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Judge Edward W. Sweeney
Judge Edward W. Sweeney
Staff Report//June 15, 2026//
Neutral, Lexitas
St. Louis
Ed Sweeney served as First Lieutenant with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971 before embarking on a legal career spanning more than 44 years. Beginning in 1974, Sweeney built a private practice handling criminal, civil and family law matters while simultaneously serving in the Missouri House of Representatives, where colleagues elected him House Majority Whip in 1976.
In 1986, Sweeney joined the Office of the Circuit Attorney of the City of St. Louis as an assistant prosecutor and felony trial team leader, overseeing attorneys and investigators in thousands of cases ranging from capital murder to white collar crime. He then served as a trial judge in general jurisdiction court from 1997 to 2017.
Among his most meaningful moments on the bench was hearing from a man he had once sentenced to prison, who called years later to say that Sweeney had saved his life — and that he had since found steady work and built a family.
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