Former U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle, who presided over major cases over 25 years, dies

He was a no-nonsense judge who expected attorneys to show up on time, keep their questions of witnesses on point and not waste the jurors' time. He also had the reputation of treating both sides fairly.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard H. Kyle, who was known as "Sarge" to his friends and colleagues, did not "brook a lot of shenanigans," recalls Anita Terry, who clerked for him in 1999 and 2000.

"He put the fear of God in the lawyers," she said. "He liked lawyers but he expected a lot out of them."

Off the bench, he was "warm and sunny" to his staff and liked to chat about the news and politics or episodes of "Seinfeld," Terry said.

Kyle, a Twin Cities federal judge for 25 years until his 2017 retirement, died Tuesday at the age of 84. The cause was complications from Alzheimer's, said his son, Richard H. Kyle Jr., a Ramsey County District Court judge.

The elder Kyle presided over some of the biggest federal cases of his era including the criminal prosecution of renowned Twin Cities surgeon John Najarian, the fraud trial of Tom Petters and the defamation trial involving former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

"He was one of the leaders on the [federal] court," said Chief Minnesota U.S. District Judge John Tunheim. Kyle led the 2006-2007 renovation of the federal courthouse in St. Paul, Tunheim said.

U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen was a veteran assistant U.S. attorney when she appeared before him in the first trial that Kyle conducted after he became a judge in 1992.

"He would joke that I taught him how to try cases. ... He was extremely humble while maintaining control. He didn't pretend to know things he didn't know," Ericksen said. "He had a good feel for evidence. He was comfortable in his role and clearly loved it."

Kyle was born in St. Paul in 1937 to Richard and Geraldine Kyle and was a lifelong resident of White Bear Lake. He attended St. Paul Academy and Williams College, graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota and earned a law degree from the U's law school where he was president of the Minnesota Law Review.

He was a law clerk for his mentor, U.S. District Judge Edward Devitt, later joined the law firm of Briggs and Morgan, and for two years served as the state's solicitor general.

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis called Kyle "fiercely independent." He said despite Kyle's Republican politics — he'd later be appointed a federal judge by President George H.W. Bush — he co-chaired the election campaign of state Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Wahl, Davis' mother-in-law. Wahl had been appointed by DFL Gov. Rudy Perpich. Davis said Kyle thought it inappropriate for people to challenge a sitting Supreme Court justice, in this case the first woman on the state's high court. She won re-election.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson said he was eager to have Kyle join him on the federal court.

"We would meet for breakfast to strategize how that would happen," Magnuson said. "I never got up so early in my life."

Kyle was famous as an early riser. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said Kyle routinely arrived at the St. Paul courthouse at 6 a.m. or earlier.

"He was a role model for any new judge or magistrate," said Frank. When Frank was appointed a federal judge in 1998, Kyle insisted on driving 185 miles to Virginia, Minn., where Frank had his state district court chambers. They had lunch and talked for four hours, Frank said.

Kyle made headlines in 1996 when he dismissed many of the criminal charges against Najarian, telling prosecutors they failed to prove he'd broken the law when he developed and administered an anti-transplant rejection drug. Najarian had been a pioneer in transplant surgery and chief of surgery at the University of Minnesota hospital. A jury acquitted Najarian of the remaining criminal charges. Kyle accused prosecutors of "going beyond the bounds of common sense" in bringing the charges.

In 2010, he presided over the trial of Petters, who was convicted of masterminding a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Kyle sentenced Petters to 50 years in prison. "This was a massive fraud and the defendant's involvement was front and center," Kyle said.

In 2014, he was the judge at the defamation trial of Ventura, who sued the estate of the late Chris Kyle, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL sniper, who claimed in a bestselling book that he punched and knocked down Ventura in a California bar. Ventura said it never happened. In an 8-2 decision, the jury sided with Ventura, awarding him $1.8 million, but in 2016 the Eighth U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the verdict, ordering a new trial. Ventura settled out of court.

If it irked Kyle, he didn't say. His son, Richard Kyle, said his father told him, "Don't be concerned with your reversal rate. Just do your job."

Kyle did not have a lot of hobbies, his son said. "He did like to cut the grass, riding on his John Deere lawn mower, at the end of the day, with a scotch and water in his non-riding hand. It was his way of relaxing."

Kyle is survived by his wife, Jane Kyle; three sons, Richard and Michael, of St. Paul, and Patrick, of Minneapolis; two daughters, Kathleen Brusco, of Burnsville, and Darcy Kyle, of Aspen, Colo.; two sisters, Sheila Cunningham, of White Bear Lake, and Geraldine Bullard, of Inver Grove Heights; 10 grandchildren and one great-grandson.

A funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, 519 Grove St., Minneapolis. A reception will follow at the Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St., St. Paul. Face masks will be required.

Staff librarian John Wareham contributed research for this article.

Randy Furst • 612-673-4224