David Owen Belew Jr.

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

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Belew was in the United States Army, 90th Infantry Division from 1942 to 1946, achieving the rank of Captain. He received a B.A. from the University of Texas in 1946 and an LL.B. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1948. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Texas from 1949 to 1952, and was then in private practice in Fort Worth, Texas from 1953 to 1979.

On February 9, 1979, Belew was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate 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, in 2001, in Fort Worth, Texas.

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.”^[1][2][3]

Sources

1. ABA Journal (Dec.1989). In re Air Crash at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on Aug. 2, 1985, 720 F. Supp. 1258 (N.D. Tex. 1989)
2. aff'd sub nom. In re Air Crash at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on August 2, 1985, 919 F.2d 1079 (5th Cir. 1991),
3. cert. denied, sub nom. Connors v. United States, 502 U.S. 899 (1991).

• David Owen Belew Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.