Longtime lawyer dies at 72

Donald Schutte, a longtime lawyer and a former assistant district attorney and district court judge in Quay County, died Feb. 25. He was 72.

Attorney Roger Bargas, with whom Schutte shared a law office in Tucumcari, said he suddenly took ill at his home near Las Vegas, New Mexico, and was rushed to the hospital. Bargas said it’s believed Schutte died from a blood clot or massive heart attack.

“It came out of the blue. It was a real shock for everybody. He was one of the healthiest people I’ve ever met,” Bargas said during a telephone interview, noting Schutte had undergone shoulder surgery less than a month ago.

“It’s a great loss for our legal community not just in Tucumcari, but for the whole state,” said Timothy Rose, 10th Judicial Circuit district attorney in Tucumcari. “I saw him in court just a few days ago — still in great shape and still a great legal mind. He’ll be very much missed on a personal level and in the legal community.”

Services were held Saturday at Riverside Funeral Home in Santa Fe. Schutte’s remains were cremated.

In addition to a long career in private law practice, Schutte served as a chief deputy district attorney at the 10th Judicial Circuit from 2000 to 2007.

Schutte also was appointed district court judge in Tucumcari in July 2007 and served until Albert Mitchell defeated him in the November 2008 election.

Bargas said he and Schutte began their law careers in the mid-1970s. Bargas opened a law office in Tucumcari in the late 1990s, and Schutte moved to Tucumcari shortly after. Bargas worked in the criminal-defense field; Schutte was more into civil law.

Rose said he first met Schutte in 2001. Schutte was a deputy district attorney at the time, and Ron Reeves was the DA. Rose worked with them after Rose moved from private law practice.

“He worked all the felony cases, and I worked the misdemeanor cases,” Rose said. “I thought I knew everything but, of course, I really didn’t know anything. Don and Ron both were experienced, great guys, and it was nice to run something by them and having that competence.”

Schutte moved his law practice into Bargas’ office about a year ago.

“He was in the process of kind of retiring, cutting back on his practice,” Bargas said. “He’d sold his property in Quay County about a year or so ago and had moved up to Las Vegas. Even as he was shutting down his practice, he was the go-to lawyer in Quay County. He was kind of what I would call a typical country lawyer. He dabbled in a bunch of different fields.

“It was a pleasure to find another lawyer who shared an office with me where we could joke around, bounce legal ideas off each other, talk about politics,” Bargas added. “It was really refreshing to have Don in my office, and I’m really going to miss him.”

Bargas said Schutte enjoyed working with horses on his farm.

“He was a lawyer, but I know what really lit him up was working on his ranch,” he said.

“He was just as interested in farming, raising cattle and having that kind of lifestyle as much as practicing law, I think,” Rose said.

Schutte was born Feb. 5, 1948, in Dayton, Ohio, to Earl Christian and Cora Irene Schutte. He graduated from Bowling Green State University and earned his law degree from the University of Akron before moving to New Mexico and settling in Albuquerque, Tucumcari and Las Vegas.

According to his obituary, Schutte was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Kenneth. His partner, Ruth Nelson; his children, Christopher Michael, Ashley Nichole and J. Tyler; and seven grandchildren survive him.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the New Mexico Paint Horse Association.