck through the back window and put it in park, the Des Moines Register reported.

A Boone County Sheriff’s Office deputy said he found Kester in the driver’s seat, appearing to be heavily intoxicated and unsteady. He wrote that she could not walk on her own and was assisted to an ambulance for treatment.

Deputies said they found “a cup with a liquid that smelled like alcohol” in the vehicle and that Kester had “bloodshot watery eyes and slurred speech.”

After being 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 her first offense, operating while intoxicated, and booked into jail around 4 a.m. The complaint doesn’t reveal the result of any testing, according to the AP.

She was released from the Boone County Jail on Wednesday morning, according to court records.

Boone County Sheriff Andy Godzicki said a blood sample taken from Judge Kester has been sent to the state crime lab for analysis. He noted he was relieved no one was hurt during the incident.

“This is a difficult situation for both the Kester family and our office,” Godzicki said, stressing that he had directed deputies to handle the case as they would any other.

Kester entered a not‑guilty plea Wednesday afternoon through her attorney, Matt Lindholm, a prominent Iowa lawyer known for defending clients in drunk‑driving cases.

“Judge Kester recognizes the seriousness of the situation and is fully cooperating with law enforcement and the judicial process,” Lindholm said in a statement. “She is committed to addressing this matter responsibly and in accordance with the law.”

Kester’s role as chief judge immediately complicated the case. On Wednesday, a district associate judge stepped aside, citing her “professional relationship” with Kester.

Iowa Chief Justice Susan Christensen, who herself had appointed Kester chief judge in the district, then ordered that the matter be reassigned to another district, and Judge Gregory Brandt was appointed to preside.

According to a profile of Kester on the Iowa Courts website, she graduated from Iowa State University in 1994 and Drake University Law School in 1998. She began her career as an assistant public defender, later spending six years in private practice before moving into prosecution. She served as assistant county attorney in Boone and Hamilton counties and eventually became Boone County attorney.

Kester joined the bench in 2013 as a district associate judge in Iowa’s Second Judicial District, the first woman to hold that post.

In 2017, Governor of Iowa Kim Reynolds appointed her district court judge, again breaking ground as the district’s first woman in that role. In 2022, she was appointed chief judge, overseeing courts across 22 counties and hundreds of staff members. She has also been active in statewide and local bar associations, as well as the Iowa Association of County Attorneys.