James Zagel

James Block Zagel (March 4, 1941 – July 15, 2023) was an American judge and attorney. After a stint as a prosecutor, he became a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1987, assuming senior status in 2016. He presided over numerous high-profile trials, including those of several members of the Chicago Outfit and the corruption trial of former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich. Zagel also sat on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2008 to 2015.

Early life and education Zagel was born to Jewish parents in Chicago on March 4, 1941. He was the son of Samuel S. Zagel, a native of Warsaw, Poland, who had immigrated to Chicago in 1915, and Ethel Samuels Zagel.

Professional career Zagel began his career as an assistant state's attorney in Cook County, Illinois, from 1965 until 1969, where he helped compile the case against mass murderer Richard Speck. On February 2, 1987, President Reagan nominated Zagel to be a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The United States Senate confirmed Zagel on April 21, 1987, and he received his commission on April 22, 1987.

Trial history

Zagel presided over many notable and high-profile trials, including the Jesse Webster case and the "Family Secrets" trial that ended in 2007, where he convicted numerous mobsters, such as Joseph Lombardo and Frank Calabrese Sr. The judge refused to let Blagojevich go to Costa Rica to participate in the show, I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, saying Blagojevich needed to prepare a good defense for his upcoming trial and focus on the reality of the current situation. The former governor's wife Patti Blagojevich went instead. He acted in two films, playing a Chicago judge in the 1989 film Music Box, and a physician whose parent is murdered in the 1991 film Homicide. a fictional thriller about a plot to rob the Federal Reserve Bank.

Personal life and death Zagel and his first wife, Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Pam Zekman, divorced in 1975. He then was married to lawyer Margaret Maxwell Zagel from around 1979 until his death.