Hon. Robert R. Altice, Jr. is a judge for the Second District of the Indiana Court of Appeals. He was appointed to the seat by former Governor Mike Pence in 2015, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Ezra Friedlander (Ret.).
Altice was selected by the judges of the Court of Appeals to serve as its Chief Judge in January 2023. He began his judicial career as a judge for the Marion County Superior Court, a position in which he was elected in 2000. During his tenure there, Altice presided over both the criminal and civil dockets. In the Criminal Division, he is credited with hearing seventy-five murder trials, including seven death penalty cases. He also chaired the Criminal Term and the Civil Term and served as a member of the Executive Committee (2007 to 2009) and as Presiding Judge (2009 to 2011) of the Marion County Superior Court.
Prior to beginning his judicial career, Altice was chief counsel and chief of the Felony Division with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. During his brief tenure as chief counsel, he helped amend laws on domestic battery and possession of firearms by violent offenders through his work with the Indiana General Assembly. Altice began with the office as a deputy prosecutor in 1994.
Before that, he was in private practice at Wooden McLaughlin & Sterner, where his practice focused on insurance defense.
Altice relocated to Indiana in 1992 after beginning his legal career as a deputy prosecutor with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Missouri. He was later promoted to chief deputy prosecutor of the office’s Drug Unit. Altice then handled medical malpractice defense matters in private practice in Kansas City.
He received a bachelor’s degree from Miami University and a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from the University of Central Missouri. Altice went on to complete a J.D. at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 1987.
He was admitted to practice in Missouri (1987) and Indiana (1992).
His memberships have included the Indiana Judges Association, the Indiana State Bar Association, the Indianapolis Bar Association, the Judicial Conference of Indiana (Board of Directors), and the Sagamore American Inn of Court (past president).
Altice served as a member of the Indiana Supreme Court’s Judicial Performance Task Force and the Marion County Community Corrections Advisory Board. He also sat on the Indiana Judicial Conference Civil Bench Book Committee, the Indiana Judicial Conference Community Relations Committee (chair), the Indiana Tax Court Advisory Task Force, the Indiana Tax Court Advisory Committee, and the Eviction Task Force (chair).
He was president of the Board of Directors of the Heartland Pro Bono District and has been involved with the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Police Athletic League, the Martin Luther King Community Development Corp., Coburn Place Save Haven, and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site.
Altice hosted “Off the Bench,” a television show that discussed public affairs with various civic leaders, and he presented on legal and ethical issues for the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum, the Indiana Judicial Center, and state bar associations.
Altice and his wife, Kris, a fellow attorney, have two grown children. When not presiding over appellate matters, he enjoys gardening, golf, and reading.