Judges · District court, Judicial District 3

Jeffrey A. Neary

District Court Judge · District 3B

About

Appointed to this post in 2002¹
Next on the ballot: November 2028, in District 3B²

Date of Appointment: 2002 Judge Neary received his bachelor’s degree in German from Westmar College, Le Mars, in 1981 and his law degree from the University of South Dakota in 1987. Judge Neary served as a part-time magistrate for Plymouth County in the mid 1990s and was an assistant federal…

Full biography on iowacourts.gov

Retention votes

Election	Yes	No	Kept by
November 8, 2022	33,813	10,653	76.0% yes

What lawyers said

Before each retention vote, the Iowa State Bar Association asks lawyers who’ve appeared before the judge to rate them from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent), and whether the judge should be kept.³

97% of 83 responding lawyers said to keep the judge (2022).

Question	2022
Knowledge and use of the law	4.39
Sees the facts of a case clearly	4.46
On time for court	4.60
Listens to arguments and testimony	4.57
Runs the courtroom well	4.58
Temperament and manner	4.74
Clear, well-written decisions	4.30
Rules promptly	4.35
Uses technology to improve the courts	4.54
Avoids needless personal criticism	4.68
Decides on the law and facts, not outside pressure	4.56
Courteous and patient	4.84
Treats people equally	4.79
Fair to people without a lawyer	4.74
Said to keep the judge	97%
Lawyers responding	83

Source: Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review: 2022 (page 31).

Appeals from this judge’s cases

2 appeals on record; 2 reversed or vacated at least in part.⁴

Dr. Paul R. Gausman v. Sioux City Community School District, Daniel D. Greenwell, Jan George, Taylor Goodvin, and Bob Michaelson
Iowa Supreme Court · April 17, 2026 · Woodbury County · Reversed; Cross-Appeal Affirmed
AI summary A former superintendent sued a school district and several board members, claiming they violated the Iowa Open Meetings Act during certain meetings. The court reviewed whether specific closed sessions were legal and whether the superintendent was entitled to a…
Criminal appeal No. 24-1296
Iowa Supreme Court · February 27, 2026 · Woodbury County · Decision of Court of Appeals Vacated; District Court Judgment Reversed and Case …
AI summary An inmate challenged a conviction for aggravated assault by filing an application for postconviction relief. The district court dismissed the application without letting the inmate respond to the State's motion, and the court of appeals originally upheld that …

Notes

From the Judicial Branch’s biography of the judge. ↩
Expected: retained judges serve 6 years before the next vote (Iowa Code §46.16). A judge who retires or reaches 72 leaves sooner. ↩
Scores from the Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review, a survey of Iowa lawyers who appeared before the judge. The ISBA publishes it before each retention election; only the numbers are shown here, with a link to the page of its report they’re on. ↩
Most cases are never appealed, and a reversal can turn on a change in the law or a close question, so these counts say little about a judge’s work on their own. Iowa Funnel has Supreme Court opinions since November 2017 and Court of Appeals opinions from November 2026. ↩

Sources: the Iowa Judicial Branch; retention votes from the Iowa Secretary of State and civicAPI; lawyers’ ratings from the Iowa State Bar Association.