Tom Lakin
Judge Michael Cook has removed himself from acting as judge in the case of Doe vs. L. Thomas Lakin.
Chief Judge John Baricevic reassigned the case to St. Clair County Associate Judge Andrew Gleeson.
East Alton attorney Ed Unsell requested the court to lift an order suspending proceedings on a civil lawsuit against L. Thomas Lakin, accusing Lakin of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy.
The five-year-old case was postponed in 2007 pending the outcome of federal and state criminal investigations involving Lakin.
Lakin pleaded guilty in October 2008 to possessing and distributing cocaine to a person under 21 and to maintaining a drug-involved premises, in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping sex charges that carried a sentence of life in prison. He was sentenced to six years in prison on the drug charges.
Lakin, 71, founded the Lakin Law Firm in Wood River, which became a renowned class action and personal injury firm. He is scheduled to be released from Fort Worth Federal Correctional Institution in Texas, a low security institution housing male offenders on Nov. 30, 2012.
The case number is 06L-363.