Chicago Legal Legend, at 100, Roasted in Mock Trial
Updated: Still going strong at age 100, a renowned Chicago lawyer and politician was roasted on Valentine’s Day in a mock trial at a local law firm.
“I have had my share of notorious defendants. Leon Despres stood for principle and for justice,” argued former U.S. District Court Judge George Leighton, seeking a “verdict” of not guilty from a panel of the city’s movers and shakers on heresy and sedition charges against the longtime civil rights lawyer. They were hearing the case against Depres at a conference room at Miller Shakman & Beem, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
Depres was fast on his feet in his own defense, too: “I must say I did not commit the murder, that if I did, I did not do it in Illinois, and if I did do it in Illinois, I was crazy,” he began, in a litany of excuses that sent the room into an uproar. The centurian still maintains an office at Despres Schwartz & Geoghegan in Chicago.
Although he now uses a wheelchair, the former city alderman “still has the booming voice of his five terms in City Council,” representing the Hyde Park neighborhood in which his alma mater, the University of Chicago, is located, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Shot in Hyde Park in a 1967 mugging, Despres excused the young offender responsible, attributing the attack to “social conditions,” recalled Dr. Quentin Young, the former medical director of Cook County Hospital, who served as a prosecutor at the roast of Despres. “This guy is a liberal!” he charged.
Prior coverage:
New York Times: “Age 97, and Still at War With the Old Daley Machine”
University of Chicago News Office (press release): “Former Chicago alderman Leon Despres earns University of Chicago’s prestigious Benton Medal”
Updated at 7 p.m. to include additional coverage.
