Top Iowa judge allegedly passed out drunk while driving

She did more than just pass the Bar!

A powerful Iowa judge was busted driving intoxicated after allegedly zonking out behind the wheel and drifting into oncoming traffic on a major highway, according to police and witnesses.

State judge Adria Kester, 55, landed on the wrong side of the law after another motorist reported she “looked unconscious” and was “slumped over the steering wheel” on US Highway 30 in Boone Tuesday night, the Des Moines Register reported.

As her new pickup truck veered across the highway’s median,  a witness climbed into it through the back window and put it in park, according to a Boone County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

Kester — who is chief judge of  Iowa’s largest district, the Second Judicial — was “unsteady and could not walk on her own,” according to police. 

Cops allegedly found “a cup with a liquid that smelled like alcohol” in her 2026 GMC Canyon Denali and saw that she had “bloodshot watery eyes and slurred speech,” according to the arrest report.

She was charged with operating while intoxicated and booked into jail at 4 a.m. Wednesday.

She has pleaded not guilty.

“Judge Kester recognizes the seriousness of the situation and is fully cooperating with law enforcement and the judicial process,” her lawyer, Matt Lindholm, said in a statement. “She is committed to addressing this matter responsibly and in accordance with the law.”