Tobin is the high-profile attorney for Jeremiah Mearday in Mearday’s police brutality lawsuit against the city.
What impressions did you take away from your appearance with Mearday on TV’s “20/20?” It’s all a mirage. The interview was real, but what struck me as humorous is, as a trial lawyer we deal with exhibits, and the window you saw on TV was actually a piece of wood hanging on a wall. The other thing was the national interest and commonality of what occurred. An African-American being beaten up in Chicago and being put on trial falsely, it’s significant nationally, because race is a national issue. [But] I was aware of the dichotomies–the subject is so serious, but with a facade as a backdrop.
Do you have other cases you consider as unjust as Mearday’s but that don’t get as much attention? Always. On a human level, each fight against injustice is, in its own, a story. But you see so many things, you kind of want to scream out. If people were more aware of [them], they would be even more outraged than they are now. I’m Irish; I like complaining about stuff.
You lettered in baseball at UIC. Is that how your briefcase came to be made of Rawlings glove leather? I had a lawyer say to me, after I cross-examined a witness: “I didn’t know we were playing hardball.” My client knew I’d played baseball in college, and sent me the Rawlings briefcase with a note that said, “Here’s a [glove] for your next game to carry those hardballs.” I don’t know what I would have gotten if I had lost the case. In the Mearday case, the [assistant] state’s attorney asked me about it and said, ‘If we take the bag away, do the fastballs stop?’ I said no.
Are there similarities between baseball and the courtroom? Baseball makes you competitive. You learn that you give it your best, you try to win, but you may not be able to control the outcome. A lawsuit is identical to that. Twelve people end up deciding. You can play your heart out and still lose.
Do you still play ball? No. I have the best excuse: multiple back surgeries.
