Very sorry to hear of the passing of Judge Charles Shaw.

The first time I was in Judge Shaw's courtroom, as we were waiting for potential jurors to come in, Judge Shaw looked at me and said, "Who is that young man with the nice red tie?"

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I stood up and said, "Your honor, my name is Elad Gross. I am an Assistant Attorney General here on behalf of the State of Missouri."

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His response: "I'm not sure you're old enough to be sitting at that table." He then called in the jury before I could say a thing with a big smile on his face. I knew at that moment that we would hit it off.

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At the Attorney General's Office, I always advocated to get on any of his trials. He always had a way-too-long joke to tell, or some crazy comment about what he would do to a lawyer who failed to follow his rulings, or some lesson about golf. He loved having fun with life.

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One year, I decided to call him up and invite him to guest judge an international tribunal for the kids I teach at my summer leadership academy. They had captured an accused sugar terrorist named Blerch. Judge Shaw agreed to come.

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His assistant asked me if he should bring his robes. At first I was going to say no because we didn't have AC in the building, but then I thought about all the pranks he pulled on me and I figured I should return the favor. "Oh yes, that would be great!" He wasn't pleased.

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But he stayed. He did the whole trial. He sentenced Blerch to 300 years in prison (Blerch has a very long lifespan, which was part of the reason for the sentence). And after the trial, Judge Shaw stayed.

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He talked to my kids about how he grew up in the Ville, went to Sumner and then to Harris Stowe and Mizzou, how he made it and how they can too.

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A federal judge overseeing a kids' mock trial in the basement of a church on the north side without AC in July. We need a lot more people like him.

May his memory be a blessing.

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