Biography: David Chávez Jr.

David Chávez was born on November 12, 1897 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In March 1918 he volunteered to join the U.S. Army. Chávez completed his law degree at the Georgetown University in Washington D.C. in 1922. He was appointed district attorney in Santa Fe in 1925 and then judge at the District Court of New Mexico in 1936. He volunteered again for the U.S. Army in 1942. After serving in North Africa and Italy, Chávez became an investigator for the U.S. Army’s military justice authority. As Chief Investigator of the War Crimes Group he was decisive in drafting the indictment for the Dachau Main Trial.

After retiring from active military service, Chávez was a federal judge in Puerto Rico from 1947 to 1950. From 1960 he served as a judge at the Supreme Court of New Mexico. Chávez retired in 1968 and died in Las Vegas, New Mexico, on November 3, 1984.