Coroner's jury rules attorney's death a suicide

EDWARDSVILLE— An attorney found dead in his garage after failing to show up for federal sentencing in a fraud case died in his third suicide attempt since being charged, succumbing to an overdose of an anxiety medication and pain reliever, a coroner's jury ruled Wednesday.

The Madison County panel's finding followed testimony from a coroner's investigator who said that while Dennis Nalick's body was found July 22 on the floor of his locked, detached garage in Edwardsville near his running sport utility vehicle, the exhaust-related carbon monoxide found in his system was not a lethal amount.

Nalick, 63, pleaded guilty in January to a felony count of mail fraud accusing him of depositing an 82-year-old Alton client's nearly $138,000 check into his own account and spending it. At the time of his plea, Nalick was aware that he faced up to four years and three months in prison and a fine of as much as $75,000 under federal sentencing guidelines.

On the morning of his sentencing, Nalick sent a fax to his attorney saying he would not attend the hearing and would rather commit suicide than go to prison, Edwardsville police Detective Sgt. Dennis Gunderson testified. Nalick also left a letter near his home computer detailing the disposition of his assets, Gunderson said.

When Nalick didn't show up in court, a federal judge immediately issued a warrant for his arrest, and authorities checking on Nalick's well-being at his attorney's behest found the man's body.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported that Nalick's fraud victim, Corinne Hawkins, said she knew Nalick from church and hired him in 2004 to handle her late mother's estate. But Hawkins hired another attorney in 2009 after growing frustrated with Nalick, who court records suggest gave Hawkins bogus letters suggesting the estate had not yet been settled.

Prosecutors said Nalick took a total of $496,000, but the defense said it thought the amount was less.

The Belleville News-Democrat has reported that Nalick's attorney license was suspended in 2004 for a year because he misstated the assets of clients he represented in a bankruptcy case.

In 1998, the News-Democrat said, his license was suspended for a month and he was required to attend a course in legal ethics after he was accused of spending money from an escrow account he was holding for a client.