VIRGIL "CHUCK" BLACK

Virgil "Chuck" Black was graduated from John Marshall High School in 1963. He attended Central State College (now University of Central Oklahoma) in Edmond. He earned a law degree from Oklahoma City University. He served in the US Army beginning in 1965. During his service, then 2nd Lt. Black acted in the hazardous duty of a forward observer for his Artillery Company in Vietnam. In 1970, during the volatile Cold War years, he was assigned to command a Field Artillery Battery in German. Soon after entering the Oklahoma City Police Academy, he entered the U.S. Army reserve and served in numerous assignments until his retirement in 1992 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He began his legal career as an intern for Andrew Coats in the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office. He was the First Assistant DA in Cleveland County and filed McClain County murder charges against Roger Dale Stafford - who was executed by lethal injection in 1995 for the killing of six employees from the Sirloin Stockade restaurant in Oklahoma City following a robbery in 1978. A graduate and certified instructor of the National Judicial College, Judge Black was frequently in demand as a speaker and instructor across the state. After having presided over 400 felony trials, 100 of them homicide cases, the judge was so respected by Oklahoma Law Enforcement that he received the first "Damn Good Judge Award" presented by the Oklahoma Gang Investigators Association, and was nominated for this current honor by law enforcement. In 1991, Black was one of three candidates for district judge. Gov. David Walters appointed Black, and he was sworn in on Sept. 21, 1991. He served unopposed for four consecutive terms on the bench before retiring in December, 2010

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