(Third District)
In December 2024, Governor Eric Holcomb appointed Stephen E. “Sam” Scheele to represent Indiana’s 3rd (northern) District in the Court of Appeals of Indiana. Judge Scheele’s service began on January 8, 2024.
A Lake County native, Judge Scheele earned his B.A. (International Studies/Political Science) from the University of Denver in 1993 and his J.D. from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law in 1996. From 1996-1997, Judge Scheele participated in a year-long legal fellowship in Germany, which included an externship with the German Ministry of Justice and work at a Berlin law firm. He returned to Lake County in the fall of 1997 to practice law.
Throughout the next 20 years, Judge Scheele developed a wide-ranging legal practice in Indiana’s state and federal courts. Practice areas included insurance defense, municipal law, general civil litigation and public defender work. Clients included individuals, corporations and municipalities. Professional associations included membership and leadership in the Calumet American Inns of Court, the Lake County and Indiana State Bar Associations, and service to the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
In 2016, Judge Scheele was sworn to serve as a magistrate in the Lake Circuit Court. In 2019, Governor Eric Holcomb appointed Judge Scheele to preside over Room 5 of the Lake Superior Court’s Civil Division, where he was retained by Lake County voters in 2022. Judge Scheele presided in Room 5 until his elevation to the Court of Appeals in 2025.
As a judicial officer, Judge Scheele served as a member (2017-2023) and chair (2019- 2023) of our Supreme Court’s Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, and currently serves its Innovation Committee. Judge Scheele also served as our judiciary’s 2022 delegate to the National Judicial College’s Climate Judiciary Project. He is a graduate of the Indiana Judicial College (2021) and is presently enrolled in the Graduate Program for Indiana Judges (2024-2025). Judge Scheele regularly presents to students, lawyers and judges on topics that have included the probate code, climate science, ethics, criminal law, civil procedure and the Indiana Trial Rules.
Privately, Judge Scheele has served as a volunteer firefighter, youth baseball coach, Scouting America adult volunteer and parent volunteer at his children’s schools. Judge Scheele resides in Lake County with his wife and children, with whom he enjoys exploring near and distant state and national parks and spending time on their Pulaski County farm.