Judge Not Disqualified by Daughter’s Prisoner Defense Links

An Illinois federal judge may preside over a civil lawsuit brought by a criminal defense attorney found not guilty on murder charges, according to the Seventh Circuit, because her daughter’s links to two prisoner defense groups didn’t affect the judge’s impartiality.

Curtis Lovelace, a criminal defense attorney and member of the Illinois bar, was indicted for the murder of his wife in 2014, but found not guilty three years later. Soon after, Lovelace and his sons sued the city of Quincy, Ill., as well as several police officers, the county, and others under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 for alleged federal ...