Appeals court throws judge off drug trial

CHICAGO, July 29 (UPI) -- In an unusual move, a federal appeals court removed the chief federal judge in Chicago from a drug trial, going beyond what prosecutors had been seeking.

The trial had been suspended while the U.S. Attorney's Office appealed a ruling by U.S. District Judge James Holderman barring the use of some fingerprint evidence. The appeals panel, which included Circuit Judge Richard Posner, one of the best-known federal judges in the country, gave no reasons for taking Holderman off the case.

Holderman and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald have had disagreements in the past. In 2005, a federal appeals court stopped a prosecutorial misconduct investigation ordered by Holderman.

"This is an extraordinary situation; it really is," said Len Cavise, a law professor at DePaul University who is a former criminal defense attorney. "Posner is one of those judges that if something happens procedurally that he doesn't like, he will take action immediately."

Holderman was overruled twice in the Clacy Watson drug trial on fingerprints found on a drug package. He first threw them out because prosecutors missed a deadline, something the appeals court said was too great a sanction, and then during the trial said he had problems with the reliability of the evidence.