---
title: "Wallace Capel Jr. | KnowJudges"
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---

# Wallace Capel Jr.

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama · Chief Magistrate

## Profile

- Court: U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
- State: Alabama
- Role: Chief Magistrate
- Service status: former
- Last verified: 2026-06-30

## Summary

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

## Biography

### Professional career

- Current role (2006–2020): Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
- Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, serving from 2006 until his retirement in 2020
- Deputy Federal Defender, Federal Defender's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, Flint, MI, 1995-1999
- Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Virgin Islands, VI, 1991-1995
- Assistant Attorney General in Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

### Education

- Wayne State University in — J.D. (1982)
- Public Administration — Auburn University — 1979
- Political Science — University of Utah — 1977

### Additional information

- Chief Magistrate, District Court, M.D. Alabama, 2017-present
- Retired from the bench in 2020.
- Magistrate, District Court, M.D. Alabama, 2006-2017
- Appointment: Appointed to the Middle District of Alabama by the district’s judges to a renewable eight‐year term in 2006.
- Magistrate, District Court, E.D. Michigan, 1999-2006
- Practitioner, 1987-1991
- pub-def, Detroit, MI, 1982-1987
- Pro se prisoner.1983 suits: Frequently resolved at the exhaustion stage under the Prison Litigation Reform Act before reaching the merits ezel.ai.
- Known for procedural efficiency and for focusing on threshold legal issues in certain cases ezel.ai.
- Deputy Federal Public Defender in Michigan
- A private practice attorney
- Other motions: Signed orders on motions to dismiss, summary judgment, habeas petitions, and voluntary dismissals ezel.ai.
- Social Security appeals: Often affirmed when supported by substantial evidence; granted remands when the Commissioner’s counsel conceded error ezel.ai.
- Capel handled a wide range of cases, including civil, criminal, and administrative matters.
- Served 19 years in federal judicial service, spanning two districts.

## Before you appear

- Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
- Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
- Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

## Courtroom Rules

### media recording photography broadcasting

Scope: statewide

Alabama Rule of Criminal Procedure 9.4 permits televising, photographing, or radio broadcasting of judicial proceedings only as provided by Alabama judicial ethics canons, law, or another court rule.

Evidence excerpt: The taking of television pictures or other photographs in or of the courtroom during the progress of judicial proceedings or the radio broadcasting of judicial proceedings may be permitted as provided in Canon 3(A)(7) and (7B), Canons of Judicial Ethics, promulgated by the Alabama Supreme Court, or as otherwise may be permitted by law or other rule of court.

[Alabama Rule of Criminal Procedure 9.4: Televising, photographing, or radio broadcasting of judicial proceedings](https://judicial.alabama.gov/docs/library/rules/cr9_4.pdf)
Source checked: 2026-07-26


## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8525/wallace-capel-jr/)
- [Official roster](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8525/wallace-capel-jr/)
- [U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama current judicial profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8525/wallace-capel-jr/)
- [Alabama Rule of Criminal Procedure 9.4: Televising, photographing, or radio broadcasting of judicial proceedings](https://judicial.alabama.gov/docs/library/rules/cr9_4.pdf)
- [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8525/wallace-capel-jr/)
- [Wallace Capel, Jr. - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Wallace_Capel,_Jr.)
- [Wallace Capel Jr. (E.D. Michigan, M.D. Alabama) – CourtListener.com](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8525/wallace-capel-jr)
- [Kelly Fitzgerald Pate selected to fill magistrate vacancy](https://www.almd.uscourts.gov/news/united-states-district-court-middle-district-alabama-selects-kelly-fitzgerald-pate-new)
- [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8525/wallace-capel-jr/)
- [Wallace Capel, Jr. - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Wallace_Capel,_Jr.)
- [Wallace Capel Jr. (E.D. Michigan, M.D. Alabama) – CourtListener.com](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8525/wallace-capel-jr)

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