July 7, 2008
COVINGTON — The federal judge who declared a mistrial in the case of lawyers accused of looting Kentucky’s $200 million fen-phen settlement will not preside over the retrial.
Ninth U.S. District Court Judge William Bertelsman issued an order Monday exercising his right as a senior judge to not hear any more criminal cases, except for crack cocaine resentencing cases.
Bertelsman’s cases have been re-assigned to U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves.
Bertelsman, who will sit with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco next week, declined to comment on his decision.
The order comes the first Monday following the end of the eight-week fen-phen trial.