INDIANAPOLIS — Mario Garcia will become the first person of Hispanic heritage to serve as a Magistrate Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Honorable Jane E. Magnus-Stinson, the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, announced Garcia's selection on Friday. He was one of 31 applicants and five interviewed for the position by the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Committee.
"Mario Garcia has long served our Court, and my colleagues and I know his work product well. He is the ideal Magistrate Judge candidate, with a breadth of experience in both criminal and civil litigation," Chief Judge Magnus-Stinson said in the announcement. "He has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the ideal of equal justice under law and has served his clients and the Court with integrity, a tireless work ethic, and compassion. The entire Court family is most excited to welcome him."
Garcia is a Bloomington native and a graduate of both Ball State University and Indiana University. At Ball State, Garcia received his Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice and criminology. He studied law at IU's McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, where he graduated in 1999. After law school, he joined the law firm now known as "Brattain Minnix Garcia," where he became a partner in 2008 and is now a Managing Member.
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The Magistrate has extensive courtroom experience in both civil and criminal law, appearing in more than 500 hearings in Indiana's federal and state courts in the last five years. Garcia is additionally admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
He is a member of the Southern District of Indiana's Criminal Justice Act panel, through which he represents poverty-stricken clients. He has also provided pro bono services for 10 years to participants in the District Court's Re-Entry and Community Help (REACH) Program, which helps individuals re-entering society after incarceration obtain access to housing and employment and public assistance programs.
Garcia also serves and volunteers on several committees, such as the United States Sentencing Commission’s Practitioner’s Advisory Group as the Seventh Circuit Representative and is on the District Court’s Local Rules Advisory Committee for the Southern District of Indiana.
