7th Circuit Removes Judge in Mid-Trial After Evidence Dispute With US Attorney

Source: ABA Journal Top Stories
Ruling on an interlocutory appeal by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, a federal appeals court in Chicago not only agreed with the prosecutor that the chief district court judge had erred by excluding fingerprint evidence in a drug case but removed the jurist from the ongoing trial. News of the highly unusual action by a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had not been requested by Fitzgerald in his appeal, stunned court observers, reports the Chicago Tribune. No immediate explanation of the Tuesday ruling to remove Chief U.S. District Judge James Holderman was forthcoming, but the…
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