Man Accused of Attacking 2 Lawyers, Years Apart, in 1 Worker's Comp Case
After serving three months for a 1991 courtroom attack in which he held a gun to the head of a defense attorney representing Rockwell International Corp. in a worker’s compensation case, a California man is now accused of a similar attack on another company lawyer in 2006 in the same case.
Mulji Patel, now 70, is awaiting trial on an assault with a deadly weapon case in Pasadena, after allegedly beating attorney Irwin Nepomuceno with a hammer, reports the Los Angeles Times in its L.A. Now blog,
If convicted this time, Patel–who has pleaded not guilty–faces a potential 18-year prison sentence. The last time around, he was sentenced to one year and served three months.
In the 1991 incident, Patel reportedly held a gun to the head of attorney Lynn Peterson in the courtroom of Judge Charles Gordon, who was hearing the Worker’s Compensation Appeals Board case. The judge was awarded a Carnegie Medal for heroism for helping to disarm Patel, walking toward him and speaking in a soothing voice. A struggle ensued in which Peterson grabbed the gun after Patel dropped it.
It was subsequently found to have been unloaded.
