{"id":569362,"date":"2010-05-18T13:42:24","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T17:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0134810ae221970c"},"modified":"2010-05-18T13:42:24","modified_gmt":"2010-05-18T17:42:24","slug":"blagojevich-trial-judge-zagel-regarded-as-smart-unflappable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/569362","title":{"rendered":"Blagojevich trial judge Zagel regarded as smart, unflappable"},"content":{"rendered":"

From today’s print edition<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Blagojevich trial judge regarded as smart, unflappable<\/h2>\n

‘Renaissance man’ to preside over case alleging dark ages of
\npolitics<\/h3>\n

By Jeff Coen and Bob Secter, Tribune reporters<\/p>\n

Do you ever wonder what spins through a judge’s head while lawyers and
\nwitnesses drone on endlessly for days and weeks at trial?
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIn the case of U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who is scheduled to
\npreside over the sweeping corruption trial of former Gov. Rod
\nBlagojevich in a little more than two weeks, there’s a good chance those
\n thoughts sometimes drift to grandly larcenous fantasies.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nHow else to explain "Money to Burn," the well-received 2002 novel penned
\n by Zagel\u00a0about a federal judge who masterminds an audacious heist at
\nthe super-secure Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago? (Spoiler alert: The
\njudge gets away with millions of dollars.)\n<\/p>\n

Zagel may have an active imagination, but his broad list of admirers in
\nChicago’s legal community view that as just another example of why he is
\n regarded as one of the smartest and most unflappable jurists at the
\nfederal courthouse.
<\/br><\/p>\n

\n"He is definitely one of those people who can do the job well with half
\nof his attention," veteran lawyer Joel Bertocchi said of Zagel, who has
\nhad parts in two Hollywood movies and whose broad interests range from
\njazz to target shooting with court security officers.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nAt 69, and with more than two decades on the federal bench, Zagel boasts
\n a resume to qualify him as one of the most interesting men in Chicago.
\nHe helped prosecute mass murderer Richard Speck, twice held state
\nCabinet posts and was once married to TV investigative reporter Pam
\nZekman.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nAs a jurist, he also moonlights on the secretive Foreign Intelligence
\nSurveillance Court that decides whether to issue warrants for electronic
\n eavesdropping on terrorism suspects.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIn 1965, after graduating from the University of Chicago and Harvard Law
\n School, Zagel joined the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, where
\nhe helped gain the conviction of Speck, the notorious killer of eight
\nstudent nurses on the city’s Southeast Side.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nFrom 1970 to 1977, Zagel ran the criminal division of the Illinois
\nattorney general’s office. One of his assistants was Jayne Carr, who
\nwould later marry Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson. As a colleague, Jayne
\nThompson said, Zagel was hard-driving, meticulous with the law and
\npossessed of an "encyclopedic memory."
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\n"He can sit down and write a legal pleading and fill in the citations,
\nincluding the page numbers, without bringing out a book," she recalled.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nZagel eventually went to work in Thompson’s administration, first as
\ndirector of the Department of Revenue and then as head of what was then
\nknown as the Department of Law Enforcement.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nOne of Zagel’s deputies, Laimutis "Limey" Nargelenas,
\nthen-superintendent of the state police, said Zagel was a hands-off
\nmanager who gave his underlings broad latitude and didn’t see the need
\nfor a lot of meetings.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\n"Sometimes he’d be working on a crossword puzzle while you were talking
\nto him," Nargelenas recalled. "But he was always listening and very
\nquickly comprehending what the problem was you were talking about."
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nNargelenas said Zagel flashed a dry sense of humor that sometimes left
\npeople wondering whether he was joking or not. Even back then,
\nNargelenas said, it was clear that Zagel not only had an interest in
\nbeing a judge but also in writing and acting. "I sort of thought of him
\nas a Renaissance man," said Nargelenas, now a lobbyist for the Illinois
\nAssociation of Chiefs of Police.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nZagel was appointed to the federal bench in 1987 by President Ronald
\nReagan, and while his law enforcement background has given him a
\nreputation for leaning toward the government’s view, he is widely viewed
\n by members of the defense bar as predictable and fair.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\n"I think he’s very, very bright. Even when he doesn’t know the answer,
\nhe certainly acts like he does," said criminal-defense lawyer Rick
\nHalprin, who faced Zagel daily in the high-profile\u00a02007 Family Secrets
\ntrial. It ended with the convictions of five top associates of the
\nChicago Outfit who had been charged in a broad conspiracy blamed for 18
\nmurders.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nHalprin, who represented mob boss Joey "the Clown" Lombardo, said Zagel
\ndid a good job managing a case with colorful lawyers in a circuslike
\natmosphere \u2014 a climate likely to be repeated in the Blagojevich case,
\nwhich features a star defendant and legal team with flairs for the
\ndramatic.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIn Family Secrets, Halprin said, Zagel kept control both inside and
\noutside the courtroom. In one telling example, Zagel told an attorney,
\nJoseph Lopez, that he couldn’t write an Internet blog while the case was
\n on trial.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIn that case, Zagel met with the lawyers before court each day to flush
\nout potential legal conflict so things could remain orderly in front of
\nthe jurors, Halprin said. And while Zagel always remained personable, he
\n didn’t put up with much.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nZagel also is well-regarded among prosecutors, a fact demonstrated by
\nthe way they worked courthouse procedures to steer the Blagojevich case
\nhis way.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\n"He runs a no-nonsense courtroom," said former federal prosecutor Sergio
\n Acosta, who has appeared often before Zagel. "He is one of the most
\nhighly regarded judges in the building."
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIn 2008, Zagel was appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
\n to a seven-year term on the intelligence court.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIt’s unclear what kind of storylines that duty might put in Zagel’s head
\n or whether it will lead to a new novel after eight years. He’s in a bit
\n of an acting drought as well, as his last role was as the grieving son
\nof a murder victim in Chicago writer David Mamet’s 1991 film,
\n"Homicide."
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nUsing the stage name J.S. Block, Zagel also appeared in the 1989 film
\n"Music Box," about a suspected war criminal on trial in Chicago. Zagel,
\nwhose middle name in real life is Block, played a judge in the film. Its
\n courtroom scenes were shot at the same Criminal Courts Building that he
\n once prowled as an assistant state’s attorney.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nActing bug or no, Zagel will likely have little time for such pursuits
\nthis summer when the only blockbuster he’ll be tackling is the
\nBlagojevich trial, which is scheduled to begin June 3.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nThe ousted Illinois governor will face a jury for allegedly leveraging
\nthe powers of his office to enrich himself and a group of cronies. The
\ncenterpiece of the prosecution case involves Blagojevich’s alleged
\nattempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIt’s a trial that promises to last into the fall and generate nationwide
\n headlines. It will feature some of the biggest guns in the U.S.
\nattorney’s office up against the wily father-and-son defense team of Sam
\n Adam and Sam Adam Jr. Adding to the suspense, the outspoken ex-governor
\n has promised to take the witness stand in his own defense \u2014 a right
\nmany defendants forgo for tactical reasons.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nThe judge, said Bertocchi, "will want the result of this trial to speak
\nwell of the legal system."
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nFor all his accomplishments, achieving such an outcome could be Zagel’s
\nbiggest challenge to date.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\njcoen@tribune.com<\/em>
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nbsecter@tribune.com<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From today’s print edition: Blagojevich trial judge regarded as smart, unflappable ‘Renaissance man’ to preside over case alleging dark ages of politics By Jeff Coen and Bob Secter, Tribune reporters Do you ever wonder what spins through a judge’s head while lawyers and witnesses drone on endlessly for days and weeks at trial? In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}