in brief: In his career, Richard Lillie has helped the federal government prosecute some of the country’s largest child pornography cases, served as a Cuyahoga County common pleas judge, and taught law classes to students at Cleveland State and Case Western law schools for almost 20 years. Yet, he is perhaps most famous for his current case: defending Commissioner Jimmy Dimora against federal corruption charges. Lillie recently made headlines when, mere days after receiving a hip replacement surgery, he arose from the rehab bed to defend Dimora in federal court. His own client was shocked to see him in the courtroom that day.
⊲ Getting the call: Lillie was in the Edwin Shaw rehab hospital in Akron, recovering from surgery, when his law partner called to tell him that Dimora had been arrested on federal corruption charges. Lillie decided that he would be at the arraignment hearing — despite the small, annoying fact that the hospital didn’t think he was in any state to leave his rehab bed. “It was important that I be with Mr. Dimora at his arraignment,” Lillie explains. “I’d been working with him for over two years. I felt I had to be there for him.”
⊲ On his dislocated hip: “It was the worst [pain] of my life. Nothing comes close.”
⊲ The art of negotiation: Attaining discharge papers when no one thinks you should actually be discharged is not easy. “It’s just this huge bureaucratic process,” Lillie says. “I imagine it’s like what trying to get discharged from the military would be like. Luckily, I had the cooperation of a sympathetic nurse.”
⊲ His family’s reaction on his early release: “I didn’t tell them. I only told my law partner.”
⊲ Political pains: Lillie, a former Republican Cuyahoga County judge, has caught flak from some fellow Republicans for defending one of the largest figures in the Democratic Party. Lillie doesn’t care. “The idea that Republicans only defend Republicans and Democrats only defend Democrats is not only ridiculous, it’s not based on reality,” Lillie says. “I’m a federal criminal defense attorney. I don’t ask what [my client’s] party is. I don’t care.”
⊲ On returning to work: A week after Dimora’s arraignment hearing, the commissioner was back at the office, insisting he would serve out his full term. Fellow commissioners were outraged. Lillie had a different take: “[Although] I did not advise him to do it, it was his decision, and I had no objections.”
⊲ Elephant in the room: Lillie started his career in private practice and worked for the U.S. Attorney but left because he felt he had a higher calling: politics. He was appointed to the County Appeals Court in 1997, but his position only lasted a year. “In Cuyahoga County, it’s almost impossible for Republicans to be elected to countywide political office,” he says. “There’s maybe 70 countywide elected judges positions, maybe a half a dozen are filled by Republicans.” Despite his short tenure as judge, Lillie enjoyed his time on the bench. “It made me a better lawyer,” he says.
⊲ Slow go: Despite the slowdown of major surgery, Lillie presses on. “The first two days after surgery were really rough,” he admits. “I’ll probably be on crutches for another two weeks. But I’m experienced with crutches.”
⊲ Experience matters: Lillie’s problems started when he got clipped in a high school football game and tore his anterior cruciate ligament. The injury never really healed right and he had knee surgeries in 1972 and 1989, before tearing a ligament again. That instability eventually resulted in hip surgery. “I’ve probably spent five years of my life on crutches,” he says. “On crutches, it takes about twice as long to walk from point A to point B, but it’s not an insurmountable problem.”