One-year Anniversary Of Judge Christ’s Cocaine Death; Agents Suspected Drug Use For Two Years
From the Madison County Record
One year ago Thursday, as judge and heroin user, Michael Cook presided over a murder trial less compelling than his own circumstances.
Everyone within the St. Clair County legal community knew that Cook had found judge Joe Christ dead the previous Sunday at the Cook family hunting lodge, but not everyone knew they abused drugs there.
Cook and Christ’s choice of a wild weekend road trip shows how their judgment had warped, for they must have sensed impending exposure and ruin.
Sean McGilvery, Cook’s dealer, had called before the two judges left town on Friday, March 8 after federal agents questioned him. Agents had first questioned McGilvery two months earlier, according to court documents.
Whether Cook and Christ knew it or not, agents had suspected for two years that they abused drugs.
Drug dealer Justin Cahill offered that information in plea negotiations in 2011, and an anonymous “former drug user” who spent a lot of time with Cook corroborated it.
Yet Cook faced no consequences, and Christ advanced from prosecutor to judge.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Madison County Record
One year ago Thursday, as judge and heroin user, Michael Cook presided over a murder trial less compelling than his own circumstances.
Everyone within the St. Clair County legal community knew that Cook had found judge Joe Christ dead the previous Sunday at the Cook family hunting lodge, but not everyone knew they abused drugs there.
Cook and Christ’s choice of a wild weekend road trip shows how their judgment had warped, for they must have sensed impending exposure and ruin.
Sean McGilvery, Cook’s dealer, had called before the two judges left town on Friday, March 8 after federal agents questioned him. Agents had first questioned McGilvery two months earlier, according to court documents.
Whether Cook and Christ knew it or not, agents had suspected for two years that they abused drugs.
Drug dealer Justin Cahill offered that information in plea negotiations in 2011, and an anonymous “former drug user” who spent a lot of time with Cook corroborated it.
Yet Cook faced no consequences, and Christ advanced from prosecutor to judge.
Read more in our daily News Update...