John F. Heil, III
How Judge Heil rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Heil
John Frederick Heil, III is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Heil received a commission on May 27, 2020.
Judge Heil's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Heil, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Motions
State on the first page whether each motion is opposed and, if opposed, describe the conferral.
“Any motion must state on the first page whether it is opposed or unopposed.”
Motions
Each party may file one omnibus motion in limine, capped at 40 pages.
“Each party is limited to one (1) omnibus motion in limine which may not exceed forty (40) pages.”
Motions
In criminal cases, replies require leave and are limited to five pages if allowed.
“Replies are not permitted without leave of Court. If leave is granted, replies shall be limited to five (5) pages.”
Motions
In criminal cases, each defendant may file only one suppression motion without leave.
“Only one (1) motion to suppress per defendant is permitted absent leave of Court.”
Motions
In civil cases, request deadline extensions in writing at least 48 hours before the deadline absent an emergency.
“Absent an emergency, any request for extension should be filed at least forty-eight (48) hours before the scheduled deadline.”
Trial
Email proposed witness and exhibit lists three business days before an evidentiary hearing.
“email the courtroom deputy the proposed witness and exhibit lists three (3) business days prior to the hearing.”
Trial
Provide two notebooks of still disputed exhibits one week before the civil pretrial conference.
“One (1) week prior to the pretrial conference, the parties shall provide two (2) notebooks containing any exhibits with remaining objections to the Court.”
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026).
How Judge Heil decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a recurring Major Crimes Act assimilation argument, the judge looked to how other judges in the same district had already resolved the identical question and adopted their reasoning rather than treating the issue as open.
“Although these decisions are not binding on this Court, they are persuasive, and the Court today rules in harmony with them.”
Procedural preferences
In Spears v. Okmulgee County Criminal Justice Trust Authority, Heil adopted an unopposed magistrate judge recommendation after reviewing it, denying the dismissal motion and quashing defective service while allowing time to serve again.
“Neither party objected to the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation within the fourteen-day period prescribed by 28 U.S.C. Section 636(b) and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b). Having reviewed the Report and Recommendation, the Court concurs with the Magistrate Judge's recommendation and accepts and adopts it as the order of this Court.”
In United States v. Sloan, Heil granted a limited extension for defense preparation, then set firm pretrial dates and identified when additional briefing or multiple motions require leave.
“Due to the Court’s multi-district caseload, this schedule is relatively inflexible.”
In Shaik v. Mordy, Heil denied a second extension to serve defendants after the plaintiff missed an earlier deadline and did not explain the lapse.
“Plaintiff did not explain why he missed the April 27 deadline.”
Cautions
In United States v. Noel, Heil denied early termination after considering compliance and employment because the defendant had completed only about half the supervision term and had not shown that supervision hindered rehabilitation. The denial allowed a later renewed request.
“the Court finds no evidence that her supervised release is negatively impacting her rehabilitation.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court grants Harpe's motion to dismiss the petition [Dkt. No. 9]... the petition for writ of habeas corpus [Dkt. No. 1] is DISMISSED with prejudice as barred by 28 U.S.C. Section 2244(d)(1)'s one-year statute of limitations”
“Respondent's motion to dismiss Petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus as second or successive [Dkt. No. 11] should be GRANTED.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the motion to dismiss [Dkt. No. 82] filed by Defendant Kaira Leigh Wilson is DENIED.”
“Defendant Okmulgee County Criminal Justice Trust Authority's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint [Dkt. No. 13] is DENIED”
“The Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. No. 21] is GRANTED and Plaintiff's claims against Defendants Okmulgee County Board of County Commissioners and Okmulgee County Criminal Justice Authority are dismissed with prejudice”
“the United States' Motion [Dkt. No. 37] is GRANTED and the Supplemental Complaint [Dkt. No. 27] is dismissed with prejudice.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Government's motion to dismiss [Dkt. No. 84] is GRANTED and the Indictment [Dkt. No. 22] is dismissed without prejudice.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Government's Unopposed Motion to Dismiss [Dkt. No. 39] is GRANTED and the Indictment [Dkt. No. 2] is dismissed without prejudice as to Defendant Shawn Claude Rose.”
“Defendant's Motion for Sanctions for Failure to Comply with the Court's Order on Defendant's Motion to Compel [Dkt. No. 119] is granted. Plaintiff's claims are dismissed with prejudice.”
“On that basis, Defendant WW Tank & Vessel, Inc.'s motion to dismiss [Dkt. No. 12] is GRANTED. Plaintiff's claims against Defendant WW Tank & Vessel, Inc. are DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“On that basis, the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants Brian Ridgeway, Colton Stonecipher, and Max Crook [Dkt. No. 77] is MOOT.”
“THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Gray's ‘Motion For: Objection to Court Ruling’ [Dkt. No. 11] is denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- The twelve sampled civil dockets include prisoner civil-rights suits, employment litigation, a Social Security appeal, an insurance action, and a transferred contract dispute.
- Some docket histories are sparse: the sampled Social Security stream is flagged as mismatched, and several otherwise assigned cases have no usable signed order in the available entries.
- No sampled case has a separate disposition record.
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 47 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 2 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 10 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 47 | 10 |
| Sep 2025 | 48 | 5 |
| Mar 2025 | 50 | 5 |
| Sep 2024 | 38 | 3 |
| Mar 2024 | 59 | 5 |
| Sep 2023 | 20 | 5 |
| Mar 2023 | 27 | 5 |
| Sep 2022 | 27 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 59 | 7 |
| Sep 2021 | 48 | 5 |
| Mar 2021 | 27 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 1 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, not for Judge Heil: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 329 | 7.8 months |
| Closed with no court action | 12 | 2.4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 309 | 7.7 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 3 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 5 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 329 | 7.8 months |
| Sep 2024 | 375 | 9.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 327 | 13.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 290 | 15.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 326 | 13 months |
| Sep 2020 | 325 | 12.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 370 | 11.8 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
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