Kelly sworn in as Assistant Jefferson County Attorney

Attorney Ed Kelly of Oskaloosa, IA was sworn in as a new Assistant Jefferson County Attorney in Fairfield on Friday by County Attorney Chauncey Moulding. Kelly is an active trial lawyer and concluded his last case in Council Bluffs only Friday morning hours earlier.

Kelly originally served as the Jefferson County Attorney for 11 years upon being appointed in 1971 on the same day he was admitted to the Iowa bar to fill a vacancy in the office. When appointed he was the youngest chief prosecutor in the United States.

Kelly has been a private trial lawyer, previously in a partnership with John A. Morrissey of Fairfield. He also later served on the Fairfield School Board.

In 1990 he was nominated for Iowa Attorney General but was defeated by a 52 to 48% vote by Bonnie Campbell in that fall's Iowa general election.

Kelly later served as Senior Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, in Des Moines after appointment by then United States Attorney General William Barr in 1991, and later was detailed to the United States Senate in Washington DC.

After serving 15-1/2 years as a federal prosecutor Kelly and his wife Sue took a 'midlife sabbatical' sailing a catamaran owned by them to 49 countries on 5 continents for 14 years.

After Kelly's swearing-in on Friday afternoon he commented:

"At the start of my legal career I was the youngest prosecutor in the nation when I started, but I am pleased to consider this reappointment to be the capstone and bookend of that career."