Criminal Defense Lawyer Disqualified Because He Represented Victim's Dad a Decade Ago
An Illinois man facing a first-degree murder charge won’t be represented by his first-choice defense lawyer because attorney Liam Dixon has been determined by a judge to be conflicted out of the suburban Chicago case.
A decade ago, Dixon defended the father of the slain 5-year-old in the current case, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Hence, he can’t represent Miguel Hernandez Jr., the man who allegedly shot into a car in October and killed the boy, since the boy’s father, Eric Galarza Sr., may be called to testify, ruled Cook County Judge Kay Hanlon.
Galarza was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting and is believed to have been Hernandez’s intended target, rather than the 5-year-old, the Sun-Times says.
Galarza was Dixon’s client in another shooting case 10 years ago, the newspaper recounts. Although Dixon told the judge he doesn’t remember anything about his former client’s case, he could in theory use information he gleaned as Galarza’s lawyer to his disadvantage as a witness.
“If there is this conflict, the appellate court would reverse a conviction, and that is what concerns me,” the judge said in a hearing Wednesday at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.
