James Herbert Wilkerson (December 11, 1869 – September 30, 1948) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois ar ...

Education and career

Born in

Savannah, Missouri Savannah is a city and county seat of Andrew County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,069 at the 2020 census. History Savannah was founded in 1841. The city was named after Savannah Woods, the child of a first settler. A post offic ...

, Wilkerson received an

Artium Baccalaureus Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

in 1889. He was in private practice in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

from 1893 to 1922. He was a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

in 1902, and was a county attorney of

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

from 1903 to 1904. He was a special assistant to the

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

from 1906 to 1911, and was then the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the Northern District of Illinois from 1911 to 1914. He was Chairman of the Illinois Public Utilities Commission from 1919 to 1921.

Federal judicial service

On July 11, 1922, Wilkerson was nominated by President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his h ...

. Wilkerson was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on July 18, 1922, and received his commission the same day. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on December 31, 1940, serving in that capacity until his death on September 30, 1948. JHW Nomination

Capone sentencing

On November 24, 1931, Wilkerson sentenced

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

to 11 years in prison for tax evasion. Capone would often engage in

jury tampering Jury tampering is the crime of unduly attempting to influence the composition and/or decisions of a jury during the course of a trial (law), trial. The means by which this crime could be perpetrated can include attempting to discredit potential ju ...

, and about two weeks before the scheduled start of the trial, informant Edward J. O'Hare told IRS agent

Frank J. Wilson Frank John Wilson (May 19, 1887 – June 22, 1970) was best known as the Chief of the United States Secret Service and a former agent of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue, later known as the Internal Revenue Service. Wilson m ...

that Capone's outfit had a complete list of prospective jurors. 10 of the jurors' names and addresses O'Hare provided appeared on the jury list. When they relayed it to Wilkerson, he responded that he hadn't received his jury list yet, but would call them when he did. The names on O'Hare's list matched exactly the names on Wilkerson's list, but Wilkerson seemed to be unconcerned, telling them to bring the case into court as planned and to "leave the rest to him". Just before the trial opened on October 5, he had the bailiff switch out the entire jury panel with Judge Edwards' panel. The new jury had also been sequestered overnight to further avoid tampering.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkerson, James Herbert 1869 births 1948 deaths Members of the Illinois House of Representatives Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois United States district court judges appointed by Warren G. Harding United States Attorneys for the Northern District of Illinois 20th-century American judges DePauw University alumni People from Savannah, Missouri