Public Defender Attacks, Chokes Prosecutor

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 3, 2010 9:40PM

Things got a little crazy at the criminal courthouse (26th and California) this afternoon when tempers flared and a public defender choked a Cook County prosecutor. Witnesses told the Sun-Times the incident stemmed from an argument that began in the sixth floor courtroom of Judge Clayton Crane. The friction started during a hearing but continued afterwards.

The prosecutor “left the courtroom and was in the hallway when the public defender came up to him and resumed the argument. That led to a physical fight where the public defender had to be pulled off of the state’s attorney,’’ Cook County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Patterson said in a statement. It took two deputies to separate the men, he said.

The public defender put the prosecutor in a “choking headlock,’’ police said. The public defender allegedly told a bystander he did it because he was “sick of him mocking him,” the bystander said.

The suspect was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of simple battery while the victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.