April 29th, 2009 by admin

A judge will announce June 3 whether she’ll overturn a $1,000 fine she levied against a Woodstock attorney.

Judge Sharon Prather fined defense attorney Dan Mengeling after finding that part of the allegations he raised on behalf of convicted murderer John Cumbee were not “well grounded on fact formed after a reasonable inquiry.”

Mengeling, a private attorney appointed to defend Cumbee after his conviction, asked to overturn the fine, arguing that Prather needed to hear evidence on Mengeling’s research and the allegations before issuing a fine.

“He ought to have the opportunity to attack the evidence submitted by the state,” Mengeling’s attorney, Thomas Gooch, argued Wednesday.

But Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Kelly argued that point was moot because area defense attorneys donated about $1,200 to cover the fine.

She also said Prather had plenty of information on the case that could be helpful in determining if a fine was appropriate.

“The record reflects that this Court not only reviewed the pleadings in this case, but also reviewed the trial transcripts prior to rendering the judgment,” Kelly wrote in a legal memorandum.

Cumbee twice was convicted of his former girlfriend’s 1992 slaying, but Mengeling requested a new trial on his behalf for more than a dozen reasons. The fine related to allegations that former prosecutors withheld evidence and suborned perjury relating to the murder weapon, a fireplace poker.

Mengeling charged the county $24,344 for the 137 hours he spent on the case; his payment came from the county’s general fund.