Former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist will get a new judge in his second criminal case.
U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano on Thursday granted a request from Soderquist’s attorneys that he disqualify himself from the case. The order asks that Chief U.S. District Judge Philip Simon assign a new judge to the case.
The motion is connected to the former mayor’s September trial in his first criminal case, where a federal jury convicted Soderquist and his wife, Deborah Soderquist, of using money from his campaign fund and the city’s food pantry to pay for gambling trips to Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Mich.
Defense attorneys Scott King and Lakeisha Murdaugh after the verdict asked for a new trial, arguing that Lozano fell asleep at least twice during the trial, impairing his ability to properly rule on motions throughout the trial.
They also asked Lozano to disqualify himself from the first case, although both that motion and the motion for a new trial are still pending.
On Sept. 28, they filed court papers asking for Lozano to disqualify himself from Soderquist’s second criminal case, in which he and his wife are accused of helping the mayor’s stepdaughter hide her theft from the city when she worked at Lake Station as a court clerk.
King said he thought it was the right thing for Lozano to disqualify himself from the second case, noting that Lozano is now essentially a witness in the first case in regards to the motion for a new trial.
He added that the standard for judicial disqualification is if a third person had a reasonable question as to a judge’s impartiality.
“I think a reasonable person could (in this case),” King said.
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