In an anticlimactic and uncharacteristic case of legal brevity, to absolutely no one’s surprise, Judge John Barsanti read the following passage from his larger ten-page ruling to a not-quite-packed courtroom:
I hereby find the State has proven all the elements of the offense of First Degree Murder beyond a reasonable doubt. I hereby find the Defendant guilty of both counts of First degree Murder as charged in the indictment.
That was it. No one gasped and no one applauded! Likely weary of having to endure two separate trials, both Mr. King’s and Kathleen King’s families filed out of the courtroom in silence. There was no celebration or commiseration in the hallway either, both groups simply made their way to the third floor elevator and left the building.
The only person who seemed to be surprised by the ruling was defense attorney Kathleen Zellner who, upon hearing the verdict, looked like she’d suffered an arrow through the heart. This wasn’t the kind of publicity she’d hoped for when she took the case pro bono. Zellner and her legal team either disappeared into a conference room or they were lead out of the courtroom through a back hallway. After waiting 30 minutes for a copy of the ruling, I’d pretty much determined that she would not be taking questions.
But she did appear outside of the courtroom sometime later, and in a completely disingenuous move, declined to speak with Daily Herald reporter Sue Sarkauskas in favor of the late-arriving “48 Hours” reporter. This journalist can’t help but think that this legend in her own mind put the prospect of national publicity well before her client and he suffered greatly as a result. Were I Mr. King, I’d file a motion for a retrial based on inadequate representation. This is certainly a case where King got exactly what he paid for.
As previously indicated, he would’ve been far better off with a Kane County Public Defender. Ms. Zellner is clearly not a trial attorney and this case proved it beyond any reasonable doubt.
Judge Barsanti scheduled a hearing for October 5th at 1:30 to entertain any post-trial motions. No sentencing date has been set. Though I haven’t read the ruling, I’ll post it here so we can all consider it at the same time:
There will certainly be appeals, but nothing will come of them because the circumstancial evidence, as I’ve previously described it, is overwhelming. So ends the sad story of two lives and two families destroyed for no good reason.
It would never surprise me that a publicity seeking lawyer like Kathleen Zellner would offer her pro bono services in the hope of a “big win” assuming that her name alone will cause a victory.
My experience with “hot shot” attorneys, they use their name recognition more than real litigation skills on behalf of their client, and due to not being pad, they, in my opinion put in very little effort in the case.
This certainly is the case of the client getting what he paid for-NOTHING!
In her twitter handle too, she remains committed to “freeing the innocent’ as she puts it. She even has a hashtag that goes, ‘#askzellner,’ that seeks to answer queries regarding the proceedings of the case. It also serves as a discussion forum for those who are invested in seeing this matter play out till its very end.
It’s bad enough that the prosecution is often ineffective, but when the defense is also, it is the travesty that everyone suffers in our system of judicial fairness.
Lesson: Don’t retain Kathleen Zellner if you want a defense….even if it is NO CHARGE!
In her twitter handle too, she remains committed to “freeing the innocent’ as she puts it.
Make you wonder how she pulled of the other “wins”.?
Big,
I actually tried to get in to see Mr. King in the Kane County Jail, not as a journalist, but as a fellow human being who thought he’d been had. I wanted to explain that he need to fire Zellner, make a motion for inadequate representation, and shoot for a new trial, but he would see me. I’m OK with that, too, because he’s clearly guilty as sin.
Jeff