Richard Paul Matsch (; June 8, 1930 – May 26, 2019) was an American judge who served as United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Confirmed to the bench in 1974, and serving as chief judge from 1994 to 2000 before taking senior status in 2003, he was best known for presiding over the trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who perpetrated the Oklahoma City bombing.
Richard Paul Matsch
Chief Judge — U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
Born 1930 in Burlington, IA
Died 2019
FJC ID: 1504
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 3/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 9/year
Colorado District Court · 1974–2019
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
Board member · 1995–1999- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1991–1994
- Private practice, Denver, Colorado1956–1959, 1963–1965
- City and County of Denver, ColoradoDeputy city attorney · 1961–1963
District of ColoradoAssistant U.S. attorney · 1959–1961
U.S. Army1953–1955
Appointments
1974–2019 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)Term ended: Death
Education
J.D. · 1953- University of MichiganA.B. · 1951