Two passions guided Michael J. King’s path in life: his religious faith and his desire to help the poor as a Cook County public defender in the felony trial division.
“Mike was a skillful lawyer for his clients, but more importantly, he was an advocate for the human dignity of the men and women he stood beside,” said Mike Morrissey, director of the Chicago operations for the Cook County public defender’s office. “He was a very devoted Catholic and saw the humanity in the clients he represented … tried to personalize them for the judge and the jury. He was opposed to the death penalty because of his religious beliefs.
“I always thought of him as St. Thomas More, who is the patron saint of lawyers for those in the Catholic faith, because Mike had such firm religious convictions,” Morrissey said.
Mr. King, 54, who retired after working in the public defender’s office for more than two decades, including 10 years on its murder task force, died of liver cancer Sept. 26 in his Riverside home.
“It is easy to brag about your family, but Mike was really a saintly guy,” said his older brother, Richard. “He wasn’t a sissy, but he always had a desire to help out the poor.”
The youngest of five boys, Mr. King was born with multiple birth defects including spina bifida, a single kidney and clubfoot. During high school, his clubfooted leg was amputated. He also developed urinary bladder disease so severe his doctor wanted to remove the organ.
Instead, Mr. King signed himself out of the hospital.
“My mom was panicky for a while because we didn’t know where he was,” his brother said. “Then he called–he had gone to Mayo Clinic for treatment on his own. He was a very forthright kid.”
Five years ago, he underwent 14 hours of surgery related to his spina bifida. In March 2003, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and his bladder was removed. Last March, he learned the cancer had spread to his liver.
“He had medical afflictions all his life … but he never complained,” his brother said. Whenever Mr. King’s brothers and friends played touch football when he was a boy, he joined them.
“Somebody would kick off his prosthesis and he would just strap it back on and keep playing,” his brother said. “He was a very tough guy.”
Raised in River Forest, Mr. King graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1968, then continued to the University of Illinois at Chicago for his undergraduate degree. While earning his law degree at Lewis University’s former law school in Glen Ellyn, he taught English at a local high school to pay for his tuition.
“He got out of law school and wanted to help poor people, wanted to be a defense attorney,” his brother said.
In 1979, he joined the public defender’s office and became part of its murder task force in 1985.
“That is the top division of the office that handles death penalty cases,” Morrissey said. “He was a guy of great courage. He struggled with a lot of physical disabilities throughout his life.
“The criminal courts are a cold and callous place because the person charged with a capital murder walks into the courtroom and is treated many times as if he was already convicted … Mike stood alone protecting his clients from being placed on Death Row, and he succeeded, time and time again. He was a marvelous lawyer, a gifted speaker and prepared his cases to the nth degree.”
As his health problems increased, Mr. King transferred to the public defender’s office in Bridgeview, representing clients in felony cases. He retired in 2002.
An avid sports fan, especially of Chicago baseball, he often read his law journals with a game playing on TV in the background.
Other survivors include his brothers, William and James; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Thursday, in Knollcrest Funeral Home, 1500 S. Meyers Rd., Lombard. Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Friday in St. Luke Catholic Church, 528 Lathrop Ave., River Forest.
