Oops! One of Drew's Attorneys Forgets Plea Deal
Talk about lowering the bar.
In 2004, an Illinois disciplinary board suspended the law license for three months of Drew Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, after he signed a dead man's name to close the inactive bank account of a client's estate, public records show. Brodsky signed the dead man's name again to cash a $23,000 check from that account.
Three years later, Peterson hired Brodsky.
Fast-forward five years, and another attorney on Peterson's legal team is also facing discipline for reportedly forgetting to tell his clients -- who in 2007 were charged with first-degree murder, armed violence, concealment of a homicidal death and possession of cannabis with intent to deliver -- about a plea deal prosecutors had offered. A jury found found the clients, brothers Jaime and Edgar Castro, guilty on all counts.
John Paul Carroll later remembered the offer and came forward after his conscience got the best of him.
"I said to myself, 'I'll be dead and they'll still be in prison,'" Carroll told the Herald News of his decision to reveal the plea deal.
A circuit court judge ultimately allowed the Castro brothers to take the original plea deal after Carroll motioned for a new trial.
Carroll said he's working with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee but said he doesn't know what they'll do with him.
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