Obituaries

Fearless About Jailing Rogue Police, Brazil Judge Was Slain in Hail of Police-Issue Bullets

When a rogue police officer needed to be dealt with, Judge Patricia Acioli was fearless about wielding a heavy hammer. She jailed more than 60, most for murder, reports the Associated Press. Now she has been shot to death, in a hail of 21 police-issue bullets, in front of her…

Sep 17, 2011 12:03 AM CDT

Legendary Chicago Trial Lawyer Max Wildman Dies at 91; Founder of Major Firm Mesmerized Juries

A legendary Chicago trial lawyer with an “aw shucks” Jimmy Stewart style that belied his business acumen and mesmerizing skills in front of a jury died today. Max Wildman, a co-founder of Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon, was 91 years old. His warm, easy-going manner, both in court and in…

Sep 16, 2011 11:48 PM CDT

Santa Cruz Lawyer Is Killed in Hawaii; Companion Who Leapt from Cliff Is Reported Suspect

A Santa Cruz deputy city attorney was found dead along a Maui cliff last week following a reported domestic dispute. Her companion, who leapt from a nearby cliff as police approached, is hospitalized and in custody. Maui police refused to identify the woman, but news reports say she is Celestial…

Sep 7, 2011 12:45 PM CDT

I’m Not the Guy Who Just Died, Duluth Lawyer Says in Obit Ad

There are two lawyers named Robert Kaner who attended the University of Minnesota law school, but only one of them is dead. Duluth lawyer Robert M. Kaner, 63, wants clients and friends to know he’s the one still alive, the Duluth News Tribune reports. Toward that end, he paid for…

Aug 26, 2011 3:51 PM CDT

Reward Offered in Hit-and-Run Death of Calif. Lawyer and GOP Leader Killed While Jogging

As family and friends attended a funeral Mass today in San Francisco for attorney Donald Casper, 63, a $12,500 reward was announced for information about the hit-and-run driver who struck him from behind with a white pickup as he was jogging on Aug. 14, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Casper,…

Aug 24, 2011 1:50 AM CDT

Former ABA President Jerome Shestack, Known for His Human Rights Work, Dies at 88

Corrected: Well-known human rights lawyer Jerome J. Shestack, who served as president of the ABA in 1997-98, died Thursday. He was 88. In an obituary Friday, the Philadelphia Daily News reports that during his career, Shestack “was appalled by the violence that people heap upon each other in the world,…

Aug 19, 2011 9:45 PM CDT

Wis. Judge Found Dead of Gunshot Wound in Apparent Suicide

The local community is in shock over the apparent suicide this week of a judge in Racine County, Wis. Circuit Court Judge Dennis Barry, 64, was found dead yesterday morning in Racine’s Lincoln Park not far from his car. He had suffered a gunshot wound to his head, reports the…

Aug 19, 2011 2:49 PM CDT

Longtime Golden Gate Law Prof Bernard Segal Dies

A longtime Golden Gate University law professor who defended Vietnam War protesters and civil rights advocates, Bernard Segal, has died at the age of 81. Segal’s most prominent client was Army doctor Jeffrey MacDonald, accused of murdering his family in 1970 in a case portrayed in the book Fatal Vision,…

Aug 18, 2011 3:13 PM CDT

Prominent Calif. Attorney Struck and Killed While Jogging; Police Seek Hit-and-Run Driver

A prominent San Francisco lawyer and avid runner was struck and killed yesterday by a pickup truck as he was jogging. Authorities are seeking the hit-and-run driver who struck Don Andrew Casper around 7 p.m. as he was running on River Road near Odd Fellows Park, reports the Press Democrat.…

Aug 15, 2011 9:32 PM CDT

Former Teen Sex Worker Who Won Admission to Prestigious Law School Found Dead at 32

As a child escaping from what she described as an abusive home situation, Wendy Babcock turned to prostitution at 15 to support herself. She quit in 2003, after a colleague was murdered by a client. Smart, personable and interested in fighting for the rights of sex workers and others, she’d…

Aug 11, 2011 8:39 PM CDT

Longtime 7th Circuit Judge Terence Evans Is Dead After Sudden Illness

Updated: A senior federal appeals court judge died overnight at a Chicago hospital after a sudden serious illness. Terence Evans, 71, was with his family at the University of Chicago Medical Center when he died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and acute respiratory distress syndrome, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel…

Aug 11, 2011 5:27 PM CDT

9 Charged with Felony Murder and Robbery in Slaying of Kansas Lawyer Shot to Death at Her Home

Five adults and four juveniles have been charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the killing last month of a Kansas attorney who was shot to death when she returned to her home after celebrating her 40th birthday. Natalie Gibson was killed and her female companion was injured July…

Aug 10, 2011 6:42 PM CDT

Slain Mercer Law Grad Was a Friend to Many, Including the Classmate Now Charged with Her Murder

Remembered at a funeral mass in Laurel, Md., attended by hundreds of mourners on Saturday evening, slain Mercer University law graduate Lauren Giddings was recalled again and again for the joy she brought to others’ lives. Multiple people said she had been their best friend. The 27-year-old Giddings “was the…

Aug 8, 2011 11:44 AM CDT

Judge Matthew Perry, Once a Pioneering Civil Rights Lawyer, Dies at 89

Senior U.S. District Judge Matthew Perry, a pioneering civil rights lawyer, has died at 89. Perry would have turned 90 on Wednesday, an event that was to have been celebrated this weekend at a party organized by lawyers in Hilton Head, S.C., the Washington Post reports. The newspaper calls Perry…

Aug 1, 2011 11:30 AM CDT

Police Trace Alabama Lawyer’s Burning SUV, Find Him Dead of Multiple Gunshots at Home

Police in Tarrant, Ala., began looking for a Talladega County civil defense and worker’s compensation lawyer yesterday after finding his white 2009 GMC Yukon afire. Last night, authorities discovered Blake Lazenby, 54, dead of multiple gunshot wounds in his home in Sylacauga, according to the Birmingham News. He is survived…

Jul 28, 2011 11:04 PM CDT