Decatur native moving from county to federal defender's office
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Bob Scherschligt, who has spent nearly seven years as Sangamon County's first assistant public defender, begins next week as assistant federal public defender for the Central District of Illinois.</font>
<font face="Imperial">"He will be sorely missed," said Brian Otwell, the county's public defender. "He was an outstanding first assistant."</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"I'm very excited about it," Scherschligt said. "I'm certainly going to miss the people I've developed friendships with over the last several years, but it's certainly a great opportunity for me, so I'm looking forward to it."</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Scherschligt 40, has been paid $75,000 annually at the county, and said his federal pay will be in the upper 80s. He'll work for Richard Parsons, who is based in Peoria, as chief federal public defender of the 46-county Central District of Illinois.</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">A Decatur native, Scherschligt is a 1993 graduate of Creighton University law school in Omaha, Neb., and is a former assistant state's attorney in Macon County. In the federal job, he replaces Doug Beevers, who accepted a similar job in Fresno, Calif.</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Otwell's new first assistant, starting Jan. 16, will be Joe Miller, 57, who since 2004 has worked in the death penalty trial assistance division of the Illinois state appellate defender's office. He earlier was in private practice and as a part-time assistant public defender on and off for more than a dozen years.</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Otwell said that Miller, a graduate of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston and John Marshall law school in Chicago, has handled about 50 murder cases, most as a public defender.</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Otwell said he was glad to be able to lure Miller back to the county office, where he'll make the same as his state salary has been - $87,000 annually.</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"We're extremely fortunate - 'we' being Sangamon County and particularly my office - getting somebody with his experience and caliber," Otwell said, adding that he thinks Miller is anxious to get back into the action of trials.</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">In criminal cases, Otwell said, "He's one of the top trial attorneys in this area."</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial"> </font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.</font>