JUDGE RICHARD C. STODDARD

(1915-1918)

Judge Richard C. Stoddard was born on September 3, 1876, in Reno, Nevada. He received his education at the public schools of Reno and Nevada State University (now University of Nevada, Reno). Judge Stoddard was married in February 1911 to Alice Riegel. Alice passed away in 1917 after battling an illness; the couple had only one child, Richard Stoddard Jr. In 1923, Judge Stoddard married Marguerite H. Gosse; the couple had no children together.

After studying law at the office of Louis Lamy in San Luis Obispo, California, Stoddard gained admittance to the Nevada State Bar and the California State Bar in 1903. He practiced law for a short period in San Luis Obispo, and then moved to Reno, where he served as Reno City Attorney from 1905 to 1906. For a short period in 1906, Stoddard formed a partnership with Dennis M. Duffy under the firm name Stoddard & Duffy. Stoddard resigned as Reno City Attorney upon being elected as Nevada Attorney General from 1907- 1911.

After serving his term as Attorney General, Stoddard became a member of the law firm of Stoddard, Moore & Woodburn in Reno until July 1913. Elected as a Washoe County District Judge (for Nevada’s Second Judicial District), he served from January 4, 1915, until his voluntary resignation on March 3, 1918.

Stoddard then entered the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where, as a Major, he earned national attention when he led a U.S. Army investigation into 45 U.S. Army soldiers who refused to wear U.S. Army-issued uniforms. The investigation led to a military court martial of all 45 soldiers on June 10, 1918, for their insubordination. All 45 soldiers, members of the Mennonite faith, claimed to be conscientious objectors. Although they all were convicted and originally sentenced to life imprisonment, a later review reduced their sentences to 25-years’ imprisonment at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

On July 19th, 1925, Judge Stoddard died suddenly after taking his own life. He had checked himself into a mental health hospital in St. Helens, California, hoping it would help relieve his struggles with mental health.