“Any selection of a person to the highest court in our state is among the most serious calls any governor can be called on to make. When you are trying to find a replacement for Randy Shepard it is even a more sobering and challenging experience,” said Daniels. “I am very happy to tell you that we have found a superb choice for that job in Mark Massa. How appropriate that he began his lengthy and multi-faceted legal career clerking for Randy Shepard on the Supreme Court. Among the many reasons I think he will be a superb successor is the way his career was launched under that most thoughtful and wise of judges.”
Massa served as Shepard’s law clerk from 1991 to 1993. He researched and wrote legal briefs and assisted with the drafting of Supreme Court decisions. He is currently the executive director of the Criminal Justice Institute.
“Mark Massa’s tenure on the Supreme Court will demonstrate that he has the character, mental power, and generosity of heart to serve in ways that will make Indiana a place of greater justice,” said Shepard. “He is smart and caring and creative. I predict plenty of applause for his service and performance in the years to come.”
Cale Bradford, a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals, and Jane Seigel, executive director of the Indiana Judicial Center, were the other two finalists.
Massa, 51, has prosecuted charges ranging from misdemeanors to capital murder cases and has handled complex civil litigation, real estate transactions and contract disputes in private practice. He has had several stints as a prosecutor: as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis from 2002 to 2005, chief counsel in the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office from 1995 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2002, and deputy prosecuting attorney in Marion County from 1990 to 1991.
As a federal prosecutor, Massa oversaw criminal investigations and also was assigned to a task force that worked to combat mortgage fraud. In 2005, he received the Inspector General’s Integrity Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for his work in a health care fraud case.
In the prosecutor’s office, he was the chief advisor to the prosecutor, assisted in managing more than 300 staff members, and was the lead trial counsel on several high profile cases.
Immediately prior to his Criminal Justice Institute assignment, which he started in May 2011, Massa was the chairman of the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. He served as the governor’s general counsel from 2006 to 2010.
“This is a sobering responsibility and an honor beyond words. As Chief Justice Shepard noted in his final State of the Judiciary address to the General Assembly in January, there cannot be a better cause or way to spend one’s life than in working toward greater justice. I have tried to serve that cause throughout my legal career, and I look forward to serving it further and faithfully on our state’s highest court. I am so humbled and grateful for the opportunity,” said Massa.
Massa earned his undergraduate degree in journalism at Indiana University in 1983, and his law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1989. He is a member of the Sagamore American Inn of Court, an organization dedicated to fostering civility in the practice of law; and is a youth basketball coach, and a former member of the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Indianapolis.
A date for Massa’s robing ceremony will be determined by the Supreme Court.
